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State pension age to hit 67 earlier than planned
by Michelle McGagh on Sep 12, 2011 at 07:35
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith has confirmed the state pension age will increase to 67 earlier than planned.
The retirement age was due to rise to 67 in 2036 and to 68 by 2046 but Duncan Smith (pictured) said the timescale, set out by the previous government, was ‘too slow’. Sources told The Observer the state pension age is likely to hit 67 in 2026.
‘We’ve always said that the timescale left by the last government was too slow,’ he told the BBC.
‘The [last] government left us with a deadline in the 2030s and we think that’s too late because people’s age levels have increased even since they made that announcement.
‘People are living longer but they’re still retiring at the same age, so the purpose now is too look at that, and we’re reviewing that to see what might be reasonable, but always giving them good warning about what happens.’
Despite plans to speed up the increase in the retirement age, women may be given longer to prepare for the increase in their pension age to 65, due to happen in 2018, and another rise in 2020 to 66. Many, including independent pensions expert Ros Altmann, have argued the quick increase in women’s pension age to 66 is unfair.
She said: ‘Bringing forward the increase to 67 by 2026 will however allow the government to undo its terribly unfair plans that were hastily announced in the Pensions Bill. Having promised in the coalition agreement that it would not increase state pension age beyond age 65 before 2020, it went back on that promise and announced increases for some women in their late fifties and they have not had enough time to prepare.
'They have written to me in despair as to how they can manage at such short notice to prepare for a two year delay in their pension, having already accepted a four year rise in the 1995 changes.’
The government has been holding a consultation over the summer into reform of state pensions.
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4 comments so far. Why not have your say?
Julian D
Sep 12, 2011 at 10:49
This seems fair to me, after all if there's no money to pay for it, who's going to foot the bill for a bottomless state pension?
Surely if we've done our jobs properly and clients have accepted responsibiity for their own financial futures, then all this means is they have to wait an extra year or two for the state 'bonus' pension, rather than relying on it as their only income source?
In this day and age we should all accept we are responsible for making our own provisions, instead of moaning that state benefits are too little.
report thisAnitaki
Sep 12, 2011 at 10:57
Enough of this woman's announcements!
If Ms Altmann truly thinks this is "unfair", she doesn't really know what "unfair" is.
report thisMole
Sep 12, 2011 at 11:09
And where exactly is the joined up thinking in this useless coalition government? We have well over a million under 24 year olds who are not working nor are likely to be working if those at the upper end of the age scale are to remain in post for even longer. It is fine for those with decent savings of their own but how many of those in their fifties now will be in a financial position to give up work without drawing their state pension? Maybe we could look at more radical solutions such as reducing working hours in the years leading up to retirement and bringing in youngsters to be mentored by the older members of the workforce but this will cost firms money so would need support from the government that we probably cannot afford.
report thisAndrew Baker
Sep 12, 2011 at 12:10
I wonder how much the numbers are affected by the greed of the plutarchs in business and politics who one way or another take the wealth for themselves that is produced by the majority who will be once again last at the trough.
The antics of Bush, who benefited from Bin Laden money, and sought to blame Saddam Hussein for 9/11, and Tony Blair who sought aggrandisement by joining in on the war regardless of the truth, are but two known examples of what has been going on for years, and continues to this day. Both have milked their systems for not only grandeur but money too, whilst pretending to be beneficent leaders: and the cronies we don't hear about, that condone such behaviour whilst knowing the truth, collectively rip off everyone not in their clique to the extent that people are told there is not enough money to go around. If the money were not expropriated by the plutarchs and the layer of bureaucrats they keep in place to distract attention by bombarding people with rules, regulations and other diversionary tactics, then perhaps we wouldn't need to raise retirement ages as there would be enough money to permit both improvements in technology such that production could increase per capita, and adequate too to provide pensions for longer.
The antics of leaders in other parts of the world are not so different from our own: ours just know how to hide things better.
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