The following details have been provided by the TUC:
The later retirement date announced by the Chancellor in last week’s Autumn statement might be of little significance to the wealthy, but it could see many others receive little or nothing of their state pension entitlement, the TUC has warned.
The union body was commenting on the plans announced in the Commons by George Osborne to push back the state pension age to 68 by the mid-2030s, with further increases after that. It is already scheduled to move to 66 between 2018 and 2020 and then to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “There has been no new evidence to show that people are living any longer since the last time the Chancellor increased the state pension age, yet today’s young workers are being told they must work until they drop.” She added: “However many decades they work hard and contribute, tomorrow’s 69-year-olds will find themselves being sent for the future version of ATOS assessments if they can no longer work. Barely half of all men are able to work beyond the current state pension age. Raising it further will simply prolong an agonising limbo between their last job and their state pension.” She warned: “This has nothing to do with dealing with unexpected extra pension costs but is part of a long-term attack on the welfare state and the dismantling of our national insurance system.”
TUC research found there is already a £67,000 state pension divide due to a widening gap in life expectancies and a rising state pension age. And research published last year by TUC noted that disability and poor health are preventing nearly half a million people approaching retirement from working, a figure that will increase as the state pension age rises.
