The rising State Pension Age could end up being higher than the average expected lifespan in some areas – meaning most people will die before they are able to claim it. That’s the warning from MPs as the Work and Pensions Committee predicts that State Pension Age could rise above 70 by the year 2060.
The BBC reports –
“The committee commissioned the Institute for Fiscal Studies to estimate the extra state pension age increases that would be needed to maintain expenditure at about 6% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product)… It found that the state pension age would need to be 70.5 years by 2060… But the committee’s research found that in deprived areas of England and Scotland, male life expectancy was below that level… Currently, the state pension age is set to be 67 for both men and women by 2028… The committee said:
- Male life expectancy was below 70.5 in 162 areas in Scotland
- The lowest male life expectancy was 62.5 years in the Parkhead West and Barrowfield area of Glasgow. In that area, female life expectancy was 70.1 years
- Male life expectancy was below 70.5 in 26 areas in England, including Blackpool, Manchester, Teesside, Leicester, east London and the Wirral
- The lowest male expectancy in England was 67.5 years in the centre of Blackpool
- By contrast, male life expectancy in the area of Westminster, which includes Mayfair and Covent Garden, was 92.9 years, 25 years higher
Frank Field, committee chairman, said: “With the triple-lock in place, the only way state pension expenditure can be made sustainable is to keep raising the state pension age… This has the effect of excluding ever more people from the state pension altogether.”