The Government has been handed two separate reports that have suggested raising the state pension age.
According to an analysis conducted by the Department of Work and Pensions, it has been suggested that the state pension age should be raised to 70, in a bid to reduce pressure on the state.
The findings coincided with an additional report with similar findings, which put forward the proposal that individuals under the age of 45 may be obliged to work an additional year until the age of 68, in order to qualify for a state pension. The second report by former CBI chief John Cridland stipulated various recommendations such as enacting the upward revision of state age from 2046 to 2039.
This follows a reported marked rise in women working into their seventies as revealed by recent reports by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS data revealed that 15.5 percent of men are still in employment at the age of 70, a sharp increase from 10 percent in 2012. The rise in women working past retirement age has been even more evident, doubling from 5.6 percent to 11.3 percent.
According to Nathan Long, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, which analysed the ONS findings:
“The increase in the number of people working over 70 is predominately because they want to work later, not because they need to. But we do expect that to shift rapidly as final salary pension schemes are phased out, and more people come to retirement underfunded.”
This follows promising figures with regards to UK employment in February, remaining at 11-year low at 4.8 percent. Nevertheless, in recent years wages have demonstrated a stunted growth, which proves a concern for households amid rising inflation levels. Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, the Department of Work and Pensions remained upbeat about household incomes.
The Department tweeted last week:
New figures released today show average household incomes remain highest on record https://t.co/UqDeYsIjAo pic.twitter.com/ZPwib7vih2
— DWP Press Office (@dwppressoffice) 16 March 2017
The Government is set to respond to the reports and come to a decision regarding potential changes to state pension regulations by May of this year.