The government is pushing a head with proposals to bring the planned rise in the state pension age to 68 ahead by at least seven years, its official spending watchdog has claimed.
Millions of people will face an extra year in work under the plans, as the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) indicates that the “current policy” is to move the rise from 2044 to 2037.
In its latest report on the nation’s spending, the OBR states that the Treasury has confirmed the decision, despite the planned rise not being in legislation.
Under the Pensions Act 2007, the notional policy remains for the state pension age to rise to 68 from 2044 to 2046. This remains the official guidance for current workers.
But the change means that around five million people who are currently aged between 49 and 55 would have to work for an extra year before being eligible for their state pension. At its currently yearly rate, this would cost them £12,500.
HM Treasury, however, has said it is untrue, and that the change was committed to by a previous government but never brought into force. A spokesperson said: “The law remains to increase to the Stage Pension to 68 in 2044. In July 2025 we announced the launch of the third review of the state pension age, which is required by legislation.”
The OBR report said: “We assume that the state pension rises to 68 in 2037-39, and then to 69 in the 2070s.”
It adds that, if the government were to follow the 2044 plan, it would cost “an average additional £6 billion in today’s terms in each of the years the state pension age rise is delayed.”
A new review of the state pension aged was launched by Labour last year under the legal requirement that one must be carried out every six years. It is being led by Dr Suzy Morrissey, deputy director of the Pensions Policy Institute, and the Government Actuary’s Department.
However, the recommendation for the state pension age to rise to 68 from 2037 dates back to the first such review, released in 2017, which was triggered by then-prime minister Theresa May.
Any change to the state pension age must come with at least 10 years’ notice, meaning a planned rise to 2037 must start to be legislated on by next year at the latest.
Pensions minister Torsten Bell has previously said that the government had not made a final decision on the state pension age increase to 68.
Asked about the issue by the Work and Pensions Committee in March, he said: “We want to make sure that we have a sustainable state pension for the longer term, because one of the most worrying things, if you look at the data at the moment, is the reduction in trust in the pension system.
“Fairness is a very central part of why the state pension exists, and the design features of the state pension show that that is also something of cross-party consensus.”
Economist Paul Johnson, the former head of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, commented: “Current legislation is that the pension age will not rise until the mid-2040s. If it is the government’s firm intention that it should rise sooner than that, they need to say so publicly and get on with legislation — and fast. People need certainty and, ideally, at least a decade’s notice.
“It is, however, the right thing to do. For many decades the retirement age has not kept pace with increasing life expectancy and these reasonably modest changes to the pension age will help the government’s long-term fiscal position. However, the government will also have to look at other areas like the triple lock to ensure that state pension is sustainable in the longer term,” he told The Times.
The Treasury spokesperson said: “The previous government publicly committed to raising the state pension age to 68 between 2037 and 2039 and the OBR has reflected that position for years. The state pension age review, which will consider what the timetable for state pension age should be in the coming decades, is currently under way and we cannot pre-empt the outcome.”
The planned increase to the state pension age to 67 begun in April this year, affecting all workers born after April 1960.
Andy Burnham declines to rule out wealth tax and will be ‘upfront’ with Trump
Andy Burnham facing pressure to raise council tax on Britain’s most expensive homes
What are Andy Burnham’s options to tackle the rising cost of living?
BBC needs to be ‘open to all options’ for funding, says director-general Brittin
Meet the former Lioness now cheering on Argentina in the World Cup
Keir Starmer pledges ‘wholehearted support’ to Andy Burnham in final PMQs
