For many, a state pension at 75 means ‘work until you die’
Life expectancy in many areas is much lower than 75.
A Tory-linked think tank has recommended that the government raise the state pension age to 75 by 2035.
The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) reckons this will “improve the country’s fiscal position” – ie save money.
It will save money of course but at what cost? For many, it will mean they never get to retire.
In places like Blackpool, Glasgow and Dundee, even boys born recently are not expected to reach 75.
For people born in 1960, who will reach 75 by 2035, life expectancy is far lower.
The reasoning for the CSJ’s recommendation is that, as the population ages, more people will be getting the state pension for longer, putting pressure on the public purse.
This is true but it’s a price we have to pay for medical progress and for having our elderly with us for longer. They’ve earned a decent and long retirement.
On top of this, the cost of our state pension is severely limited by how meagre it is. The UK has the lowest state pension of any economically developed country.
In the UK, a state pension gives someone around 29% of what they had previously been earning. In Italy and the Netherlands, this figure is more like 80%.
As accounting professor Prem Sikka wrote when the Tories announced they were raising the pension age to 68, this is regressive class politics.
Sixty-five year olds like the CSJ’s founder Iain Duncan Smith will be alright. He gets paid about £5,000 just for giving a speech. It’s low and middle earners that this policy will hit.
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