Government forced to fight back in pension battle
The UK government has today been forced to confirm that the age of retirement will not rise above and beyond 68, which is due to come in by 2046. When compared against the current retirement ages of 60 for women and 65 for men, the proposed increase to 68 has already been confirmed but yesterday the Pensions Regulator suggested that the retirement age in UK would have to increase to above 70 years of age to avert a funding crisis.
However, the announcement yesterday has caused real concern within the UK government and Angela Eagle, the UK government's pensions minister, has confirmed that there are "no plans" for further changes to the state pension age. While this would appear to cut dead any potential increase in the retirement age in the future, this is simply political talk which is often used to try and defuse a potentially difficult situation.
The fact is that even if the future pension age, in 2046, does not move any higher than 68 then it would still leave the UK with the highest retirement age in Europe. When you consider that workers in Ireland retire at 66, Denmark 67 and France at 60, the UK would not compare very favourably.
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