Reverse government decision that will increase State Pension Age for millions

When State Pension Age (SPA) is reviewed, the underlying principle is that the proportion of adult life spent over SPA should be constant. At first the target proportion was up to 33.3%. Government now wants to reduce this to 32%. The 33.3% target must be maintained or SPA will rise for millions.

The principle of "up to one third" of adult life over State Pension Age (SPA) was announced in the 2013 Autumn Statement.

But in July the Secretary of State said "Government is minded to commit to ‘up to 32%’ as the right proportion”.

Under the original principle, SPA reaches 68 by April 2041 and 69 by April 2055. Under the new approach it would be 11 and 13 years earlier respectively and 70 by April 2056.

Unless the original target is retained, millions of people will have a higher SPA.

To ensure that the State Pension (SP) remains affordable, a law was introduced in 2014 requiring the Government to review State Pension age (SPa) every six years. The SPa reviews are based around the principle that people should spend a similar proportion of their adult life receiving the State Pension as the generation before them. This ensures fairness between different age groups and means that people retiring in future should not have a better or worse deal than people retiring today. The SPa review can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630065/state-pension-age-review-final-report.pdf

The first government review of State Pension age followed an independent review which was led by the former Chair of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) , John Cridland, which can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/611460/independent-review-of-the-state-pension-age-smoothing-the-transition.pdf

In addition, each time the Government reviews State Pension age, they must ask the Government Actuary to write a report that considers various State Pension age timetables, and the proportion of adult life in retirement which these timetables would result in. This report will inform the Government’s review. The first of these reports is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/603136/periodic-review-of-rules-about-state-pension-age-gad-report.pdf