Work and Pensions Committee Chair Debbie Abrahams raised serious concerns over changes (Image: Parliament TV)
MPs have voiced worries about big changes to state pensions currently underway which will result in millions of people receiving their money and retiring later. This year the shift for people to collect their pension at 67 commenced – which MPs yesterday stated ‘may have an even greater effect’ than the earlier increase to 66 in 2020.
In the Commons the Work and Pensions Committee delivered a statement on the modifications and expressed substantial concerns about the ability of numerous people to continue working until a later age. Select Committee Chair Debbie Abrahams said it had been conducting an inquiry into the alterations – and she disclosed many were oblivious to the change, and called on the Andy Burnham new administration to take action.
She said: “Many-but not all-know, the state pension age has started to rise from 66 as of April this year, and will reach 67 by April 2028.”
The Committee stated that one factor behind the change was the increase in expenditure on state pensions. In 2005, spending on the state pension and pensioner benefits was 5.3% of GDP.
Twenty years later, as society has aged, that figure has risen to 6%, and it is projected that by 2070 it will be as high as 9%, Ms Abraham said.
She said: “It is clear that disadvantage, ill health and frailty are not spread evenly across the country; they are concentrated in some communities more than others, and they go hand in hand with poverty.”
The Committee revealed that a significant number of people arrive at their early 60s in poor health and no longer able to work, having spent years in low-paid and often physically gruelling jobs. While improved health in later life has been cited as one reason for the rise, Ms Abrahams pointed out that life expectancy is in fact declining: “As the Health Foundation’s recent report shows, since 2012 the healthy life expectancy-the average age someone is expected to live in good health-has fallen by two years, to 60.7 years for men and 60.9 years for women.
“Again, that is an average; in areas such as mine, a former industrial area, the healthy life expectancy for men and women is 56 and 58 years, so we can see the difficulties that the country is facing with this issue. Of course, different cohorts will have different healthy life expectancies as well.”
She argued that the statistics indicate people are simply not remaining in employment until the new pension age. Ms Abrahams noted that in 2025, just 42% of those aged 65 were still in work.
For those aged 66 — the current state pension age — that figure dropped to below 30%, meaning fewer than one in three people were still in employment. She continued: “On the flip side, we heard about older workers who wanted to work but could not find a suitable job, and people who had left employment because of illness or caring responsibilities and could not get back into work. Sometimes these people ended up having to draw down small pension savings just to get by before their state pension began. It is not generally recognised that the previous state pension age increase from 65 to 66 caused a doubling of absolute poverty among 65-year-olds. Our real concern is that the rise in the state pension age to 67 may have an even greater effect.
She added: “The Department has said that the poverty that pensioners and pre-pensioners experienced when the state pension age rose from 65 to 66 was mostly temporary, because people were lifted out of poverty as soon as they reached state pension age. However, temporary poverty can still do lasting harm—it can mean going without essentials and carrying stress into later life. Half of pre-pensioners are already frail; experiencing poverty, even temporary poverty, increases the risk of accelerating or exacerbating this deterioration in physical and cognitive function.”
The Committee was informed that work-limiting health conditions amongst individuals aged 60 to 64 have risen from 28% in 2014 to 31% in 2024. “We also heard that almost half of people aged 60 to 66 in the lowest income quintile were already classified as frail. These are people who are vulnerable to deterioration in physical and cognitive functioning.”
Individuals require greater assistance – including ‘an uplift in universal credit in the year before state pension age, with the aim of introducing additional support by the end of this year. ‘ Ms Abraham stated: “We heard that such an increase would cost around £600 million a year, but that must be considered alongside the estimated savings of around £10.5 billion a year once the state pension age is 67, compared with if it had stayed at 66.”
She added there were concerns people were unaware of the new change to 67.
“Not everybody is aware of the increase to 67, and we know from previous pension policy the impact that can have on people. Finally, I express my concern about the irresponsible rumours of a potential acceleration of the further increase in the state pension age. That fear-mongering is unhelpful, to say the least, and is untrue.”
The Department for Work and Pensions has confirmed it has been writing to individuals about a major alteration to the state pension age. The DWP set out its approach today in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the backlash that impacted people when women’s pension age was modified in 2005.
The initiative has already begun this year – with a progressive transition from 66 to 67 taking place. The existing state pension age remains at 66 but will increase gradually over the next two years until hitting 67.
From April 2026, the Government started a staged increase in State Pension age from 66 to 67, to be finalised within two years. When the pension age previously climbed from 65 to 66, it pushed an additional 100,000 65-year-olds into absolute income poverty compared to the timeframe before the change.
Date of birth – Date State Pension age reached.
6 April 1960 – 5 May 1960 66 years and 1 month.
6 May 1960 – 5 June 1960 66 years and 2 months.
6 June 1960 – 5 July 1960 66 years and 3 months.
6 July 1960 – 5 August 1960 66 years and 4 months. 6 August 1960 – 5 September 1960 66 years and 5 months.
6 September 1960 – 5 October 1960 66 years and 6 months.
6 October 1960 – 5 November 1960 66 years and 7 months.
6 November 1960 – 5 December 1960 66 years and 8 months.
6 December 1960 – 5 January 1961 66 years and 9 months.
6 January 1961 – 5 February 1961 66 years and 10 months.
6 February 1961 – 5 March 1961 66 years and 11 months.
6 March 1961 – 5 April 1977 67.
To access the full DWP document Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) action plan: How DWP will learn lessons following the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman’s (PHSO) investigation into communications around women’s State Pension age click here.
