State pension age hits the 67 threshold

There can sometimes be a long period between when legislation becomes law and when it takes effect. The delay is often due to the legislation being only a broad framework to which a raft of detailed regulations is subsequently attached. However, there are instances where a protracted run-in is a deliberate feature. Such is the case with the State pension age (SPA) provisions in the Pensions Act 2014.

These put into law a phased one-year increase in SPA to 67 for men and women born after 5 April 1960, beginning in April 2026 and ending two years later. At the time the Act was passed in May 2014, the SPA for men was 65 and for women, about 62, on the way to an equalised SPA of 65 in March 2016. Thereafter, both men and women saw another year added gradually to their SPA, taking it to 66 in November 2018.

Unsurprisingly, the increases to SPA were – and still are – controversial. To dampen further criticism, the government said that it would provide at least ten years’ notice of any rise in SPA – hence the 12-year time lag for the Pensions Act 2014 change.

While there is a good case for giving a decade’s warning of an increase to SPA, it comes with a risk that the assumptions underlying the original announcement prove to be wrong by the time it takes effect. Unfortunately, this is the case with the latest SPA increase:

• In 2014, the then latest (2012-based) life expectancy projections from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) were that a man aged 66 in 2018 would live for 21.1 years and his female counterpart would survive another 23.7 years. The corresponding projections for men and women aged 67 in 2028 were 21.3 years and 23.8 years, justifying the one-year increase in SPA to 67 by that point.
• In 2026, the ONS life expectancy projections (2022-based) for 67-year-olds in 2028 are 18.6 years for men and 21.1 years for women.

That is a 2.7-year shorter life expectancy between the two sets of projections for both sexes.  Sadly, life expectancy has not improved as rapidly as the ONS expected back in 2012.

One more reason for planning your own retirement date, rather than defaulting to the State’s choice.