The Modern Hermit

Work till the coffin? Raise the pension age again

A factory punch clock forced to 70, with a hi-vis jacket on a hook below.

Lede
A tidy fix for budgets. A cruel joke for tired bodies.

What does not make sense

  • The age keeps creeping up. First the 60s, now 66, soon 67, then 68. Think tanks float 70 and 75 like weather balloons.
  • The people cheering this are not stacking shelves at 4 a.m. or laying bricks in January.
  • We pretend everyone reaches late old age in good health. Many do not. The gap by income and place is brutal.
  • Government sells “sustainability” while ignoring sick leave, caring duties, and the reality that some jobs wear you down.
  • If the plan is “work until you drop”, say it. Stop dressing it as fairness.

The plain truth

A pension age is not just a number. It is a bet on bodies. If you raise it for everyone, you tax the people with the shortest, hardest working lives. The comfortable live long enough to collect. The worn-out become a saving line.

The numbers to hold in your head

  • State Pension age is 66 now. It rises to 67 between 2026 and 2028, and is legislated to reach 68 between 2044 and 2046.
  • Ministers delayed a decision about bringing 68 forward, but the push continues.
  • Healthy life is not equal. In the most deprived areas, life expectancy is a decade lower than in the wealthiest. Many reach their mid-60s already ill.
  • From age 50, people in England can expect roughly 9 years of healthy working life on average, and far less in deprived areas. That does not match a blanket push to late 60s and beyond.
  • Survival to even age 60 is lower in the poorest areas than in the richest. Designing policy for averages punishes those on the edge.

What action looks like

  • Keep the current timetable under review, but stop floating fantasy ages that ignore health gaps.
  • Build flexible pension routes for heavy, hazardous and care-worn jobs. Earlier access without penalty where work shortens life.
  • Invest in healthy work: safety, ventilation, heat rules, sick pay that people can live on.
  • Protect carers who step out to look after family. Count it as work.
  • Fix the tax gap and low investment before you raid years from people with little margin.

The Hermit take

Raise the floor for health and wages before you raise the pension age again. If policy is only a spreadsheet, it will break on contact with real lives.

Keep or toss

Toss the one-size-fits-all climb. Keep fairness by job, health and years actually lived.

What to check for your own pension year
  • Official State Pension age calculator: https://www.gov.uk/state-pension-age
  • State Pension forecast (what you have built up): https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension
  • Current timetable (official PDF): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f02e640f0b62305b84929/spa-timetable.pdf

Tip: have your date of birth to hand. Law changes do not apply until they pass.

Sources

UK Government – State Pension age review 2023 (confirms rise to 67 in 2026–2028): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/state-pension-age-review-2023-government-report/state-pension-age-review-2023
UK Government – Third State Pension age review call for evidence (current law: 67 by 2028; 68 in 2044–2046): https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/third-state-pension-age-review-independent-report-call-for-evidence/third-state-pension-age-review-independent-report-call-for-evidence
GOV.UK – State Pension age timetable (official schedule PDF): https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f02e640f0b62305b84929/spa-timetable.pdf
The Guardian – Decision on bringing forward rise to 68 delayed until after election (context on timing debate): https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/mar/30/decision-on-bringing-forward-uk-pension-age-rise-to-68-delayed-until-after-election
ONS – Healthy life expectancy by deprivation (large gaps in years lived in good health): https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthinequalities/bulletins/healthylifeexpectancybynationalareadeprivationenglandandwales/between2013to2015and2020to2022
The Lancet Public Health – Population-based estimates of healthy working life expectancy in England (≈9 years from age 50 on average): https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpub/PIIS2468-2667%2820%2930114-6.pdf
Newcastle University – Healthy working life expectancy is shortest in deprived areas (press summary): https://www.ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2020/07/healthyworkingage/
Health Foundation – Survival to at least age 60 by deprivation (inequality in survival): https://www.health.org.uk/evidence-hub/health-inequalities/inequalities-in-survival-rates-between-the-most-and-least-deprived

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Satire and commentary. My views. For information only. Not advice.