1 Lord Sheldon debates involving the Department for Work and Pensions

Mon 5th Sep 2011

Retirement Age

Lord Sheldon Excerpts
Monday 5th September 2011

(13 years, 2 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Asked By
Lord Sheldon Portrait Lord Sheldon
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To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are giving further consideration to extending the state retirement age beyond the present age of 65, and 68 in 2046.

Lord Freud Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions (Lord Freud)
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My Lords, the noble Lord has, of course, previously suggested that there should be a formal relationship between pension age and life expectancy. We have consulted on a mechanism to ensure that revisions in life expectancy are reflected in the state pension age. The summary of responses was published on 27 July and we will publish our proposals in due course.

Lord Sheldon Portrait Lord Sheldon
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My Lords, the pension age will be equal for men and women in only seven to eight years’ time, and it will rise from 66 to 68 in 2044. That is very slow. Longevity is rising so rapidly that an assessment has been made that more than 11 million people can expect to live to be more than 100 years old. Should not the pension age be affected by the rapid rise in longevity?

Lord Freud Portrait Lord Freud
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My Lords, the noble Lord is right to pinpoint what is happening to longevity. There needs to be a response to that because we cannot afford to pay for the large number of people who spend upwards of 40 per cent of their adult lives in retirement with a state pension. The process that we are undergoing is to look at how best to move the pension age with either a review or some automatic process, and we will be coming out with our proposals for that in due course.