State pension age starts rising to 67 - here’s how much you get and when

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Kevin Peachey,Cost of living correspondentand

Jo Krasner,Radio 4’s Money Box

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The age at which millions of people can claim their state pension is starting to rise to 67 from Monday, when the monthly payments also go up.

The current state pension age is 66 but this will increase in stages over the next two years until it reaches 67.

The first people to feel the impact will be those born between 6 April and 5 May, 1960, who will have to wait an extra month before they are paid a pension.

The move is designed to reflect longer life expectancy with many younger people anticipating working into their 70s, although the government is still reviewing any further pension age rises.

Peter Bradbury, from Preston, will be entitled to his state pension when he is aged 66 and eight months.

“It is annoying,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Money Box, having thought as a young man that he would have eventually got his pension at 65. "I’ll do some other work and I can’t travel as much as I wanted to.

“In terms of day-to-day expenditure it doesn’t affect it that much, but all those little extras you would expect have gone.”

At a guitar group at the Florrie in Liverpool, some younger attendees told the BBC they believe the pension age will rise in years to come.

Laura Williams

Laura expects the pension age to continue to rise

Laura Williams, 38, from Netherley, who works in a school, said: “By the time I get to [pension] age I will probably be around 70, I reckon.”

She was worried about the quality of life she would have by then.

“The things you might put off doing until you have got the freedom, and maybe the finances, to do it, your body might not be able to do by then,” she said.

The rise from 66 to 67 is expected to save the Treasury about £10bn a year by 2030.

In general, people need 35 years of qualifying national insurance contributions to get a full state pension.

The amount paid will rise within days by 4.8% in line with average wages, owing to the triple lock policy. It means:

• the new flat-rate state pension - for those who reached state pension age after April 2016 - will increase to £241.30 a week, or £12,547.60 a year, a rise of £574.60
• the old basic state pension - for those who reached state pension age before April 2016 - will go up to £184.90 a week, or £9,614.80 a year, a rise of £439.40

Some people may have gaps in their national insurance record if, for example, they have lived abroad or taken time off to care for children.

Charities have said the pension age increase will have a far greater impact in areas where forecasts for a healthy older age are much shorter, and will hit those on lower incomes harder.

Official statistics suggest men in Wokingham, Berkshire, can expect to be in good health until the age of nearly 70, and nearly 71 for women. That compares with nearly 52 for men in Blackpool and nearly 53 for women in Barnsley.

“The people most affected are often those least able to adjust through staying in work or drawing on other savings, for example those already out of work or in poor health,” said Laurence O’Brien, senior research economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent think tank.

“There is a good case for future increases to the state pension age to come alongside targeted financial support for most affected groups.”

Members of a guitar club in Liverpool expect the pension age to keep rising

Previous increases in the pension age have proved controversial, particularly those leading to the Waspi campaign among women who say they were not given adequate notice of the changes.

Some people affected by pension age rises have needed to rely on private pension savings to bridge the gap, according to the IFS, but increases also led to lower life satisfaction among those who were impacted.

A rising pension age also led to employment rates among affected age groups increasing by 10 percentage points, driven primarily by workers staying in their jobs for longer.

The increase in the state pension age to 68 is currently legislated for 2044–46, although a review will consider whether to change those dates.

Elaine Smith, head of employment and skills at the Centre for Ageing Better, said that the rationale for repeatedly raising the state pension age was based on people living for longer.

“But life expectancy nationally is lower now than it was before the pandemic,” she said.

A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions, said: "We’re committed to providing financial support for people at any age who need it.

“Those that have not reached state pension age can access a range of support such as universal credit and other means-tested and disability-related benefits.”

Listen to more on Money Box at 12:00 BST on Radio 4 or later on BBC Sounds.

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