Future of State Pension Triple Lock and retirement age could be impacted by current birth rates

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The UK Government’s second review of the State Pension age is due to be published in May. The latest review into the official age at which someone can retire, now 66 for both men and women, launched at the start of last year and is considering whether the rules around pensionable age are appropriate, based on the latest life expectancy data and other evidence.

State Pension age is regularly reviewed to make sure that it is affordable and fair as people are living longer and spending a greater proportion of their adult life in retirement than in previous years.

Two further increases currently set out in legislation indicate a gradual rise to 67 for those born on or after April 5, 1960 and a rise to 68 between 2044 and 2046 for those born on or after April 5, 1977.However, senior pensions and retirement analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Helen Morrissey, warns that current lower birth rates could impact the age of retirement and the State Pension Triple Lock guarantee.Ms Morrissey said that the birth rate combined with increasing longevity has huge consequences for State Pension policy.In the immediate post-war era live births were well over 800,000 per year and there was also a large increase across Great Britain in the 1960s.

New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and National Record of Scotland show there were 672,614 live births in Scotland, England and Wales in 2021.