The government will back plans to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67 to save billions of pounds and address the pensions crisis, it is reported today.
The Pensions Commission, which reports on 30 November, will conclude that the UK’s £57bn pensions deficit can be met by the increasing the amount of taxes devoted to them, requiring people to save more, achieving an increase in average retirement ages, or by a mix of all three.
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With the Treasury wary of devoting more tax revenue to pensions and a compulsory second pension virtually off the table during the present Parliament, ministers are erring towards the later retirement option, according to the Times.
The prime minister is backing the option of raising the retirement age, but he accepts that the government case has been undermined by the deal with the unions last month to drop the idea of raising the pension age for three million existing public sector workers, the newspaper reported.
