The ratcheting up of state pension age based on life expectancy was originally announced in January 2013. As part of the Autumn Statement, the Chancellor has now confirmed that future changes should be based on the principle that people should expect to spend up to one third of their adult life (taken to start at age 20) in receipt of state pension. The DWP has suggested that this means that the increase to 68 would be brought forward to the mid-2030s, and the increase to 69 would happen in the late-2040s.
There are no immediate changes to the state pension age timetable as a result of this announcement. The DWP has published a note on how the calculations may be done in practice, with a more detailed note on methodology to follow. The first review will take place by May 2017.
Employers and trustees of schemes operating benefits linked to state pension age (for example bridging pensions) should start considering whether and how these benefits could be redesigned as the state pension age rises.
The current state pension timetable can be found here and the DWP note here.
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