to think if the state pension age of 68 is being brought forward.........

[JenniferBooth]

then they need to stop moaning and whining when there are no family members (read women)
to provide unpaid care so elderly relatives can be discharged from hospital
You cant have it both ways.

Surely they keep pushing it back? Bringing it forward would be decreasing it (so you get there sooner).

The care problem is different to the pensions issue. A pension doesn’t free women up to be unpaid carers either.

I think it'll also cause childcare problems, my parents provide a day childcare every week which they can do because they are retired. My retirement age is 68 so I won't be able to help my daughter if she has kids until she is 38 unless I am able to retire early!

I’m pretty sure the OP means the rising of the state pension age is being brought forward, i.e. it was planned to happen in the mid-2040s, but it’s now looking like it will happen in the mid to late 2030s. So some people in their early 50s who thought they will be able to claim their pension at 67 will now have to wait until they were 68.

They can do what they like.
I'm NOT working until I die, thank you very much!

I’m mid 30’s. By the time I reach pension age I’m pretty sure there won’t even be one. If you want to eat and warm your home, you will need to work until you die because pension won’t be covering the cost of basic living.

Just because the state pension age will be 68, it doesn’t mean you have to work until then. Many people are saving their own pensions so they can retire when they want. Relying on the state pension is really not a good idea.

I am working till 67. My kids will have to sort their own childcare.

If Wiki is correct, in most countries the retirement age is still between 60 and 65. Except UK, Netherlands and Norway at 66.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retirement_age

I retired at 62 and never regretted it. I now have time to do the things that give me joy.

But I'm lucky in that I was able to save while I worked in a well paid job, and I have a husband who enjoys his work and wouldn't know what to do with himself if he retired.

For most people, having to work till they're 68 will be a great hardship.

I am 32 and there is no chance I will be able to work until retirement age. I have a measly personal pension. And hopefully well have a house we can downsize and take money out.. otherwise I have no idea what I'll do. I won't be fit for looking after grandkids or my parents either

I'm still working, albeit part-time, and I'll be 68 this summer. I can't bear the thought of stopping.

I feel very privileged to have a job I thoroughly enjoy, fantastic colleagues and a very supportive employer. It's a shame all work can't be like that, for everyone.

I think the message needs to be much clearer to young people that they need to start contributing to a private pension as soon as they get a job. I feel very lucky that my Dad told me to set up a private pension when I was about 25, I won’t have a huge one because I’ve never had high paying jobs, but it will give me a little extra on top of the state one.
Ive started a pension for my daughter with a little inheritance I received, so that by the time she retires it will be a decent amount - if she continues to pay into it.

In 1948, when the modern State Pension was introduced, a 65-year-old could expect to live for a further 13½ years, or 23% of their adult life, assuming adult life starts at 20. In 1995, when the first changes were enacted to equalise State Pension age, a 65-year-old could expect to live for 18½ years, or 29% of their adult life.

This had risen to around 21 years by 2007, or 32% of their adult life, when further legislation was introduced to increase State Pension age. Increased longevity is a triumph of improved health and better living standards. But an ageing population also presents us with some profound challenges.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/630066/print-ready-state-pension-age-review-final-report.pdf

Historically, the "Old Age Pension" was introduced in 1909 in the United Kingdom (which included all of Ireland at that time). The qualifying age was 70, and the pensions were subject to a means test.

I remember them saying there would definitely be no state pension for us when I started in my first job 35 years ago. But there will be a state pension because it's impossible to unravel: governments only look to the next election,. If you proposed something as unpopular as this and you'll be locked out for a decade (ask the lib dems).

People are paying in and have been for the last 40 years on the expectation they will get a pension. You just can't take that away at any point as it's unfair to the people who contributed for years. You can't lock out younger people, because then why should they fund the current system.

The current generation of pensioners have not properly funded their own pensions through sufficient taxes and left later generations to pay the price. They need to pay the shortfall that they owe to future generations via inheritance tax.

Funding of the state pension needs to be taken away from the political arena and a formula developed to ensure that it is always fully funded, like you would for a private pension. If the pot is not enough, NI rises. If it looks sufficient, you can slacken off.

Alternatively just carry on with the NHS as we have been and then we'll all die conveniently early anyway.

Whenever we see a thread about elderly relatives needing care we have posters jumping on the thread asking why family members arent doing more. I cant work out whether its ignorance or a wilful refusal to connect the dots.

@NewFoxOldTricks Those figures are not accurate.
"Life expectancy at birth in the UK in 2018 to 2020 was 79.0 years for males and 82.9 years for females"

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2018to2020

And even that is for children born in 2018 to 2020. Life expectancy for people in their fifties is less than that.

1908
The Old Age Pensions Act introduced a pension of between 10p and 25p per week to people aged 70 or over. This came into effect on January 1st 1909, which is known as Pensions Day. You could only receive this pension if you were deemed of "good character"

It was not means tested. But it was a very long time ago. Women did not even have the vote then.

And now life expectancy is falling again, not rising.

It also varies hugely by area - up to twenty years difference! Many people in the North of England can already expect to die either before pensionable age or shortly afterwards

I completely agree with this. We're being well and truly shafted!

And there will always be a state pension. Most people can not save enough money to replace a state pension. And if state pension is means tested, many people including me will cash in our private pension and retire early and then get the means tested state pension.

They're clearly trying to dial back the pension principles to how they were when it began, in that it was deliberately planned for an age over the average age when people (probably men, at the time) would have died.

Kind of making it like an extra reward for having the good fortune of not being disabled, not becoming seriously ill, not growing up or living in deprivation circumstances that are well-known to shorten your life expectancy and also not having to do a manual job. See also: school attendance awards.

Effectively, it's privileged wealthy, healthy, able-bodied people deciding that they're such jolly good sorts, they should be given a big thankyou stipend from society for being absolute top bananas.

When you're in the position that I (and countless others) are in, with disability, serious health conditions and other adverse circumstances, it paradoxically becomes both more of a gross insult and less to have to bother caring about anyway, the more they wang on about pension ages going up - usually alongside talk of how 'we're ALL living so much longer now' - as it's already well over the age that we are going to reach in the first place, so it's all academic.

If they brought in a ruling that people blessed with amazing health would have to work until they were 85 or 90 before getting a pension, there would be (not unjustified) outrage; but that's effectively the deliberate active choice they've set in stone for millions of us who are in a much less advantageous position. However, to be fair, they're still letting us pay our taxes towards the pensions that other people will eventually receive....

Good point about childcare By the time its needed the grandparents will still be working. Couples are also having kids later.

There was a link on here the other day with projections. Denmark was 74 in 2060

I don’t think we were that old, but still

The current generation of 20 to 40 year olds are estimated to be the largest generation ever that will benefit from substantial inheritances.

1946
Through the National Insurance Act a State Pension for everybody was implemented on a contributory basis. Taking effect from 1948, men were eligible at 65, while women could receive it from 60.

The current generation of pensioners have not properly funded their own pensions through sufficient taxes and left later generations to pay the price. They need to pay the shortfall that they owe to future generations via inheritance tax

How do people on a state pension fund this shortfall? How did they know what was going to happen? Not everyone gets inheritance tax.

Depends how old your parents were when they had you doesn't it? My mum was late thirties when I was born, my dad 40. My caring years for my mum were my fifties..