State Pension Age


State Pension Age (SPA) is the earliest age you can claim your State Pension and depends on when you were born. SPA is gradually rising from 60 to 65 for women by November 2018 (bringing women into line with men whose SPA is currently 65); and then from 65 to 66 for both men and women in October 2020. 



A further increase in the SPA from 66 to 67 was brought forward under the Pensions Act 2014 by eight years to begin in 2026 and end in 2028. For people born after 5 April 1969 but before 6 April 1977, SPA is already 67.


An Independent Review of State Pension Age led by John Cridland looked at what should happen to the SPA after 2028 and recommended that it should rise to 68 seven years earlier than previously planned - being phased in between 2037 and 2039 rather than between 2044 and 2046. He also recommended scrapping the triple-lock pensions guarantee (see below) and replacing it after 2020 with a simple link to earnings. 


“More working people rely on the state pension than any other form of retirement saving,” said TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady. “We must make sure it remains the bedrock of financial security in retirement. The review has made a good start identifying the challenges ahead, and making sure that the needs of carers and the self-employed are not overlooked. It is welcome that the review recognises how important the triple lock has been in helping disadvantaged groups.”


But she said that while we should do all we can to allow more people to continue working in their later years, “hiking up the retirement age will not help, especially in parts of the UK with lower life expectancy. We should instead remove barriers faced by those who choose to work into later life”.


The UK is already on track to have the highest retirement age of OECD countries by 2060, according to a TUC report, Postponing the pension: are we all working longer?, published in September 2016, found that nearly half a million (436,000) workers who are within five years of state pension age have had to leave the workplace for medical reasons.