Andrea Barry, at the Centre for Ageing Better, a charity, warned that the Government “should have been prepared” for the effects of the rise in the state pension age.
She added that more needed to be done to ensure that the mid-60s was not a period of heightened financial precariousness for growing numbers of older people.
Ms Barry said: “At present, too many people are left to sink or swim by themselves as they approach state pension age.”
The warning from MPs came after a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the poverty rate for 65-year-olds climbed from 10pc to 24pc after the state pension age was increased to 66 in 2020.
The committee warned that the financial effects of increasing the state pension age to 67 could be even more damaging.
A spokesman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: “We welcome the work and pensions select committee inquiry on the transition to state pension age and will consider their report and recommendations in due course.”
The spokesman said that as of February only 0.02pc of Universal Credit claimants were aged 65 or 66.
They added that the Pensions Commission was searching for ways to boost retirement savings after its interim report found that almost half of working-age Britons were not saving for retirement.