Yahoo UK’s poll of the week lets you vote and indicate your strength of feeling on one of the week’s hot topics. After the poll closes, we’ll publish and analyse the results each Friday, giving readers the chance to see how polarising a topic has become and if their view chimes with other Yahoo UK readers.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is facing headaches over the state pension, among other spending decisions. (PA)
Huge changes to the UK’s pensions could be on the cards as chancellor Rachel Reeves seeks to balance the government’s account books.
Ministers have announced the Pensions Commission – which recommended auto-enrolment in workplace schemes in 2005 – is set to be revived for the first time in almost two decades in a bid to get Britons saving more for retirement.
But the age at which the state pension can be drawn is also expected to be increased, with Reeves saying it was “right” to examine the issue in light of increasing life expectancy.
Currently set at 66, the age is due to rise to 67 by 2028 and then to 68 between 2044-2046 – although the prospect of bringing this timeline forward has also been raised.
Last year, the UK spent £138 billion on the state pension, equivalent to 5% of GDP, a figure the Office for Budget Responsibility expects to rise to 7.7% by the 2070s.
The government is understood to be looking at changes to the pensions ‘triple lock’, which ensures state pensions rise by 2.5%, CPI inflation, or the increase in average earnings every year, are also being considered.
However, the triple lock will not be considered by the Pensions Commission, and Labour has pledged to maintain it in its current form until the end of this Parliament.
In our poll earlier this week, Yahoo News UK asked our readers: “Should the state pension age be raised above 66?“
It received 5,403 votes and showed an overwhelming majority – 85% – in favour of keeping the current age in place.
The poll also asked readers for their thoughts on the pensions triple lock.
Once again, 85% said they wanted to see the guarantee maintained, with even fewer arguing it should be scrapped.
The poll’s Have Your Say feature elicited some strong feelings and a mixture of opinions, with most feeling the state pension age should not be raised – but even this provoked a split over why it should be held steady.
JanR, from Hertfordshire, said: “I think the state pension age should remain as it is. Most people work all their lives and deserve some down time whilst they are hopefully fit enough to enjoy it.”
David g, from Manchester, agreed, but said the focus should be on younger people still climbing the career ladder, rather than those already at the top.
He said: “Keeping people in work longer to shorten the amount of pension they claim in what remains of their lives is the wrong thing to do. What about the younger generation looking for their first jobs? What will be left for them to do? Nothing. The government has totally got its priorities wrong. Why should we be forced to work for over fifty years? This is grossly unfair”
P smith, from south Wales, also concurred, but argued those who had contributed to their pensions should not be penalised at the expense of those who had not, saying: “Why should people who have contributed to a works pension scheme work later in life to help support those who haven’t.”
Others however, like Kevin F, from Derby, took the opposite view. He said: “The pension age has to increase in line with life expectancy. It’s only fair to the younger generation.”
Read more of Yahoo UK’s Poll of the Week articles