The state pension age should be raised to 75 within the next 16 years to help boost the UK economy, according to a Tory think tank.
In a new report, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has proposed an increase of the pension age to 70 by 2028 and 75 by 2035.
The pension age is already set to increase to 67 by 2028 and to 68 by 2046 – but the organisation, co-founded by former Conservative leader and work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan-Smith, wants to see a faster increase.
The CSJ’s latest report said evidence suggested the UK was “not responding to the needs and potential” of an ageing workforce, with hundreds of thousands of people aged 50 to 64 seen as “economically inactive”.
It recommended helping older people “access the benefits of work” by giving support to them and employers, such as increased access to flexible working and training opportunities.
The organisation proposes that the pension age should be increased once this support is in place.
In 2017 the government announced plans to increase the state pension age to 68 between 2037 and 2039.
However the CSJ wants to see faster increases, and believes the cost of benefits would be reduced by employing more older people while it would boost the UK’s gross domestic product (GDP).