Reaching a certain age: Public attitudes to the state pension

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The state pension matters to a lot of people. 12.5m (and rising) adults in the UK receive it. We spend £110bn a year on the state pension, and it provides the majority of the income for nearly half of pensioners.

With the state pension age currently undergoing an independent review, now is a crucial time to understand what people think about this important intergenerational topic. This report, based on original polling independently commissioned from YouGov, explores public perceptions of the state pension – what it is for, who it is for and who pays.

Read the executive summary
 

Key Findings

This original research shows that:

• 84% of people believe that it an essential role of government to provide the state pension. Despite this, one in three people (and half of under 50s) think that there probably won’t be a state pension by the time they retire.
• Less than one in ten people (9%) say that age should be the main factor determining when a person stops working, with individual circumstances (35%), health (25%) and ability to do the job (25%) being seen as more important.
• People of all ages believe that the state pension is there to ensure everyone has a minimum level of income in retirement (87%) and to support older people who are unable to work (82%).

Steady increase in the state pension age

Over recent decades the state pension age has been going in one direction – up. From 60 to 65 years for women and more recently to 66 years for everyone. There are further planned rises in the state pension age to 67 and 68 years in the pipeline.
 

Increases to state pension age aren’t felt evenly

Raising the state pension age doesn’t automatically lead to people being able to work for longer. The most recent rise resulted in more 65 year-olds in poverty, and on out of work benefits. This report recommends that a fraction of the savings on public spending from any future rises to the state pension age should be reinvested to support those most impacted and boost opportunities for better, longer working lives for everyone.
 

Recommendations for action

Other recommendations in the report include implementing a package of measures including;

• Greater investment in preventative workplace health
• Tailored job support programmes
• Support for working carers

The report also advocates for the critical the role of mid-life MOTs, age inclusive recruitment campaigns and lifelong learning.
 

Download the Full Report