State Pension Age Review Due This Autumn: What Over-55s Are Being Told to Watch

The government's statutory review of the state pension age is expected to report this autumn, and for the first time in a decade, pension campaigners say the political arithmetic around the issue has genuinely shifted.

The review, required under the Pensions Act, must weigh life expectancy projections against the share of national income spent on the state pension. The current age of 66 is legislated to rise to 67 between 2026 and 2028, with a further rise to 68 pencilled in for the 2040s — a timetable several think tanks argue could be brought forward.

What has changed since the last review is the condition of private savings. Research published this summer showing one in three over-55s holding less than three months of essential spending in accessible savings has been cited in evidence submissions from Age UK, the Trades Union Congress and two former pensions ministers.

"People planned their sixties around a date," said Dr. Miriam Osei, who studies retirement adequacy at the University of Manchester. "Moving the date moves the plan — and for a third of the cohort approaching retirement now, there is no private cushion to absorb a delay. That is new, and the reviewers know it."

People planned their sixties around a date. Moving the date moves the plan.

The WASPI shadow

The review also lands in the long shadow of the Women Against State Pension Inequality campaign, which secured a parliamentary ombudsman finding of maladministration over how earlier changes were communicated. Ministers across two governments have resisted compensation, but officials privately concede the episode has made any future acceleration politically expensive.

A DWP spokesperson said the review would be "evidence-led" and that no decisions had been taken. The department pointed to the triple lock, which raised the full new state pension to £230.25 a week in April, as evidence of its commitment to pensioner incomes.

What advisers are telling clients

Financial planners say the practical advice for over-55s has not changed with the review's approach: obtain a state pension forecast through the government's online service, check National Insurance records for gaps that can still be filled voluntarily, and treat any reported timetable as provisional until legislated.

"The forecast takes ten minutes and it is the single most useful thing most people can do," said Karen Blight, a chartered planner in Bristol. "Whatever the review recommends, knowing your own number changes how you make every other decision."

MoneyHelper provides free guidance on state pension forecasts and voluntary National Insurance contributions, and its pension guidance appointments remain free for anyone over 50.