Strong criticism of proposals to increase the UK’s state pension age to 70 has been made by the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
Brendan Barber said today (October 20th) that the plans, put forward in a report released earlier this week by the Institute of Directors, would effectively discriminate against lower-income households.
If adopted, the new state pension age will reduce the length of time that state support is provided to older people.
This in turn is likely contribute to financial problems in some households.
However, income shortfalls can be alleviated by generating a regular income through an equity release plan.
Mr Barber commented: "The better off you are, the longer you live and the more years you get to claim a state pension.
"A big rise in the state pension age would mean the less well-off lose a much bigger proportion of their pension than longer-living affluent pensioners."
Labour and the Conservatives have both recently put forward proposals to increase the state pension age for men and women to 66 years old at some point in the future.
Posted by Christian O’Leary
