Ministers delay plan to raise state pension age to 68

Announcement had been due in May but has been delayed until after election

Fears of a backlash among middle-aged voters have prompted the government to temporarily shelve plans to bring forward a rise in the state pension age, according to reports.

Ministers are said to have delayed a decision on the changes until after the next general election. The latest date the next national poll can take place is January 2025, although it is widely expected in the spring or summer of next year.

Britain’s state pension age is currently 66 but had been due to rise to 68 from 2024. Reports earlier this year said the government wanted to bring that date forward to as early as 2037.

The UK government had been expected to make an announcement in May. According to the Financial Times, the move is partly in response to falling life expectancy rates in the UK.

There were also said to be concerns about voters having to work for longer after chancellor Jeremy Hunt relaxed the tax rules on pensions for the wealthy with the scrapping of the lifetime allowance.

The paper quoted one government insider as saying: “They were gung-ho to raise the pension age. But they got cold feet.”

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “The government is required by law to regularly review the state pension age and the next review will be published by May 7.”

It comes amid protests and strikes in France against a rise in the state pension age by two years to 64 after president Emmanuel Macron forced through the reforms without a vote in parliament.

His government narrowly won a confidence vote called as a result of the changes. The vote, tabled by centrist MPs, had 278 votes in favour, falling short of the 287 votes needed.

Police in Paris said on Tuesday that 234 people were arrested overnight in the capital mostly for setting fire to garbage in the streets.

Mostly small, scattered protests were held in cities around France, some degenerating late Monday into violent incidents. In the capital small groups took to the streets to set fire to piles of trash that formed due to a strike by garbage collectors on its 16th day.

Additional reporting by Press Association.