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Pensions & Retirement

Survey reveals only 24% willing to work until age 70 to maintain triple lock

In contrast, over half (54%) said they wouldn’t work longer, while 23% were unsure.

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Survey reveals only 24% willing to work until age 70 to maintain triple lock
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A recent survey, carried out by Opinium on behalf of Hargreaves Lansdown, found that only 24% of people are willing to work until the age of 70 to maintain the triple lock.

In contrast, more than half (54%) said they would not work longer, while 23% were unsure.

The state pension will increase by 4.1% from April in line with the triple lock.

Among younger adults aged 18 to 34, a third indicated that they would be willing to extend their working years, compared to just 18% of those over 55. 

Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The triple lock has played a major role in underpinning state pension increases for over a decade, but there are signs that its time is starting to run out.

“One way the government has been able to manage the ever-increasing cost of the state pension is to hike state pension age.

“It is currently 66 and due to hit 68 by the mid-2040s. However, recent data shows that people’s appetites for further increases are weakening. Only one quarter (24%) of people said they would be willing to work until the age of 70 to keep the triple lock.

“Well over half (54%) said they wouldn’t be willing and a further 23% said they were unsure.”

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Morrissey added: “Drilling down into the results showed clear differences based on people’s ages.

“One-third of people aged between 18-34 said they would be willing to work longer, compared to only 18% of those aged over 55. This is not surprising.

“At 55 the prospect of retiring looms ever larger and you may be very wedded to your current state pension age.

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“You may also have developed health conditions that you know will make it very difficult to keep working past your mid-sixties.

“For younger age groups, the prospect of retirement is many years away and the idea of working an extra couple of years may not seem so bad. It does, also show that, expensive as the triple lock is, younger age groups do value what it does.”

“Adequacy will be a vital component of the government’s ongoing pension review, and the state pension and the triple lock’s role within it should be an important part of the debate.

“With an ageing population, we need to make sure the state pension is placed on a stable footing for many years to come, so people can continue to use it as the basis of their retirement planning.

“This means we need certainty in terms of what we are due to receive and when, so we can plan with some degree of confidence.”

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