UK – The head of the Pensions Policy Institute research body has called for more action on "longevity-related issues" in UK pensions policy.

PPI chair Alison O’Connell said at a London conference: " As I see it, there is no need to panic about a demographic crisis, but we do need to do more than we are doing in pensions policy to manage the longevity–related issues."

She said that it is only now, with better data on mortality rates, that the magnitude of improvements in longevity can be seen. She said the government’s Actuary’s Department data now show very clearly the rapid increases in longevity for those about to reach 65.

She said the PPI has used this data to show that many more people are living to collect their state pension. "Ninety percent of my generation will live from age 25 to state pension age of 65," O’Connell said. People are living eight years longer after starting to collect state pension than they did in 1950 she said.

She said the "role, level and cost of state pension provision needs to be debated –with open minds as to what the solution might be". The PPI aims to publish a series of papers over the next months to help take the debate forward.

To counter the problem of older pensioners, she suggested stepping state pension at higher ages. "If we have to have some kind of targeted benefits, would we prefer to focus them at younger ages 65-70 rather than at the over 80s?"

She advocated raising the state pension age. "Raising state pension age could release enough money to increase the state pension enough to take older pensioners off means-testing, while supporting those who need benefits in the run up to the new State Pension Age. So, nobody should be worse off, and it is much better for the oldest."

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