Overview

• New analysis shows the full state pension will rise to £12,578 a year on April 6, 2027, surpassing the £12,570 personal allowance and exposing new claimants to income tax.
• Chancellor Rachel Reeves has convened a pensions commission and ordered a review into accelerating the state pension age to 68 or 69 for later cohorts.
• Experts warn that keeping the triple lock could drive pension spending to unsustainable levels and call for its reform or abolition.
• The Office for Budget Responsibility projects pension spending will rise from about 5% of GDP today to between 7.7% and 8.4% by 2073-74 under current policies.
• Consultants at Barnett Waddingham estimate that maintaining costs at a similar GDP share could require the pension age to climb toward 80 by the 2070s.