Spending Review: State pension age will hit 66 by 2020

The State pension age will reach 66 by 2020, Chancellor George Osborne said today.

The Department of Work and Pensions will make the change in a bid to save £5bn every year by the end of the next Parliament. Under Labour, the state pension age was to rise to 66 in 2026, 67 in 2036 and 68 by 2046. As shadow chancellor, Osborne said in 2009 he would raise the state pension age (SPA) from 2016, rather than 2020. Chancellor George Osborne said the change will be achieved with a gradual increase starting in 2015. This means an acceleration in raising the pension age for women, at a new rate of three months in every four. Meanwhile, the reform of public sector pe...