Healthy life expectancy has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade – just as the DWP State Pension Age continues to rise.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that between 2022 and 2024:
- Men can expect 60.7 years in “good” health
- Women can expect 60.9 healthy years
That is a drop of 1.8 years for men and 2.5 years for women compared with 2019 to 2021.
Yet the state pension age, currently 66, is rising to 67 in 2028 — with further increases under review.
The gap between how long people stay healthy and how long they are expected to work is widening.
Experts warn of a ‘growing chasm’
Former pensions minister and partner at pensions experts LCP Steve Webb said governments raising pension ages risk leaving people stranded: “Fiscal pressures are leading governments around the world to hike state pension ages.
“But this risks creating a growing chasm of years in poor health before state pension kicks in.”
He warned that support for people below pension age is far lower than for pensioners.
“Benefit support for people under pension age is very meagre, and substantially below the rates available to pensioners,” he said.
“The Government needs to tread very carefully in making further changes to state pension ages, to avoid the risk of condemning growing numbers of people to living on the breadline for years in the run-up to drawing a state pension.”
In other words, millions could find themselves too unwell to work – but still too young to retire.
A ‘ticking time bomb’ for retirement
Stuart McDonald, head of longevity at LCP, said the latest figures confirm the nation’s health has not fully recovered from the shock of the Covid pandemic.
“Healthy Life Expectancy has fallen sharply in recent years and is now at the lowest levels recorded since the data series began,” he said.
“These numbers should be a wake-up call.”
Meanwhile, data experts warn the consequences for private pensions could be severe.
Rohit Parmar-Mistry at Pattrn Data described the drop in healthy life expectancy as a “ticking time bomb”, warning that many workers may be forced to drain private pension pots early just to survive until state support begins.
“It turns pensions into emergency life support rather than actual retirement funds,” he said.
Recommended reading:
Why this matters now
Nearly one in seven UK adults has never checked their pension, and almost half cannot estimate the size of their retirement pot.
At the same time, life expectancy overall has edged up slightly — meaning people may live longer, but spend more years in poor health.
The uncomfortable reality is this: If healthy working years are shrinking while pension ages keep rising, the financial squeeze on future retirees could intensify.
For policymakers, the pressure is mounting. For workers, the pension ticking time bomb may already be counting down.
