Payment rates for the state pension will increase this April
MPs have been debating changes to state pension rules and how people could face varying retirement ages. The state pension age is set to rise from April 2026.
Currently, you can claim your state pension upon reaching 66, but the access age is increasing to 67 between April 2026 and April 2028. With this major shift approaching, the Work and Pensions Committee has been talking with policy specialists about the potential consequences. A major worry is that workers may reach a point where they’re physically unable to continue working, especially in demanding manual roles, yet still face years of waiting before accessing their state pension.
The committee heard from policy advocates about the difficulties confronting older employees and what additional measures could be introduced to assist them. The committee asked the panel about the idea the Government should offer better workplace support to sectors it can “influence most directly”, such as health, social care and education.
Jon Richards, assistant general secretary at public service union UNISON, highlighted how the rules can vary for different workers. He said: “If you compare ambulance workers to fire and police workers, they have different retirement ages. It’s very difficult for ambulance workers, even though they are manually handling all the time, all the day, more so than police and fire workers, yet they are not able to retire as early.”
Mr Richards said that the union conducted a survey among ambulance workers to identify what would encourage them to remain in their positions. The most common response was if they had a lower retirement age.
Many NHS employees, including ambulance personnel, have their retirement age tied to the state pension age, which is scheduled to rise further beyond 67, reaching 68 between April 2044 and 2046. Certain workers can opt to access reduced benefits from 55, which is the age you can access your private pensions.
However, this threshold is set to increase to 57 in April 2028. Research conducted by the GMB Union in 2024 found that 75 percent of ambulance workers who retired in 2023 did so before reaching 60.
In contrast, the retirement age for numerous police and fire service personnel stands at 60, though early pension access may be available. Mr Richards also highlighted that efforts to improve support within the education sector often neglect certain crucial workers.
He told the committee: “If you look at other sectors like education, the focus is always on teachers, professional workers, yet 50 percent of people in schools is support staff, cleaners, teaching assistants.” He cited a previous Department for Education study examining teachers’ mental health.
Researchers thought the findings could also be representative of teaching assistants and other school employees. Mr Richards explained they had to inform the department that workers such as teaching assistants operate “in a completely different way” to teachers.
The policy advocate was determined to dispel another misconception. He said: “You get this idea of public sector workers with their ‘gold-plated pensions’ and other things like that. I always say this, but the local Government pension scheme average pension is just over £5,000.”
State pension increase
State pensioners are set to receive a welcome boost this April thanks to the triple lock mechanism. This guarantee ensures payments increase in line with whichever is the highest of three figures: 2.5 per cent, wage growth or inflation.
Earnings growth proved the highest measure last year, meaning pension payments will rise by 4.8 per cent from April. This will see the full new state pension climb from the current £230.25 weekly to £241.30 weekly, whilst the full basic state pension will increase from the present £176.45 weekly to £184.90 weekly.
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