There were an estimated 611,719 people aged 90 or more across the UK in 2023.
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A retirement expert has shared how the latest analysis of life expectancy across the UK indicates that people retiring at 66 – or 67 next year – can expect to receive State Pension payments for two decades, while some could even get payments for over 30 years – if they live past 100.
Helen Morrissey, head of retirement analysis, Hargreaves Lansdown explained how new statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that life expectancy increases are slowing across the UK, but State Pension challenges remain. According to the data, there were an estimated 611,719 people aged 90 or more in the UK in 2023.
This is an increase of 0.3 per cent from 2022, compared with a 2.0 per cent increase between 2021 and 2022. There were also an estimated 16,140 centenarians in 2023, a similar figure to the previous year.
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Life expectancy at birth in the UK in 2021 to 2023 was 78.8 years for boys and 82.8 years for girls. Life expectancy at age 65 years was 18.5 years for men and 21 years for women.
The 2021 to 2023 estimates of life expectancy are the first since the pandemic to show a slight increase in life expectancy. However, it remains lower than it was pre-pandemic and prior to this, life expectancy had shown little improvements for several years.
Ms Morrissey said: “The great news is that many of us can look forward to living a long life. Life expectancy at birth was close to 80 for boys and 83 for girls. Meanwhile those close to State Pension age can look forward to a retirement that could last two decades.
“For some, retirement stretches out significantly longer – there were more than 16,000 centenarians in the UK in 2023. When these people retired, they would never have guessed they would be receiving their pensions for a period of 35 years or more.”
However, Ms Morrissey highlighted that there are signs the increases in life expectancy are slowing, explaining that these ONS figures are the first since the pandemic to show a slight increase in life expectancy – prior to this life expectancy had shown little improvement for a number of years.
The retirement expert continued: “It does point to the challenges that people and governments face in making sure they have enough money to see them through retirement. The government continues to grapple with how best to manage the burgeoning State Pension bill.
“We’ve seen the government increase State Pension age in a bid to mitigate costs but there’s only so far this can go. We may be living until a ripe old age, but with healthy life expectancy hovering in the early 60s, the reality is that many people will not be able to continue to keep working. They may face a gap of several years between leaving work and reaching the State Pension age that needs to be filled.”
Ms Morrissey added that rumours of changes to the State Pension – such as means testing – can also prove unsettling for people and make it difficult to plan.
The topic of means-testing the State Pension has come up several times since Labour came into power in July last year, but Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said there are no plans to do so – probably because such a step would be too difficult due to the nature of the Basic (or old) State Pension and the New State Pension.
Ms Morrissey added: “The State Pension forms the backbone of many people’s retirement income, and they need certainty as to what they are going to get from the state and when. The State Pension should form part of the ongoing Pension Review so this longer-term certainty can be delivered.”
But she also said that this constant speculation about changes to the contributory benefit show “the importance of making your own pension provision” and not relying on payments due in a few months or a few years.
Auto-enrolment means that many more people will contribute to a workplace pension throughout their working lives but taking steps such as boosting your contributions whenever you get a pay rise, or making the most of any extra contributions your employer is willing to make will make a big difference.
Another vital retirement task to keep on top of is managing your pensions from previous employers. Ms Morrissey explained: “Recent analysis from the Pension Policy Institute shows there are well over three million lost pensions out there and there’s a risk that you could be missing out on thousands of pounds if you don’t track yours down.
“If you think you’ve lost a pension, then a call to the Government Pension Tracing Service can help you find it.”
