State pension to cost more than £400bn per year by the 2060s
THE STATE pension bill is set to quadruple over the next 50 years, the Office for National Statistics warned yesterday, as Britons continue to live longer.
The ONS predicts the bill will rise from £94bn per year currently to £438bn in 2062-63 – increasing from six per cent of GDP currently to 8.4 per cent.
Chancellor George Osborne has made further changes since these calculations were made, bringing forward the point at which the retirement age will rise to 68 or even 70. But those changes are only likely to knock £400bn off the overall bill over the next 40 or more years, less than one years’ worth of spending on pensions.
“Such a high pensions cost will impose an almost impossible burden on the workforce – almost £1 in every £10 they generate will go to pay for Britain’s army of retirees,” said John Fox from pension firm Liberty SIPP.