Why are people suddenly saying the state pension age is rising to 68?

You may have read over the past week that the state pension age will rise to 68 seven years earlier than planned.

Various media outlets picked up on comments from the government's spending watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility.

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In its latest report, the OBR said: "The state pension age reaches 68 between 2037 and 2039, which the government has confirmed is its current policy position rather than the rise to 68 happening between 2044 and 2046 as is currently legislated for."

The change would mean that people born between 1971 and 1977 would have to work until they are 68.

However, pensions minister Torsten Bell dismissed the OBR claim in a series of posts on X.

"Legislation sets out that the state pension age is due to rise to 68 in the 2040s," he wrote. "The previous Tory government said it wanted to bring this forward to the late 2030s - that is what this story is referring to, not anything this government has said."

We asked the Treasury for clarity and got this robust response: "This is untrue. The law remains to increase the state pension to 68 in 2044. In July 2025 we announced the launch of the third review of the state pension age, which is required by legislation."

The Pensions Act 2014 legally requires the government to review the state pension age every six years.

The first review ended in 2017, while the latest was launched last year and is due to end in 2028.

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Aside from all of this, the state pension is currently rising from 66 to 67 - a two-year process which began in April.

The OBR has warned that not changing the pension age to 68 in 2037 would cost the government an extra £6bn each year the rise was delayed.

Activists have warned that the state pension age increase would push more older people into poverty.

Dr Carole Easton, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: "It is extremely worrying if the Treasury is thinking of making the next rise in state pension age in just over a decade's time.

"The government needs to be very careful about making this change. During the rise to 66, it doubled the poverty rates for 64-year-olds.

"Other than the substantial savings the Treasury will make from making people wait longer for their state pension, it is hard to see what evidence could be used to justify introducing the next rise sooner."

(c) Sky News 2026: Why are people suddenly saying the state pension age is rising to 68?