Conclusion 7

Financial resources, work capacity and good health are all factors that help protect individuals as the State Pension age increases. However, people reach their pre-pension years with very unequal levels of all of these. People who have typically worked in lower income roles, had periods out of the labour market and not been able to access housing wealth, experience cumulative disadvantage that builds over time. There is a geographical dimension as well, with ill-health and disability concentrated in the most deprived areas, where there are fewer economic opportunities and the work that is available is more likely to be of poor quality and insecure. In this context, an increase in the State Pension age will be felt very unevenly. People in ill-health or with caring responsibilities, and without access to savings will find it much harder to bridge the gap created by increasing the State Pension age. (Conclusion, Paragraph 47) 62