The UK has delayed a decision on increasing retirement age

The UK government has delayed deciding whether to raise the retirement age to 68 until after next year’s election.

The age limit, i.e., the earliest age when a person can start receiving a publicly funded pension, is currently 66. The plan is to increase it to 67 between 2026 and 2028 and then to 68 between 2044 and 2046 years.

Following a review of the request to change the retirement age submitted by the UK Government in 2017, a move to the period between 2037 and 2039 was proposed. The government must review the state pension limit every six years.

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, told parliament that while the government would stick to the planned 67-year age limit, uncertainty about life expectancy data, labor markets, and public finances meant that a decision on postpones the increase to 68 years.

Stride said he, therefore, plans a further review within two years of the next parliamentary session. They will reconsider raising the age limit to 68. He added that the government intends to keep the existing legislation the same before the conclusion of the next revision.

Reuters reported that the state pension is currently 185.15 pounds a week for those who reached retirement age after April 6, 2016. There should be a 10.1 percent increase announced next month. 

Millions of French in the streets

Millions of French people gathered in street protests nationwide on Thursday. There has been a new outpouring of discontent over President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform. Protests in Paris and other cities have been violent, in a struggle that shows no sign of abating.

In the clashes, 149 policemen and gendarmes were injured. Moreover, 172 people were arrested, the French Ministry of the Interior announced, reports France24. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin condemned the thugs, who, according to him, are members of the “extreme left.”