Pensions industry urged to address sharp rises in longevity

Whilst the ONS’s own commentary talks about ‘improvements in the 2016-based projections being slightly lower than in the 2014-based projections’, the figures demonstrate the strong long-term improvements which are still expected.

Steve Webb, Director of Policy at Royal London, said: "Over the last century we have seen massive improvements in life expectancy, but these improvements did not always happen smoothly. Even over that period of dramatic improvement there were times when life expectancies improved more slowly, and we seem to be in such a period now. But the ONS are quite clear that for both men and women, life expectancies are set to continue to rise dramatically over the coming decades.

"It is vitally important that policy makers and the pensions industry address these issues as a matter of urgency and do not assume that a few years of slower improvement constitute a long-term trend. Reports of the death of longevity improvements seem to have been rather overdone."