State pension claimed by one in five people

The number of people claiming the state pension has passed one in five, new analysis has found.

It comes as a Government committee warned that spending on pension benefits could become unsustainable, while another critic described the situation as a "ticking time bomb".

%VIRTUAL-ArticleSidebar-pensions%A total of 13 million people - 20% of the population - now claim the state pension, up from 11.6 million a decade ago.

This is based on newly published figures from the Department for Work and Pensions on state pension claimants, combined with the latest Office for National Statistics population estimates.

Further analysis showed roughly one in seven of those who currently claim the state pension also receive pension credit, around half of whom also claim attendance allowance or disability living allowance.

The state pension is currently worth £130.30 a week, and has increased by £3.84, or 3%, in the last year. This is well above the 0.1% rise in the cost of living, as measured by CPI inflation, seen over the same period.

Commenting on the issue of pension costs, a Commons work and pensions committee claimed the Government was reaching the limits of cuts that can be made to the working-age welfare system. "At the same time, spending on pensioner benefits will continue to rise sharply and, arguably, unsustainably," it added.

Similarly, Taxpayers' Alliance chief executive Jonathan Isaby claimed Britain's ageing population meant the bill for pensions remained a "ticking time-bomb" that could only be defused by making "genuinely tough decisions".

"With inflation so low, it is increasingly clear that the pension rise resulting from the triple-lock is unsustainable and unfair on those of working age who are footing the bill - many of whose own wages are flat-lining," he said.

"The Government must look at raising the state pension age faster than it has currently projected if a comfortable retirement is to be affordable in the future."

However, Saga communications director Paul Green claimed workers were already making pensions more affordable for the Government by working later in life.

He said: "One million people are now still in work beyond the state pension age, and are continuing to contribute to the economy by paying more tax and spending more money.

"The single biggest welfare cut has been to increase the state pension age and link it to increased longevity.

"This cut and the continued contributions people are making after they have reached 65 are making pensions more affordable for the Government."