Rise in pension age brought forward

The date at which someone must be 68 to draw a state pension has been brought forward by around 10 years.

The change to be announced today as part of Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn statement will see the current scheduled date to be forward from 2046 to sometime in the mid-2030s.

Many commentators expect that the state pension age will rise again to 69 by the late 2040s and to 70 shortly after that.

The recent changes will affect people aged in their 40s while further changes could see people in their 20s work until in their 70s.

The changes have been made based on current natural life expectancy estimates and will adjusted to ensure that people do not spend more than a third of their life drawing a state pension.

Among other changes expected to be announced this morning is £375 billion of major infrastructure investments in energy, transport, communications and water projects.

Among these investments are plans to subsidise the building of a new Nuclear power station North Wales and large investments in rail transports.

Despite an increase in spending on infrastructure the austerity cuts will continue with a further £1billion to come from Whitehall budgets.

Another notable move is a plan to sell off the government’s 40% stake in the Eurostar rail service to find funding for other projects.

Car tax discs could also be scrapped and replaced by electronic vehicle excise duty system.

It is also thought that Osborne may announce a capping of business rates below inflation to help stimulate growth more details after 11 today.