Almost half (48 per cent) of British adults under state pension age, equal to 20 million people, don’t know when they’ll receive their state pension, research from AJ Bell has found, raising concerns that millions of Brits risk “sleepwalking into a retirement shock”.

The research also found that almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of 18-34-year-olds don’t know when they’ll receive their state pension, while over half (54 per cent) of 35-49-year-olds admitted they were in the dark.

Additionally, almost a quarter (23 per cent) of 18-34-year-olds who said they know their state pension age wrongly believed it was age 65, three years sooner than current legislative timetable, while 11 per cent got it correct.

The research also revealed that 28 per cent of people aged between 50 and 64 admitted they didn’t know their state pension age.

Furthermore, 72 per cent of all UK adults expect their state pension age to rise, which AJ Bell highlighted as demonstration of the uncertainty surrounding the pillar of savers retirement income plans.

AJ Bell said that the findings pointed to a “ticking timebomb” with savers either needing to boost contributions or delay their retirement plans to cover the income gap.

Commenting on the findings, AJ Bell director of public policy, Tom Selby, stated that millions of Brits risk “sleepwalking into a retirement shock”, noting that this is likely partly reflected through lack of engagement with pensions, particularly among young people, and in part uncertainty that exists around state pension policy.

He also said that while there was evidence that a sizeable portion of people who believe they know their state pension age have not considered planned state pension age hikes, people can be forgiven for being in the dark due to it regularly changing over recent years.

However, he warned that if these people base their retirement saving plans on this misunderstanding, they will be left with a “black hole” of almost £35,000 in their pension plans when they reach age 65.

In particular, Selby pointed out that the women’s state pension age increased from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2018, before state pension ages of both men and women rose to age 66 by 2020, whilst further increases to age 67 are scheduled between 2026 and 2028, and age 68 between 2044 and 2046.

He stated: “There is also the spectre of further increases in the state pension age to balance the books, with some calling for the state pension age to rise to age 70 or even higher in the coming years.

"Given this backdrop, it is not surprising almost three-quarters of people expect their state pension age to increase before they have reached it.

"Add to this the lack of clarity over exactly what the state pension is going to be worth and the triple-lock, and the foundation upon which people’s retirement plans are built feels anything but stable.”

Given this, Selby argued that the message to politicians was “clear”, calling on the government to "review and ramp up" its state pension communication efforts to ensure understanding is improved.

“In addition, the next government must put stability and predictability at the heart of state pension policy," he stated.

"To plan for retirement over decades, people need to have at least a decent idea of what they can expect to receive from the state and when they will receive it.

“The triple-lock, and more recently Rishi Sunak’s proposed quadruple-lock, do not provide that certainty.

“They merely allow politicians to avoid addressing the vital question of what a fair value for the state pension would be and how long people should, on average, be in receipt of it.

“Given the grip the triple-lock has on state pension policy at the moment, an independent review will likely be needed if we are to get anything resembling the cross-party settlement required to deliver long-term stability.”

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