What is a Flexible State Pension Age?

Anyone seeking to understand what Labour means by a "Flexible Pension Age" needs to look back at what Jeremy Corbyn wrote in the Telegraph in 2015.

It was on plans in train to increase state pension age to 66, 67 and eventually 68. (And now there's talk of 69 and 70...)

"Some people will be happy to work longer, others not. But living longer doesn’t mean we are able to work longer in physically demanding jobs like that of the firefighter, police officer or paramedic. And it’s not just in the emergency services: construction workers, care workers and prison officers cannot be expected to work into their late 60s.

So we need a flexible pension age that allows people to work for as long as they want to, while also recognising that for many people the nature of their work, their health, or their disability may not allow that.

Increasing the state pension age to 68 does not recognise this reality. It will mean that those who have worked in well-paid jobs with good pensions will continue to take early retirement, while lower-paid workers with the least savings will have to work until they drop. It will create a two-tier system in which the fortunate few can retire into long contentment, while increasing numbers retire later in poor health and poverty."