Ministers have reportedly delayed plans to bring forward a rise in the state pension age amid falling life expectancy in the UK.

The state pension age, which is currently 66, was due to rise to 68 after 2044 but reports earlier this year suggested ministers had planned to bring the increase forward to between 2037 and 2039.

However, the Financial Times has reported ministers have decided to delay making a decision until after the next general election because of fears about a revolt by middle-aged voters.

An announcement confirming the rise was expected in May but is now unlikely to come until at least spring 2024. The pension age is still due to rise to 67 by the end of 2028.

A government source told the FT: “They were gung-ho to raise the pension age. But they got cold feet.”

It is understood there were concerns about voters having to work for longer with the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, having relaxed the tax rules on pensions for the wealthy with the scrapping of the lifetime allowance.

But government insiders denied any link, instead insisting ministers needed more time to consider falling life expectancy data.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “The government is required by law to regularly review the state pension age and the next review will be published by 7 May.”

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Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, said: “The improvement in life expectancy at retirement that was predicted at the time of the last [pension age] review, basically didn’t happen. Life expectancy at retirement now is two years shorter than it was when they did the last review.”

The state pension bill is estimated to increase to about £148bn by 2027/28 from £110bn in 2022/23, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

Earlier this month the French government used special constitutional powers to force through a rise in the pension age, prompting chaotic scenes in parliament in which radical left MPs sang La Marseillaise to prevent the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, from speaking.

The president, Emmanuel Macron, took a last-minute decision to avoid a parliamentary vote and instead push through his unpopular plan to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.

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