News this week that life expectancy in most of the UK has fallen for the last couple of years has raised a few eyebrows and also got me thinking about the impact of this on all sorts of major financial services challenges, the State Pension being one.

Actuaries will, of course, have to update their mortality tables accordingly and much of the dip is likely related to the pandemic but there is no sign of a recovery so far.

Longer term, even before the pandemic, life expectancy rises were plateauing.

The steady rise in life expectancy we've seen since the Second World War has not only stuttered, it’s started to go backwards.

According to a new ONS report, life expectancy at birth for males was lower between 2021-2023 than the last pre-pandemic period (2017 to 2019) in more than 80% of the UK. Female life expectancy was lower than pre-pandemic levels in 70% of regions.

It’s no secret that people in the poorest and most deprived parts of the nation live much shorter lives than those in the most privileged areas. This has been the case for many years but the gaps may be getting worse and the difference is not just a few months - it’s many years.

For example, according to the ONS report, the 10 local areas with the highest life expectancy were all in the south of England.

In England the lowest life expectancy across all local areas was in Blackpool for males (73.1 years) and females (78.9 years). Blackpool has now replaced Glasgow City as the place with the unenviable reputation of having the shortest lifespans in the UK. 

The highest life expectancy was in Hart in Hampshire for males (83.4 years) and Kensington and Chelsea (86.5 years) for females. This compares to average male life expectancy in England of 79.1 years and average female life expectancy of 83 years.

This means that an average woman in Kensington and Chelsea will live on average for 13.4 years longer than a man in Blackpool. It’s worth bearing in mind that there are pockets of deprivation in Kensington and Chelsea too so there are likely big variations in life expectancy between wards in the London district.

Based on a weekly UK full State Pension of about £221 a week and 13 years or so difference in life span, the average man living in Blackpool will receive over £150,000 less in State Pension income than a woman living in Kensington and Chelsea. This dwarfs the loss of the winter fuel allowance and yet few are talking about it.

Of course, there are lots of variables and 'ifs and whats' here but this cannot be a fair settlement by any stretch.

So what are we to make of all this? Well one obvious challenge is to make sure that financial products which offer ‘lifetime’ income guarantees such as annuities, private pensions, the State Pension and others are fair as far as possible to everyone, including those with limited life expectancy (who may not realise their lifespan is much shorter than the average, of course).

The challenge for politicians now will be to devise a system which is much fairer to all; working people living in poor areas deserve just as much a fair pension settlement as well off people living in posh west London areas and certainly not tens of thousands of pounds less.

Constantly raising the State Pension age, as the government is doing, so that fewer and fewer people benefit from it for any length of time just isn’t a fair or sustainable policy and hits the poorest in the country and those with the shortest lifespans.

It’s worth bearing in mind that with the State Pension age rising to 67 from 2026 onwards a retired taxpayer living in Blackpool would also only receive their State Pension for, on average, six years. They may well feel aggrieved and I would share that grievance.

It’s the ultimate pensions theft.

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Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a journalist with 40 years of experience in finance, business and mainstream news. This topical comment on the Financial Planning news appears most weeks, usually on Fridays but occasionally other days.  Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Follow @FPT_Kevin >Top Tip: Follow Financial Planning Today on Twitter / X @_FPToday for breaking news and key updates