In the rest of the public sector the government is linking the normal pension age to the state pension age, which is going to rise in due course from 65 to at least 68, in line with increased life expectancy.
You can also read our guides to how you could be affected by the end of the default retirement age and plans for a later state pension age.
This suggests middle age itself now spans 14 years and goes well beyond the government's planned state pension age of 66.
The government says the timetable for raising the state pension age to 67 is too slow.
The state pension age will be reviewed every five years, pensions minister Steve Webb has said.
To receive the payment before they reach state pension age, the men must file a claim.
Raising the state pension age to 66 for both men and women by 2020 will also save money.
Last year, fewer than one percent of seniors moved from state to state after age 65 for any reason.
Under current law, the state pension age will rise to 66 for both men and women between 2018 and 2020.
Ministers have already made a compromise by pushing back the date for raising the state pension age to October 2020.
But many people will be surprised that he is still allowed to hold the post well after the state pension age.
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The SDLP's Mark H Durkan said the proposed amendments to the state pension age in Northern Ireland were "unfair and illogical".
The government has been holding a consultation over the summer into whether further reforms are needed to the state pension age.
Eligible older people are entitled to free off-peak travel on local buses anywhere in England when they reach the state pension age.
The change applies to those people, men and women, who reach state pension age between 6 April 2008 and 5 April 2015.
The first part is to raise the state pension age (now 65 for men and rising from 60 for women) to 68 by 2050.
Mr Webb told MPs that he wanted to see a review of the state pension age every five years, starting in the next Parliament.
In the meantime, it suggests the government should consider taking national insurance from earnings after state pension age and ending tax-free lump sums on private pensions.
As previously announced by the coalition government, the law will now be changed again so that the state pension age increases further, to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
Although the state pension age is already scheduled under existing law to rise once more, to 68 by 2046, this target will now be subsumed in the forthcoming five-yearly reviews.
No political party wants to be the first to say that the state pension age must rise, even though this is the surest way of making all the sums add up.
Under established plans, the state pension age is rising to 66 for both men and women by 2020, with further plans for this to increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
Under established plans, the state pension age is rising in any case to 66 for both men and women by 2020, with further plans for this to increase to 67 between 2026 and 2028.
There has been criticism of the length of time that women have been given to prepare for the raising of their state pension age in the pensions bill, which is currently before parliament.
The state pension age in Guernsey is due to rise from 65 to 67 in 2031 and it has been proposed that the public sector retirement age should increase by the same margin at that stage.
Then, with the row over public sector pension cuts gaining in intensity, the bill to bring forward the increase of the state pension age to 66 and its equalisation between men and women debuts in the Commons.
But, interestingly, the staff think the financial markets would be pretty unbothered, particularly if the loosening came with steps to cut government spending in the longer term - another increase in the state pension age, for example.
"The government will carry out a review of the state pension age every five years, based around the principle that people should maintain a specific proportion of adult life receiving the state pension, " said the White Paper.
"In order to fund this we will hold a review with the aim of bringing forward the increase in the state pension age to 66 but no earlier than 2016 for men and 2020 for women, " she said.
In the Autumn Statement, Mr Osborne announced that public sector pay rises would be capped at 1% for two years - after a current two-year freeze - and the rise in the state retirement age to 67 would be brought forward by eight years to 2026.
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