Plans to let staff work until the age of 70 will be announced by the government soon. Longer life expectancies and lower birth rates have caused a pensions crisis and some economic thinktanks have suggested a higher retirement age.

The work and pensions minister Andrew Smith said that this was about giving people the choice to work on beyond the current retirement age.

“The question is how we enable people to choose to continue working longer if they want to,” he said. “We’ve had extensive consultation and the government will be reaching a decision shortly.”

The government is already offering incentives to people who choose to delay collecting their state pension.