Only 18 per cent of people know what the state pension age is, with as few as 13 per cent of Gen Z (aged 18-28) getting it right when questioned.

Generation X (those aged 45-60) were only marginally better, with 14 per cent giving the correct answer of 66, despite some of them being only a few years away from retirement, according to the pensions firm Standard Life.

Some 8 per cent of the 6,000 people surveyed still thought the state pension age was 60, which hasn’t been the case for anyone since 2010.

Some of the confusion could be down to the goalposts being moved. The state pension age for women was raised from 60 to 66 between 2010 and 2018 to come in line with men, then it rose to 66 for everyone in 2020. Between 2026 and 2028 it will go up to 67, and it is expected to increase again to 68 between 2044 and 2046, if not earlier.

The full new state pension is worth £11,973 a year for the 2025-26 tax year and its importance can vary, depending on where you are. In Blackpool, for example, men get the state pension for an average of six years before they die and women 11 and a half years — in Kensington and Chelsea, in London, it is almost 20 years for both.

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The findings come amid uncertainty over the future of the state pension and the triple lock, which guarantees that payments go up year in line with inflation, average wages or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest.

Standard Life found that only 51 per cent of survey respondents believed that the state pension would still exist by the time they retired, while only 29 per cent thought the triple lock would still be in place.

Catherine Foot from Standard Life said: “While raising the state pension age further and faster than planned would affect everyone, it’s clear that the impact wouldn’t be felt equally, given the wide variations we see in life expectancy across the country.

“What’s more, in some parts of the UK, people are more likely to stop working earlier due to health conditions, disabilities, or caring responsibilities — meaning they may struggle to reach the age at which the benefit becomes available.”