Increases in life expectancy have stalled, for the first time since 1982, when the Office of National Statistics began compiling this data.
The ONS figures show that life expectancy at the age of 65 remains unchanged, at 18.6 years for males and 20.9 years for females.
There was similarly no increase in life expectancy at birth: it remains at 79.2 years for men and 82.9 years for women.
In some parts of the UK there was a decline in life expectancy, with men and women in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland seeing this figure fall.
The data also shows the UK lags behind many other countries for life expectancy, including Switzerland, Japan, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.
However despite this unexpected slowdown, figures show there were a record number of people reaching their 90s. In 2017 there were 579,776 people aged 90 or above – this is up from 571,245 in 2016, and 417,777 in 2007.
The ONS says there is “ongoing debate” about the why these longevity improvements have stalled, and whether this trend will continue.
The ONS says these figures were linked to a particularly high number of deaths from 2015 to 2017, which coincided with a bad flu outbreak and excess winter deaths.
Some academics have argued that there is a link to cuts in social care funding and austerity policies, although this has been denied by the Government.
However Public Health England will now carrying out a review of life expectancy trends in response to this latest data.
If these figures appears to be part of a major trend, rather than a shorter-term anomaly, this will have a significant impact on social and financial projections, particularly concerning pension provision and healthcare.
This comes after the Continuous Mortality Investigation, owned by the Institute and faculty of Actuaries, said stalling progress was a trend. However, the International Longevity Centre – UK said the latest findings should be “taken with a pinch of salt”, and highlighted how incomes impact life expectancy.
A spokesman for the ILC-UK says: “What is clear from our research is that the gap in life expectancy between the rich and poor is worsening over time.”
AJ Bell’s senior analyst Tom Selby says points out that this does appear to be part of a wider trend, with life expectancy improvements declining in recent years, and now stalling.
“This will undoubtedly cause concern across the political divide and identifying the cause of the shift should now become a priority for all parties.”
Jon Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter: “Over the past number of years headlines and front pages have revealed the adverse impacts of the ageing population on our society.
“So there is likely to be a mixture of emotions as the UK faces a slowdown in life expectancy improvements. An ageing population has been putting additional pressure on public finances and more broadly those that look after their ageing family members.”
He adds: “A plateau should not be mistaken for a decline. It is critical people are realistic about the possibility of surviving into their 90s. The data also reveals the 90 years and over population continues to increase despite a decline in births in England and Wales 90 years ago.
“We need a sustainable social care policy and the pressure on the state pension and company pensions won’t be going anywhere. As we are in the midst of party conference season, with a Budget approaching, pressure remains on policymakers to provide practical policy solutions to tackle the issues an ageing society brings.”
Selby adds that for the government the primary issues continue to centre on the provision of healthcare and the state pension. “Ironically reports suggest the Treasury is preparing to cut back pension savings incentives in order to fund its promise of an extra £20billion of funding to the NHS – arguably solving one problem in the short-term by creating another in the long-term.”
