Raising the pension age to 75 would boost the economy by £182 billion, a new report has claimed.

Britain's ageing population and increases in life expectancy have meant taxpayers face escalating cost unless people stay in work for longer, according to a paper by the Centre for Social Justice.

The pension age has remained unchanged for more than a century, when the average life expectancy was 50 years, meaning a growing portion of the population are reaching retirement.

This “major demographic shift” should lead to measures being put in place to limit the cost to the state, as half of UK adults will be over 50 by the mid-2030s, the think tank said.

It called for the state pension age to be accelerated to 70 by 2028 and to 75 by 2035, aided by “improvements to workplace support and healthcare" for older employees.

Getting more 55 to 64-year-olds into work would slash the costs of out of work benefits but also help boost GDP by around 9%, equating to £182 billion, it claimed.

The report, called Ageing Confidently - Supporting an Ageing Workforce, argues that employers should have greater responsibility for supporting older employees in work.

Such a system would work similarly to the Disability Confident Scheme which helped employers recruit and retain disabled people.