We ask the government to ban the use of the claim that longevity is constantly on the increase in policy decisions, official statements and documents. The ONS's most recent data for 2022-2024, shows it was at the same level for females as 2017-2019, pre-pandemic, and below that level for males.

The claim appears in a response to one of our petitions (728656) calling for a decent state pension from an attainable age: "As longevity has increased and our society aged...". We are concerned it could be used in upcoming policy decisions and reports. We see this issue as literally a matter of life and death, for all of the population. We believe this is a fallacy that has been pedalled as a fact, for too many years.