The right-wing Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), set up by former Conservative leader and work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, said the UK is “not responding to the needs and potential of an ageing workforce”.

The Ageing Confidently: Supporting an ageing workplace report proposes a range of measures to “provide older people and employers with the support needed to unlock the potential of this demographic and enable older people to access the benefits of work”.Among its recommendations is that planned increases to the state pension age are “accelerated” to reach 70 by 2028 and 75 by 2035.

CSJ chief executive Andy Cook said: “Right now, we are not doing enough to help older people stay in work and the state pension age doesn’t even closely reflect healthy working life expectancy.

“By increasing the state pension age, we can help people stay in gainful and life-enhancing employment while also making a sound long-term financial decision.”

The UK government came under sharp criticism from opposition politicians after the Daily Mirror reported it looked favourably on the report’s recommendations.

The SNP’s Westminster pensions spokesperson, Mhairi Black, said the proposals betrayed the government’s “shameful” attitude to older people.

Ms Black said: “Pensioner poverty has been an issue that has been continuously ignored by the Tory government for too long.

“From the burning injustices facing the WASPI women who have been denied the right to their state pension, to the stripping away of pension credit for the over 75s, this government’s attitude towards its older people is shameful.

“The Tory government must take a step back and tackle these injustices and the UK’s shocking pensioner poverty levels, rather than ramping up the threats.”