Retirement Age in the UK 2026: A System Under Pressure
The ground beneath retirement in the United Kingdom shifted formally on 6 April 2026. That was the date the state pension age began its legislated rise from 66 to 67 — the most consequential change to UK retirement policy in years, affecting every person born between 6 March 1961 and 5 April 1977, and phasing in gradually through to March 2028. It is a change that has been on the statute books since the Pensions Act 2014, yet for millions of people in their late 50s and early 60s, it has arrived at precisely the moment when retirement was finally in sight. By April 2026, the full new state pension had also received its largest uplift in years — rising 4.8% under the triple lock to £241.30 per week (£12,547 per year) for the 2026/27 tax year, with earnings growth of 4.8% in the May–July 2025 period outpacing both September 2025 CPI inflation of 3.8% and the 2.5% floor.
Yet behind the headline figures lies a picture that is considerably more complicated and, for many, considerably more concerning. The average actual retirement age in the UK is 65.1 for men and 64.0 for women — meaning large numbers of people are leaving the workforce before they even reach state pension age. Of those, a significant and growing proportion are not choosing to retire early but are being forced out by ill health: the number of people aged 50–64 who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness has surged to over 1.7 million in early 2025, up by more than 400,000 in just five years. At the other end of the adequacy spectrum, 43% of working-age Britons — approximately 14.6 to 15 million people — are currently undersaving for retirement according to DWP analysis. The state pension age is rising, the pension is worth slightly more, and the underlying retirement system is under pressure from every direction at once.
Key Retirement Age Facts in the UK 2026
UK RETIREMENT AGE — FAST FACTS SNAPSHOT (2026)
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State pension age (current, both genders) ████████████████ 66 → rising to 67
Rise to 67 begins ████████████████ 6 April 2026
Rise to 67 completes ████████████████ March 2028
Legislated rise to 68 ████████████████ 2044–2046
Average actual retirement age — men ████████████████ 65.1 years
Average actual retirement age — women ████████████████ 64.0 years
Full new state pension 2026/27 ████████████████ £241.30/week (£12,547/yr)
Triple lock increase 2026/27 ████████████████ 4.8% (earnings-led)
Minimum private pension access age (2026) ████████████████ 55 (rising to 57 in 2028)
Annual state pension cost to Exchequer ████████████████ Over £100 billion
► Adults aged 50–64 economically inactive: 26.1% as of Q2 2025 (Statista/ONS)
| Key Fact | Data Point |
|---|---|
| State pension age — current (both men and women) | 66, rising to 67 in a phased process from 6 April 2026 to March 2028 |
| Legislated next increase — state pension age to 68 | 2044–2046 — under current legislation; independent review expected by March 2029 |
| Who is affected by the 2026–2028 rise to age 67 | Anyone born between 6 March 1961 and 5 April 1977 |
| Average actual retirement age — men (2026) | 65.1 years — just above state pension age |
| Average actual retirement age — women (2026) | 64.0 years — approximately 13 months earlier than men on average |
| Full new state pension 2025/26 | £230.25 per week (£11,973 per year) |
| Full new state pension 2026/27 (from April 2026) | £241.30 per week (£12,547 per year) — a 4.8% increase |
| Triple lock mechanism — 2026/27 driver | Average weekly earnings growth of 4.8% (May–July 2025) — above September 2025 CPI of 3.8% and 2.5% floor |
| Qualifying years of NI contributions for full state pension | 35 qualifying years |
| Minimum private / workplace pension access age (2026) | 55 — rising to 57 from 6 April 2028 under the Finance Act 2022 |
| Annual state pension cost to UK Exchequer | Over £100 billion per year — key driver of rising state pension age |
| IFS Pensions Review — auto-enrolment minimum contribution | 8% of qualifying earnings (5% employee + 3% employer) on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 |
| Pensions adequacy review commissioned | Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed in spring 2026; independent review results expected March 2029 |
| ILC report — future pension age for those born after 1970 | May need to work until age 71 to keep state pension system sustainable — International Longevity Centre |
Source: DWP — State Pension Age Timetable (Pensions Act 2014); DWP Benefit and Pension Rates 2026/27 (confirmed April 2026); GovExplained — State Pension Triple Lock 2026/27 (updated 8 June 2026); The Investors Centre — UK Pension Statistics 2026 (April 2026, citing DWP/ONS); Raisin UK — Retirement Age 2026 (April 2026); InsuranceHero — Average Retirement Age UK 2026; IFS — Pensions Review: Final Recommendations (May 2026); International Longevity Centre — State Pension Age and Demographic Change
The April 2026 triple lock increase of 4.8% delivers the largest annual rise in state pension income since the earnings-driven uprating of 2023/24, and takes the full new state pension to £241.30 per week — a figure that sounds substantial until measured against what it must actually cover. The Retirement Living Standards, developed by the Pensions and Lifetime Savings Association (PLSA), indicate that a single person currently needs a minimum of £13,400 per year to cover basic living expenses. The full state pension at £12,547 per year falls £853 below even this minimum threshold, before any consideration of housing costs, healthcare, or the quality-of-life ambitions that most retirees hold. Most experts are unambiguous: the state pension is designed as a foundation, not a replacement for full income — yet for millions of UK retirees who have insufficient private savings, it effectively functions as exactly that.
The pensions adequacy review commissioned by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in spring 2026 — with results expected in March 2029 — signals that the government itself acknowledges the system is not producing adequate retirement outcomes for a significant portion of the population. The review covers both whether people are saving enough (they are not) and whether the state pension age itself remains appropriate as life expectancy data is updated. With the International Longevity Centre projecting that those born after 1970 may ultimately need to work until age 71 to keep the state pension system financially sustainable, the long-term direction of UK retirement policy is becoming clear — even if the specific timeline remains subject to review.
State Pension Age Changes and Timeline in the UK 2026
STATE PENSION AGE — LEGISLATIVE HISTORY AND FUTURE CHANGES
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1948 (state pension launched) ██████████ Age 65 men / 60 women
1995 Pensions Act ██████████ Women's age to rise to 65 (by 2020)
2011 Pensions Act ████████████ Equalised at 65 → then 66 (by 2020 accelerated)
2020 (both genders) ████████████ Age 66 — fully equalised
2026 (rise begins) ██████████████ Age 66 → 67 (phased to 2028)
2028 (rise completes) ██████████████ Age 67 — both genders
2044–2046 (legislated) ████████████████ Age 67 → 68
ILC projection (born post-1970) ████████████████████ Age 71 potentially
► 10-year notice rule: any further changes require 10 years' advance notice
| Year / Milestone | State Pension Age Change |
|---|---|
| 1948 (state pension introduced) | 65 for men, 60 for women — life expectancy at birth was ~66 years |
| Pensions Act 1995 | Women’s state pension age legislated to rise from 60 to 65 between 2010 and 2020 |
| Pensions Act 2011 | Accelerated equalisation; rise to 66 for both men and women brought forward to October 2020 |
| October 2020 | State pension age fully equalised at 66 for men and women |
| Pensions Act 2014 | Confirmed rise from 66 to 67, phased in between 2026 and 2028 (accelerated from original 2034–2036 plan) |
| 6 April 2026 (current) | Rise to 67 begins — affects those born from 6 March 1961 |
| March 2028 | Rise to 67 complete — applies to all those born on or after 6 April 1977 |
| Transitional births | Those born 6 April 1960 to 5 March 1961: pension age is between 66 and 67 (phased) |
| 2044–2046 (legislated) | State pension age rises from 67 to 68 under current legislation |
| Under review | The 68 timeline is subject to an independent review due by March 2029; could be accelerated |
| Government commitment | Minimum 10 years’ notice before any change to pension age; no forced retirement age in UK law |
| Finance Act 2022 | Normal minimum private pension access age rises from 55 to 57 from 6 April 2028 |
Source: Pensions Act 1995; Pensions Act 2011; Pensions Act 2014; Finance Act 2022; DWP State Pension Age Timetable; UKCalculator — State Pension Age Changes 2025–2028; PensionHelper — Pension Age Changes 2026 (April 2026)
The history of UK state pension age is essentially a history of expanding life expectancy colliding with the fiscal limits of a pay-as-you-go pension system. When the modern state pension was introduced in 1948, average life expectancy at birth in the UK was approximately 66 years — barely long enough for a man to collect a single year of state pension before dying. Today, life expectancy at birth is 78.8 years for men and 82.8 years for women, and life expectancy at age 65 — the more relevant figure for pensions policy — is 18.5 years for men and 21.0 years for women. The pension system now routinely funds retirement for nearly two decades, in some cases more than two. That transformation in longevity is the primary structural driver of every increase in the state pension age that has occurred and every increase that is coming.
The WASPI (Women Against State Pension Inequality) issue provides important context for public attitudes toward pension age changes in 2026. Women born in the 1950s experienced a rapid acceleration of their state pension age from 60 to 66 — and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman found that the DWP committed maladministration in failing to adequately communicate these changes between 2005 and 2007. The Ombudsman recommended compensation of £1,000 to £2,950 per affected woman, though the government ultimately rejected making payments at this scale. The episode has made the government acutely aware of the political and legal risks of poor communication around pension age changes, which explains in part the current commitment to give at least 10 years’ notice before any further changes — and the formal DWP notification letters now being sent to everyone affected by the 2026–2028 rise.
Average Retirement Age and Early Retirement in the UK 2026
ACTUAL vs. STATE PENSION AGE — UK RETIREMENT PATTERNS (2026)
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State pension age (2026) ████████████████ 66 (rising to 67)
Average actual retirement — men ████████████████ 65.1 years
Average actual retirement — women ████████████████ 64.0 years
Economically inactive 50–64 (2025) ████████████████ 26.1% of age group
Inactive 50–64 due to illness ████████████████ 1.7 million+ (surged 400k in 5 yrs)
Self-reported retired by age 60 ██████ ~20%
Self-reported retired by mid-60s ████████████████ ~70%
Self-reported retired by early 70s ████████████████ ~90%
► 35% of working Britons projected to face forced early retirement due to ill health
| Retirement Pattern Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Average actual retirement age — men (2026) | 65.1 years |
| Average actual retirement age — women (2026) | 64.0 years — approximately 13 months earlier than men |
| UK average retirement age vs. OECD comparisons (2025) | UK: 64.55 years; USA: 66.83; Mexico: 68.9; France: 62.75; Greece: 67.0 — OECD data |
| Economically inactive, aged 50–64 (Q2 2025) | 26.1% of the 50–64 age group — Statista / ONS LFS |
| Economically inactive 50–64 due to long-term sickness (early 2025) | Over 1.7 million — up by more than 400,000 in five years — ONS / WeCovr analysis (March 2026) |
| Projected share of working Britons facing forced early retirement due to ill health | 35% — DWP / ONS 2025 projection, cited in WeCovr March 2026 |
| Self-reported “retired” by age 60 (IFS) | Approximately 20% |
| Self-reported “retired” by mid-60s (IFS) | Approximately 70% — sharp jump around state pension age |
| Self-reported “retired” by early 70s (IFS) | Approximately 90% |
| Economic inactivity rising from age 50 to 60 (IFS) | From 15% at age 50 to 36% at age 60 |
| Economic inactivity at age 70 (IFS) | 87% — the vast majority no longer in paid work |
| No legal retirement age in the UK | Confirmed — workers may remain employed indefinitely; default retirement age abolished in 2011 |
Source: InsuranceHero — Average Retirement Age UK 2026 (January 2026); Reeves IFA (December 2025); ONS Labour Force Survey / Statista Economic Inactivity by Age (Q2 2025); WeCovr — UK’s Early Retirement Health Trap 2026 (March 2026); IFS — Understanding Retirement in the UK (accessed June 2026); The Twelfth Magpie — Average Retirement Age UK (March 2025, citing OECD data)
The gap between the state pension age and the average actual retirement age is one of the most financially consequential facts in the UK’s retirement landscape. With men retiring on average at 65.1 and women at 64.0, and the state pension not payable until 66 (rising to 67), many people are self-funding a gap of one to three years between leaving work and receiving their first state pension payment. For those with adequate private pension savings, this is manageable. For the significant minority who leave work involuntarily — due to illness, redundancy, or caring responsibilities — this gap can be financially devastating. The surge in economically inactive people aged 50–64 from long-term sickness to over 1.7 million represents the fastest-growing segment of early retirement, and it is almost entirely involuntary.
The IFS analysis of retirement patterns provides important nuance: economic inactivity and self-reported retirement are not the same thing. Many people who are technically economically inactive in their 50s — out of work due to health problems — nonetheless describe themselves as “retired” in surveys, while others who are out of work due to caring responsibilities emphatically do not. The IFS data shows that self-reported retirement rises from virtually zero in the early 50s to around 20% by age 60, then jumps sharply to 70% in the mid-60s as state pension age approaches and is reached, before levelling out at approximately 90% by the early 70s. The policy challenge of raising the state pension age is not simply asking fit, healthy workers to work a little longer — it is also asking people in poor health, physically demanding jobs, or with limited labour market options to find additional years of income before the state pension begins.
UK State Pension Finances and the Triple Lock in 2026
STATE PENSION FINANCES — KEY DATA (2026/27)
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Full new state pension (2026/27) ████████████████████ £241.30/week (£12,547/yr)
Full basic state pension (2026/27) ████████████████████ £176.45/week
Triple lock increase 2026/27 ████████████████████ 4.8% (earnings growth)
September 2025 CPI inflation ████████████████ 3.8%
Annual state pension cost (Exchequer) ████████████████████ £100 billion+
PLSA minimum standard (single person) ████████████████████ £13,400/year
Full state pension vs. minimum standard ███████████████░░░░░ £853 below minimum
State pension + tax allowance gap (2026) ░ Only £23 gap remains
► State pension is £853/yr below the PLSA minimum retirement living standard
| Financial Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Full new state pension 2026/27 | £241.30 per week — £12,547 per year — a 4.8% uplift from April 2026 |
| Full basic (old) state pension 2026/27 | £176.45 per week |
| Triple lock driver for 2026/27 | Earnings growth (4.8%) — exceeded September 2025 CPI (3.8%) and 2.5% minimum floor |
| State pension vs. PLSA minimum retirement living standard | At £12,547/year, the state pension falls £853 below the PLSA’s minimum of £13,400 for a single person |
| State pension vs. income tax personal allowance | State pension £12,547 vs. personal allowance £12,570 — a gap of only £23, creating fiscal tension as triple lock continues to rise |
| Annual cost of state pension to the Exchequer | Over £100 billion per year — primary justification for raising state pension age |
| State pension recipients | Millions of pensioners — state pension is the main income source for the majority |
| Average pension pot across all UK adults | £32,700 — The Investors Centre (2026) — well below adequacy thresholds |
| DWP projection: real retirement income growth 2025–2050 | Real incomes for those retiring in 2050 projected to be only 1% higher than those retiring in 2025 |
| Pension Credit — uprated alongside state pension | Increased in line with triple lock from April 2026 — protects lowest-income pensioners |
Source: DWP Benefit and Pension Rates 2026/27; GovExplained Triple Lock 2026/27 (updated 8 June 2026); Standard Life — State Pension Changes 2026/27 (May 2026); PLSA Retirement Living Standards 2025; The Investors Centre — UK Pension Statistics 2026 (April 2026, citing DWP/ONS); GB News — Triple Lock 2026 confirmation (January 2026)
The £23 gap between the full state pension and the income tax personal allowance in 2026/27 has become one of the most discussed pressure points in UK pensions policy. The state pension sits at £12,547 per year; the personal allowance — the amount an individual can earn before paying income tax — is £12,570, frozen at that level since 2021/22 and due to remain frozen until at least 2027/28. If the triple lock continues to push the state pension upward while the personal allowance remains frozen, pensioners will soon be paying income tax on their state pension alone — a politically explosive outcome that no government has explicitly planned for but that the current arithmetic is rapidly making inevitable. The OBR and independent forecasters have flagged this convergence as a significant policy problem with no comfortable resolution.
The bigger structural concern is retirement adequacy. With the average UK pension pot across all adults standing at just £32,700 — a figure The Investors Centre describes as “dramatically short of even a moderate retirement standard” — and DWP’s own modelling projecting that real retirement incomes in 2050 will be only 1% higher in real terms than in 2025, the long-term trajectory of retirement living standards is deeply concerning. The state pension increase of 4.8% in 2026/27 is real and welcome, but it primarily benefits current pensioners. For the working-age population still building their retirement savings, the combination of an inadequate average pension pot, rising pension age, and stagnant projected retirement income paints a picture of a system that is technically functioning but not delivering adequate outcomes for a substantial portion of the future pensioner population.
Retirement Savings Adequacy and the Gender Pension Gap in the UK 2026
UK RETIREMENT SAVINGS ADEQUACY — KEY DATA (2026)
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Adults undersaving for retirement ████████████████████████ 43% (14.6–15 million)
Average pension pot (all adults) ████████████ £32,700
Women aged 55–59 pension wealth ████████ £81,000
Men aged 55–59 pension wealth ████████████████ £156,000
Gender pension gap at 55–59 ████████████████ 48%
Employees in auto-enrolment (2024) ████████████████████████ 23.3 million (82%)
Self-employed in workplace pension ██ ~20%
Auto-enrolment minimum rate ████████████████ 8% of qualifying earnings
► Women's pension pot is 48% smaller than men's by peak pre-retirement age
| Savings Adequacy Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Working-age Britons undersaving for retirement (DWP analysis) | 43% — approximately 14.6 to 15 million people |
| Average pension pot — all UK adults | £32,700 — The Investors Centre (2026, ONS Wealth and Assets Survey) |
| Women aged 55–59 — median pension wealth | £81,000 — DWP 2025 Gender Pensions Gap report |
| Men aged 55–59 — median pension wealth | £156,000 — same report |
| Gender pension gap at peak pre-retirement age (55–59) | 48% — women’s pension wealth is nearly half that of men at this career stage |
| Employees actively saving into a workplace pension (2024) | 23.3 million — 82% of all employees — ONS Wealth and Assets Survey Wave 7 |
| Self-employed participating in workplace pension | Approximately 20% — against 82% of employees — a critical policy gap |
| Total self-employed largely outside auto-enrolment | Approximately 4.4 million working adults with minimal pension coverage |
| Auto-enrolment minimum total contribution | 8% of qualifying earnings (5% employee + 3% employer) on band £6,240–£50,270 |
| Median pension wealth — 25–34-year-olds (improvement) | Doubled between 2018–2020 and 2020–2022 — direct effect of auto-enrolment; positive signal |
| Forecast: real retirement incomes in 2050 vs. 2025 | Only 1% higher in real terms — DWP modelling, cited in The Investors Centre 2026 |
Source: The Investors Centre — UK Pension Statistics 2026 (April 2026, DWP/ONS/FCA/TPR); DWP — The Gender Pensions Gap in Private Pensions 2025; ONS Wealth and Assets Survey Wave 7; IFS — Pensions Review: Final Recommendations (May 2026); House of Commons Library CBP-10139 (April 2026)
The 48% gender pension gap at peak pre-retirement age is one of the most structurally significant inequalities in the UK’s retirement system — and it does not happen by accident. Women aged 55–59 hold median pension wealth of £81,000 against £156,000 for men of the same age, and the gap compounds from causes that are deeply embedded in the structure of working life: a gender pay gap of 6.9% for full-time workers (ONS 2025) means lower contributions throughout a career; career breaks for childcare reduce qualifying years and contribution periods; part-time working — disproportionately taken up by women — was historically excluded from auto-enrolment’s lower qualifying earnings threshold; and longer life expectancy means the same pot must fund more years of retirement. The result is a generation of women who, at the point when retirement planning matters most, have accumulated almost half the pension wealth of their male peers.
Auto-enrolment has been the most transformative pensions policy development of the past decade. With 23.3 million employees — 82% of all employees — now actively saving into a workplace pension, the programme has succeeded in embedding pension saving as the default behaviour for employed workers. The particularly positive signal is the doubling of median pension wealth among 25 to 34-year-olds between 2018–2020 and 2020–2022 — direct evidence that automatic enrolment is catching younger workers earlier than was previously the case. But the self-employed gap remains critical: with approximately 4.4 million self-employed workers outside the auto-enrolment framework, and only around 20% participating in any workplace pension, nearly one-fifth of the UK workforce is building retirement provision at a level entirely inadequate for any reasonable standard of retirement living.
Health, Healthy Life Expectancy and the Retirement Age Debate in 2026
UK HEALTHY LIFE EXPECTANCY — KEY DATA FOR RETIREMENT CONTEXT
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Life expectancy at birth — men (2021–23) ████████████████████████████ 78.8 years
Life expectancy at birth — women (2021–23) ████████████████████████████ 82.8 years
Life expectancy at 65 — men ████████████████████ 18.5 years
Life expectancy at 65 — women █████████████████████████ 21.0 years
Healthy life expectancy — affluent South East ████████████████████████ Into 70s
Healthy life expectancy — Glasgow / Blackpool ████████████ As low as 55
People 50–64 inactive due to illness (2025) ████████████████████████ 1.7 million+
Economic inactivity rate 50–64 (Q2 2025) ████████████████ 26.1%
► Postcode lottery: healthy life expectancy gap between areas = 15–20+ years
| Health and Longevity Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Life expectancy at birth — men (UK, 2021–2023) | 78.8 years — ONS |
| Life expectancy at birth — women (UK, 2021–2023) | 82.8 years — ONS |
| Life expectancy at age 65 — men | 18.5 additional years (to approximately 83.5) |
| Life expectancy at age 65 — women | 21.0 additional years (to approximately 86.0) |
| Healthy life expectancy — affluent areas (e.g. parts of South East England) | People can expect to remain in good health well into their 70s |
| Healthy life expectancy — deprived areas (e.g. Glasgow, Blackpool) | As low as 55 years — far below the current state pension age |
| People aged 50–64 economically inactive due to long-term sickness (2025) | Over 1.7 million — up 400,000+ in five years |
| Projected share of working Britons facing forced early retirement from ill health | 35% — DWP/ONS 2025 projection |
| Economic inactivity rate, aged 50–64 (Q2 2025) | 26.1% — Statista / ONS Labour Force Survey |
| ILC recommendation for born-post-1970 state pension age | Up to age 71 — to keep system sustainable given demographic pressures |
| Government review of pension age | Independent review commissioned spring 2026; due to report March 2029 |
Source: ONS Life Expectancy data (2021–2023, published 2025); ONS — Population Changes and Economic Inactivity Trends UK 2019–2026; WeCovr — UK’s Early Retirement Health Trap 2026 (March 2026); Raisin UK — Retirement Age 2026; erkconstruction — UK Govt Approves New State Pension Age (March 2026); Statista — Economic Inactivity Rate by Age, Q2 2025; International Longevity Centre — State Pension Age and Demographic Change
The healthy life expectancy gap is the most ethically charged dimension of the UK’s rising retirement age, and it is the argument that critics of the 2026–2028 change return to most consistently. While national average life expectancy at birth has risen to 78.8 years for men and 82.8 for women, healthy life expectancy — the number of years lived in good health — tells a profoundly unequal story. In the most affluent parts of the South East of England, people can expect to remain physically capable and in good health well into their 70s — making a state pension age of 67, and eventually 68, a manageable adjustment. In parts of Glasgow, Blackpool, and other areas of concentrated deprivation, healthy life expectancy can be as low as 55 years — more than a decade below the current state pension age.
This means that the same legislation that asks a healthy, desk-based professional in Surrey to wait one more year for their state pension asks a manual worker in a deprived Scottish city to potentially outlast their healthy working life before they receive a single payment. The 35% of working Britons projected to face some form of forced early exit from the workforce due to ill health or injury — and the 1.7 million already economically inactive due to long-term sickness in the 50–64 age group — represent the human face of this gap between policy design and lived reality. The government’s independent pensions adequacy review, commissioned in spring 2026 and due to report in March 2029, will need to confront this tension directly if it is to produce recommendations that are both fiscally sustainable and socially equitable.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
