UK Will Have to Raise Retirement Age after Election, Minister Says

THE GUARDIAN: Work and pensions secretary says his successor will have to ‘grasp nettle’ of bringing forward rise to 68

Ministers will have to “grasp the nettle” on bringing forward the rise in the state pension age to 68 in the first couple of years of the next parliament, Mel Stride, the work and pensions secretary, has suggested.

After delaying the decision because of stalling life expectancy, Stride said it would still have to be taken, but it would probably be one for his successor in the job and that people would still get 10 years of notice.

He also said there were “no plans currently” to change the triple lock on raising pensions in the next Conservative manifesto but stopped short of guaranteeing it would be retained.

Stride made the remarks as he addressed journalists at a lunch in Westminster, when he was asked whether the government will attempt to revisit its plans to raise the pension age in future in light of riots and protests in France.

The work and pensions secretary, a close ally of Rishi Sunak, said: “I don’t think it’s in our national psyche to start rioting and burning things over the state pension. Ultimately I took the decision [to delay] because of Covid and economic uncertainties and the fact that the important thing is you give people 10 years notice of any change.” » | Rowena Mason, Whitehall editor | Thursday, May 11, 2023

Carry On Working Past 65 as Default Retirement Age to Be Scrapped in 2011
THE TELEGRAPH: Workers will be able to stay in their jobs into their seventies under new rules to be announced by the Government.

Ministers said they would end the “discrimination” of the Default Retirement Age, which allows companies to force staff out as soon as they turn 65.

Personnel groups welcomed the move, which they claimed would boost productivity and improve employees’ freedom to shape their careers.

Longer working is widely seen as necessary to keep income tax receipts up and reduce the burden on pension funds as Britain’s population ages.

But business leaders warn that employers will find it difficult to plan for the future if they do not know when staff will step down, although compulsory retirement ages could still be enforced in physically demanding jobs such as front line policing.

Older workers who do stay in their posts beyond 65 may also find themselves facing claims that they are not up to the job any more, or that they are keeping younger candidates out of work. Some fear it could lead to more employment tribunal claims from staff who believe they were sacked for being too old.

Ed Davey, the Employment Relations Minister, said: “With more and more people wanting to extend their working lives we should not stop them just because they have reached a particular age. We want to give individuals greater choice and are moving swiftly to end discrimination of this kind.

“Older workers bring with them a wealth of talent and experience as employees and entrepreneurs. They have a vital contribution to make to our economic recovery and long term prosperity.” >>> Martin Beckford and Louisa Peacock | Thursday, July 29, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: After banning racism and sexism, it's high time to ban ageism >>> Ian Cowie | Thursday, July 29, 2010

Greedy Bankers Make Sure You’ll Have to Slog Away Till You’re Seventy Plus (But Bankers Will Probably Be Exempted from the Work-longer Scheme)
THE TELEGRAPH: Millions of employees who are not saving for their retirement will be enrolled in company schemes under a radical shake-up of pensions which eventually could see most people working into their seventies.

In a landmark announcement intended to herald a new era of shorter but wealthier retirements, the Government will encourage people to work for longer by making it illegal for companies to force staff to give up work at 65.

At the same time, the age at which employees can claim the state pension will rise to 66 as soon as 2016 for men — 10 years earlier than the last government had decreed.

The Coalition is to consult on the most appropriate pace at which to increase the retirement age even higher in line with rising life expectancy.

The outcome is likely to be that, by the second half of the century, most people will work into their seventies.

In return, workers would receive more generous state pensions boosted by membership of company schemes, into which employees will be enrolled unless they opt out. Those reliant on state pensions will benefit from the restored link between pensions and earnings announced in this week’s Budget. Pensions shake-up could see most people working into their seventies >>> Andrew Porter and Rosa Prince | Wednesday, June 23, 2010

French Indignant Over Government Plan to Raise Retirement Age
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Despite the uproar, France is not alone in considering such a step. Countries from Britain to Greece are also grappling with declining populations, ballooning government debt and longer life spans.

Reporting from Amiens, France
Didier Remy has spent his life so intent on retiring on his 55th birthday that he and his wife even planned their children accordingly, wanting them to be grown by the time he stopped working.

So pardon a little indignant hand-waving as he ponders the prospect of Nicolas Sarkozy fouling everything up. If the French president has his way, Remy will find it tough to retire with his full state pension in 2015, as he carefully plotted 20 years ago.

"My life was organized around the idea that I'm going to leave work at that age," said Remy, a lifelong employee of France's state-owned railway, whose benefits are the envy of other Frenchmen, never mind long-slogging Americans. "It's my goal. But it rests with the powers that be."

True to form in this protest-rife land, Sarkozy's announcement that he intends to raise the national retirement age sometime this summer sent thousands of demonstrators spilling into the streets last month in opposition. But this time the French are part of a larger tide of anger and anxiety surging across Europe.

With budget deficits ballooning across the continent, and a huge bailout of debt-ridden Greece on the verge of taking place, officials across Europe say they have no choice but to boost retirement ages if they are to tackle a monumental economic problem compounded by declining populations and longer life spans.

But few issues are as sensitive in a region where the right to retire at a decent age, and retire well, is considered almost an inalienable social right. For many here, it's one of the defining elements of their identity as Europeans, part of what they feel makes them different — more reasonable, more humane — from overworked, overstressed Americans. >>> Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times | Saturday, May 01, 2010

Retirement Age Backed by European Court
THE TELEGRAPH: European judges have backed Britain's compulsory retirement age of 65.

The verdict in Luxembourg amounts to a defeat for Age Concern's legal battle to banish enforced retirement at 65, but the final decision still rests with the UK High Court.

The European Court of Justice acknowledged that EU rules do ban employment discrimination on grounds of age but ruled the age could be enforced if it was related to employment policy or if it would help the labour market.

The High Court, which sent the case to Luxembourg for clarification of the law, will now have to make a final ruling on whether the aims of the Government's 65 retirement age are "legitimate".

The UK's Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, introduced in 2006, ban age discrimination but exclude pensioners, who can be dismissed at 65 without redundancy payments, or at the employer's mandatory retirement age if it is above 65. >>> | Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback) – Free delivery >>>