Transcripts
"Retirement Age Should be flexible"
by Angela Sinclair-Loutit, The Pensioner's Forum
Help the Aged recently introduced a sensible refinement to the concept of 'the elderly'. Drawing a distinguishing line between 60-75 year olds and those over 75, it calls the former 'young-old' and the latter 'old-old'. Obviously individuals vary in the age at which physical strength and/or mental alertness are significantly diminished. But the sub-division indicates the average age until which people can usually remain not merely self-sufficient but also net contributors to society. After 75 more are likely to have become dependent on support by younger adults, and are no longer economically productive. They then fit the stereotype of being 'a burden on society'
In 1908 the Gvt introduced the state retirement pension at 65 years for men and 60 for women. At that time the age choice seemed reasonable. Many men were exhausted after around 40 years of physically exhausting labour, with a working week frequently over 50 hours and only 2 weeks' annual holiday. Many women (mostly housewives) were worn out by numerous pregnancies, poor maternity services and decades of child care.
Today the situation is very different. Much heavy work is done by machines, legislation limits work hours and provides for statutory annual and sick leave. Contraception has resulted in smaller families, maternity services are prioritised, and aids to child care are improving. Meanwhile the nation's health has benefited greatly from improved environmental sanitation and better personal hygiene. The result is evident not only from life-spans extended by almost 20 years, but also from greater fitness till a later age.
To my mind the statutory retirement age has therefore become unreasonable. Many people can, and want to, work well beyond it. Its postponement would reduce the number of years during which they need to claim the old age pension. They could remain economically productive longer, and consequently earning, while still integrated in mainstream society alongside younger workmates. Their eventual pension could then be significantly raised from its present deplorable level of 14% of average earnings without a heavy additional load on state revenue.
Enforced leisure (on a derisory pension) is no fun. Many avoid it by finding alternative occupations to escape loneliness and boredom. Large numbers choose to work with one of the numerous charitable organisations which greatly enrich British social life. They suffer from an acute disadvantage, however; they can only work as volunteers. Their remuneration is strictly limited by law: travel costs plus a meal allowance if they work continuously for over 4 hours. Sitting on committees alongside 'non-executive directors' paid as much as £6000 p.a. to attend a few quarterly meetings, their 'earnings' consist of free tea and sandwiches !
Many women especially are 'invisible' volunteers, working as carers - often doing demanding work for many more than the statutory 35 hr week as baby-sitting grannies or providers of personal care for frail people and invalids. They save the Government massive expense, recognised only recently by introducing a modest carer's allowance.
Partly in pursuit of social participation, and to avoid depressing loneliness, other retired people use their unspent energies on study or the pursuit of hobbies. The Government has only rather recently discovered this pool of potential workers who would cost them nothing. Increasingly it urges them to perform needed tasks among the hard-to-fill gaps in its own provisions - e.g. as foster parents, good neighbours and unqualified police helpers.
Enforced retirement is a double shock: simultaneous loss of occupation and a reduced income. These often provoke loss of self-esteem as relegation to society's scrap heap. Flexibility about retirement age is surely preferable, and could automatically follow elimination of age discrimination from job recruitment. .Some change is inevitable to avoid sex discrimination by entitling men and women to a pension at the same age.
The public often treat elderly people with compassionate helpfulness. Kindly though this is, the old deserve and want activity and respect rather than dependence and pity. They should be allowed the right to salaried work as long as they are capable of it, and then receive an adequate retirement pension - to which they have contributed through national insurance - rather than charity.
Angela Sinclair-Loutit
The Pensioner’s Forum
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