Doom: state pension age to rise again

[SueEllen]

A manual worker who starts work at 16 is generally unlikely to be fit for such work by his/her mid 50s.

The first generation of kids who had to stay in employment or training until they were 18 are already mid-20s. (I'm related to some and I remember the fuss they made about it being mandated.)

So basically you are saying if you started work at 18 then you should be able to retire between 53 and 58 and get your state pension? Which is over 10 years earlier than they want you to draw it.

[Protagoras]

The first generation of kids who had to stay in employment or training until they were 18 are already mid-20s. (I'm related to some and I remember the fuss they made about it being mandated.)

So basically you are saying if you started work at 18 then you should be able to retire between 53 and 58 and get your state pension? Which is over 10 years earlier than they want you to draw it.

Yep. I think it would be great aspiration.

[vetran]

A manual worker who starts work at 16 is generally unlikely to be fit for such work by his/her mid 50s.

Or may actually be a lot fitter than a desk worker getting 10,000+ steps each day.

I was fitter when on the road fixing things around London etc.

My grandfathers were fit, if they hadn't got dementia in their 70s (supermarket worker) or died in a car crash (machinist) they probably would have still been going in their 80s.

My father used to do a lot of building work into his 70s, he has got a bit slower in his 80s.


Its not all rough down t' pit wiv the ponies we have health & safety rules now.

[vetran]

Yep. I think it would be great aspiration.

with no obvious funding method.

We need to spend less subsidising people as we go forward. That should be via planning for it not depriving people.

[d000hg]

Or may actually be a lot fitter than a desk worker getting 10,000+ steps each day.

I was fitter when on the road fixing things around London etc.

My grandfathers were fit, if they hadn't got dementia in their 70s (supermarket worker) or died in a car crash (machinist) they probably would have still been going in their 80s.

My father used to do a lot of building work into his 70s, he has got a bit slower in his 80s.

You might be fit healthwise - heart, etc - but the phrase was "fit for such work". Manual labour takes a toll on the body. You don't see many people still labouring in their later years, they are typically doing the more skilled tasks or running the young lads who are doing the fetching and carrying and physically demanding grunt work. It's inescapable really, no different than a professional sportsman - using your body hard for decades causes it to wear out.

Its not all rough down t' pit wiv the ponies we have health & safety rules now.

If you are in your 50s or 60s today, you were already f***ed by the time those rules came in... hearing loss, knackered knees and backs are particularly common. Even today, the young lads think a lot of this is daft and it's not always followed. All the tradesmen I know in their 40s+ wish they had used ear protection and knee protectors in their 20s, but at the time you don't see the point because you're invincible in your 20s

[Protagoras]

with no obvious funding method.

We need to spend less subsidising people as we go forward. That should be via planning for it not depriving people.

Which is where the "needs radical rethinking" mentioned by ladymuck comes in.

The Netherlands scheme, often cited as one of the best, requires contributions of 17.9% - this is not cheap.

[mattster]

If one needs 35 years' NI payments for full state pension, then one should be entitled to receive this after having paid in full for 35 years. Simple and fair. If to make the finances work, this needs to be 40 years, so be it.

Can't see that happening since for some that could mean starting pension in their mid fifties, perhaps 15 years ahead of the current retirement age. Thus, the pension would payout far more on average than it would otherwise. I would agree that if you hit your 35 year ceiling your NI should then be drastically reduced to account for the fact that you are no longer accruing pension benefits. Of course NI is not actually a ring-fenced insurance scheme with components for various things (health, pension) but just another term for tax (and makes some people believe we live in a "lower" tax economy with a starting rate of 20%).

[gables]

For me I don't really get this rush to retire; I almost see it as a trap we are led to aspire to, thinking it's some kind of utopia, yet a lot of retirees I see seem to have gone hill which is backed up by this bit from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_retirement

Present day
According to the Mental Health Foundation, one in five of present-day retirees experiences depression. Those living alone because of bereavement or divorce are more at risk. Physical health problems can also make people more vulnerable to mental health issues. Recent studies have indicated that "retirement increases the chances of suffering from clinical depression by around 40 percent, and of having at least one diagnosed physical illness by 60 percent" On the other hand, many workers have adopted scaling back on their jobs at around 55 or 60, or even changing careers, but still working for 15–20 more years.

[DoctorStrangelove]

When I retired I started looking for a job.

Then the plague hit, so that was the end of that.

Curiously I still get emails from pimps about contracts, but they're working off CVs from decades past.

Which sort of makes one wonder a bit.

Very few of the plans I had on retirement have come to anything.

And those that do tend to have the butterfly apporoach of do a little to this, do a little to that, then go for a walk without completing anything.

Though I did more or less complete the thingie for powering up old wireless sets slowly & safely a couple of weeks ago.

Since when it's sat unregarded where I put it in the office cum junk room.

I've yet to get a round tuit to deal with the Racal RA17* and Murphy B40** radios I want to get rid of.

*67lbs uncased, dunno what the 19" rack weighs.

**A lightweight rx at a mere 114lbs. I was never strong enough to get it on the bench.

[SueEllen]

When I retired I started looking for a job.

Then the plague hit, so that was the end of that.

Curiously I still get emails from pimps about contracts, but they're working off CVs from decades past.

Which sort of makes one wonder a bit.

What kind of job did you want to do?