So how can the government fiddle the unemployment lists this time around ?

[maxmaximus]

Surely this is easily explained by us all having to work longer these days.

 

I can no longer retire at 65, so that would mean one more person in employment and given around 120000 people retire each year then there's more older people in work and fewer younger ones.

 

I can't forgive this government for making me work these extra years!!!!!

 

You can retire when you like.

 

https://www.gov.uk/retirement-age

Retirement age is when an employee chooses to retire.

[Titanic99]

You can retire when you like.

 

https://www.gov.uk/retirement-age

Retirement age is when an employee chooses to retire.

 

You can't if you're reliant on a State Pension, which for me is now 68 years of age so that's another three years I'm working thanks to this lot.

[maxmaximus]

You can't if you're reliant on a State Pension, which for me is now 68 years of age so that's another three years I'm working thanks to this lot.

 

You've got over 30 years to save enough to retire early, so stop moaning and start saving.

[Anna B]

What really gets me going about the upward Pension age is that it's supposed to be because 'We're all living longer.'

 

Well pardon me, but we aren't. There is a ten year discrepancy in life expectation between rich and poor, and also it depends on where you live and what sort of work you do.

 

Also a relatively few long livers (100+) manage to distort the average figures upwards but infant mortality no longer counterbalances it back down.

 

You also have to realise that extended years do not necessarily equate to extended health. People find their health breaking down before retirement age and that will only get worse when retirement is put off even further.

[saunaman]

Agree with Anna B , we really aren't going to live longer - young people today have weaker immune systems than those of us brought up in cold houses ( Watch George Carlin on Youtube re the immune system - although he's now dead!)

 

We are all going to get diabetes or liver disease , or die prematurely from cancer . At the same time , Sheffield council is having to fork out an extra £10,400,000 for 2 new schools because of extra demand , with the future vision being that presumably all these kids will become taxpayers . Surely with all these youngsters paying taxes , the future funding of elderly care should not be a problem at all ?

[maxmaximus]

What really gets me going about the upward Pension age is that it's supposed to be because 'We're all living longer.'

 

Well pardon me, but we aren't. There is a ten year discrepancy in life expectation between rich and poor, and also it depends on where you live and what sort of work you do.

 

Also a relatively few long livers (100+) manage to distort the average figures upwards but infant mortality no longer counterbalances it back down.

 

You also have to realise that extended years do not necessarily equate to extended health. People find their health breaking down before retirement age and that will only get worse when retirement is put off even further.

 

There are benefits for those people that are unhealthy and unable to work, nothing wrong with healthy people working a little longer in order to make pensions affordable, and the people expected to work to 68 have another 30 years to go, if they don’t want to work another 3 years they can save up to cover the cost.

[Ms Macbeth]

Agree with Anna B , we really aren't going to live longer - young people today have weaker immune systems than those of us brought up in cold houses ( Watch George Carlin on Youtube re the immune system - although he's now dead!)

 

We are all going to get diabetes or liver disease , or die prematurely from cancer . At the same time , Sheffield council is having to fork out an extra £10,400,000 for 2 new schools because of extra demand , with the future vision being that presumably all these kids will become taxpayers . Surely with all these youngsters paying taxes , the future funding of elderly care should not be a problem at all ?

 

We're already living longer. I'm fairly interested in family history, and I've discovered that only one of my husband's grandparents lived past 60. It was fairly common in the days of multiple childbirth that women's lives were shorter, also men had to do all sorts of manual work in terrible conditions. My dad died at 59 because of a heart condition that today would be cureable. Modern science has already prolonged life. Few illnesses of today are related to deprivation or lack of medical skill.

 

I was brought up in a cold flat on the east coast of Scotland, so I should go on for a very long time.

 

With regard to retirement, my generation thought that the state pension was a level playing field, so some of us tried to make a little provision for some extra in retirement via private pensions. In retrospect for many it was the wrong decision. Only those with a big guaranteed retirement income actually see much benefit. Those of us with just a little extra perhaps made unnecessary sacrifices which have resulted in getting less from the government than we'd have got on pension credit. We didn't have the kind of information about benefits and pensions that is available today, so younger people should be much more savvy, and as they will get a flat rate pension, even a little extra will make a difference.