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According to a new report one in four are planning to work beyond their retirement age
With rising inflation, higher fuel bills and people struggling on a daily basis in Lincolnshire, a new report has found that more people than ever before plan to work past their retirement age.
When people hit the retirement age in Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Skegness, Grantham and beyond, it should be a time where people slow down and spend more time on themselves instead of going out to work. However, a new report has found that one in four people plan to work past their retirement age.
The report found that women who took part in the survey of 2,000 people said they will be working past their retirement age due to necessity while the men who took part said it was through choice.
28% who took part said they will be working past retirement age due to not being able to survive financially without staying in work.
Founder Stuart Lewis said: “We are living longer lives than previous generations which means that many of us are now working for longer than we might have planned. For some, working longer is a positive choice which reaps many physical, mental and social benefits. For others, the choice is denied as people find they must keep working to make ends meet.
“The UK state pension is already relatively modest compared to other countries, and following the suspension of the triple-lock, is now set to rise significantly less than the Bank of England’s forecast for inflation in April. With few ways of boosting earnings after retirement, miserly interest rates on savings and the cost-of-living surging, millions are at risk of suffering pensioner poverty.
“Today, the whole concept of retirement is changing. The idea that retirement is a cliff-edge where you work five days a week for 40 or 50 years and then suddenly stop, ‘cold turkey’, is no longer accurate.
“Instead, more and more people are viewing retirement as a transition to a new phase of life to be lived in a fulfilling and purposeful way.” A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “Older workers are a huge asset to our economy and the majority of those polled by this survey who plan to remain in work beyond state pension age identified health, social and wellbeing benefits as their main reason for staying in employment.
“For those who decide to retire, from April the full yearly amount of the basic state pension will be over £2,300 higher than in 2010 and we continue to encourage those eligible for Pension Credit, and the wide range of other benefits it can provide, to make a claim.”
When we hit the streets of Skegness, Boston, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Grantham, Lincoln, and Louth, we were shocked with the reaction to the report and the fear of retiring.
We spoke to people aged between 50 and 65 who said they were scared for the future. Many of those that we spoke to said they had not planned for their retirement. Others said they were scared how they would survive financially when they reached retirement.
One couple we spoke to who were aged 56 and 64 shared a horror store about their future. The 64-year-old woman from Lincoln said she was in ill health and had to reduce her hours at work due to her poor health. She explained that her husband who is 56 does not work due to his serious health condition.
The woman who did not wish to be named explained: “We receive help from Universal credit which allows us to survive. However, when I retire, we will lose £650 each month due to our age difference.”
The Lincoln woman explained that her husband receives LCWR due to his health condition and they receive other financial help. She said when she went to CAB to check their financial future when she retires, she was shocked. She has been told that because she is retiring that they will only receive £170 a month from Universal Credit compared to more than £800 they receive now.
We spoke to other couples with similar stories. One couple we spoke to said they were struggling to survive with the high cost of living. They said that they both retire next year and the only way they could survive would be to sell their property and rent a property. Even though the rental property would be more than their mortgage, they felt this would be the only way they could live without financial worry when they retire.
Debt charities have said they expect a huge increase in the number of people who go into debt due to the high cost of living.