Reacting to the announcements on the State Pension Age and the Default Retirement Age by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP, in today’s Budget, Chris Ball, Chief Executive of TAEN – The Age and Employment Network, says:

 “It was entirely predictable that the Government should want to move ahead with accelerated changes to put the state pension age up to 66. It makes economic sense and faces up to the demographic changes that make this action necessary.

“However, the Government state that the consultation process will be ‘conducted quickly.’ This may not go far enough as there are some difficult issues to consider that we can not afford to overlook.

“For example, how will the differences between male and female state pension ages be addressed and how can we contemplate such change when people can still be legally compelled to leave their jobs at 65? What will be the impact on company pensions, particularly where schemes are run on an “integrated” basis, and what account will be taken of varying levels of health and wellbeing in different sectors and different parts of the country?  

“Many employers have been forcing people out of their organisations at 65 using the default retirement age. The overwhelming majority of these employers are likely to have given little thought to redesigning workplaces or adjusting working conditions and jobs to make working through our 60s and 70s possible. And for people doing arduous work, or work that is, in a sense ‘bad work’, working longer may be hard unless there is support to change direction.”

He adds that “waiting an extra year for the state pension may be acceptable for the individual who is in good health and a rewarding well paid job, but we need real engagement by those employers that have flexible and innovative approaches to extending working lives to show others the way forward.”