To think that constantly increasing retirement age will just cause an increase in health related benefit claims?

I was replying to the comments made. They said they were a TA, but not totally reliant on the pension.
Yes it is a good pension scheme, but if you earn a very low salary, it’s not mind blowing.
Most of our TAs are doing it to fit around family life. I would say at least claim UC.

This.

Don’t for get the thousands whose claims are refused and are appealing. At least they’ll be keeping law firms in work. Then the benefits kick in for those who are given asylum but have no transferable skills or can’t speak English.

I believe TAs enrol in the LGPS pension scheme, which is one of the best around today. So even a low earner enrolled in that scheme will be better off than people earning a bit more but making minimum contributions to a defined contribution scheme in the private sector.

I also don’t think it’s fair to say people in low income jobs don’t value their pension. Getting a well paid job and good pension isn’t easy for everyone or we would all be doing it. And then who would be working in the essential lower paid jobs?

As a TA you are probably a very low earner.
You also work part time, unless your school gives you extra work. You also get 13 weeks holiday.
Anyone who values a good pension would probably not be a TA!

You have to retrain to something less physical and work part time basically. The bigger problem is low wages and widening inequality and economic stagnation.

If you think you can't do office work, there's things like training to be a counsellor, allied health care roles etc.

I'm 46 and fully aware no one is coming to save me in my older age so am trying my best.

It's not aboit the government wanting you to work longer - you vam retire when you want. It is about it being unaffordable for everyone to claim their state pension at 65.

Your choice is lay more tax (a lot more) or see the state pension age rise Were do you want this choice to fall?

I think if the government want us to work longer and have less sickness then surely more needs to be done to improve the overall health of the population?

Getting the NHS in a place in can do what is needed to get people who can be fixed and back to work quickly and also using other methods like nudge theory or getting the bbc and government/ public ally funded institutions to promote and teach wellness/ health tips/ exercise/ cooking

Do you have a source for the 0.4%? Is this just those with asylum seeker status or does it include refugees as well?

People are only asylum seekers temporarily for a short time while their claims are being processed.

You are comparing illegal migrants with pensioners? Seriously?

Spending on asylum seekers is not the issue. That is 0.4% of government spending. The issue is that pensions are 11 to 12% of government spending, or 55 to 58% of welfare spending.

This.

The focus on training new recruits rather than doing everything would help.

Maybe a graduated retirement where people could take a small amt of pension and slightly reduce working week over time.

I left teaching before I got to 50 for this exact reason. Twisting to the board and back had already ruined my lower back. I had to take a significant pay drop to make the change but am now making my way back up slowly in a wfh job. I have to workout with weights every morning though because the desk job does wreck your back. The mental stress of my job is still hugely high. I can’t decide some days what is worse - mental stress or physical. Teaching was both. But yeah there’s definitely some jobs impossible to do later in life.

If you start early and with tax breaks and employer contributions, even just £20 a month can make a difference

I'm a TA. My work pension does not kick in until state pension age (67). I believe I can take it earlier but that comes at a huge financial cost. Fortunately for me I am not totally reliant on that pension but a lot of other people in that role are. And I cannot imagine still doing the job at 67!

Pensions are quite complicated things and I'd say the majority of people don't really understand what they should be doing to plan for retirement. That isn't something we should be judging them for, we should be supporting people to do what they can.

You should also bear in mind that very low earners are going to struggle to put money away into a private pension when they need every penny to survive now.

He is lucky to be so healthy. Meanwhile my 76 year old mother has 7 fractured vertebrae (osteoporosis and myeloma) and needs morphine to get through the day and my 81 year old father has dementia.

This is an interesting debate and probably a couple of years ago I would have thought that life expectancy meant that most of us will live to our 80's and have around 15 years of retirement. I think the reality is actually very different. Although average life expectancy is 80ish a good proportion of people will die before then and the indicator of good health expectancy is depressing. And as someone who spends a lot of time in churchyards I can anecdotally say that for headstones from the last 20 years death in their 70's is very common. Life expectancy is not improving either and is at best static and at worst declining.

I have family currently in poor health job hunting in their early 60s, they are finding the whole situation depressing, they have health issues that perhaps could be improved by a better lifestyle but equally at this point even with a radical change in lifestyle their health is not going to radically change. They have a miserable few years leading to retirement being hounded by UC.

Equally I also have relatives who have lived incredibly healthy lives and have died from illness not affected by lifestyle and dementia, which had robbed them completely of their retirement.

From my own experience I actually now think that state pension should be from 65, with an option for either a phased claim from 60 or a health related sort of medical retirement from 60 which to be honest does seem to suit the statistics around healthy life expectancy.

The missing discussion here is the state pension is a benefit that is paid for by current tax payers. The reason the state pension age is rising is we simply cannot afford to keep paying it out from existing tax, there aren't enough tax payers (look up the dependency ratio). To keep state pension age at 65 we would need to raise income tax significantly.

It's just going to exacerbate the gap between rich and poor. Well off people who can afford to save for retirement will do so and retire when they choose, leaving all those who can't afford to save to work themselves do death.

Some people enjoy work and are easily capable of working well into old age but I suspect these are in the minority. It should be a choice.

I feel health wise the retirement age should be 65 for both men and women alike.

YANBU. It's worse for people in manual jobs, but it isn't great for anyone. I'm in my 50s in an office job with an ever-growing list of health problems that I'm stuck on long NHS waiting lists trying to fix. I'm in pain most days and working is a struggle because I find it hard to concentrate, painkillers make me feel drowsy, half the time I'm wishing I could go and lie down in bed.

I genuinely think I may be dead before I reach state pension age.

You’re wrong to state a desk job isn’t affected by rising age. I mean for many women it’s affected much earlier by brain fog and other issues. Yes it’s physically less exhausting, but mentally harder being on top of your game into your late 60’s. Hard in different ways, and quite rude to suggest an office worker would just be coasting and can’t be bothered if not at their best.

My DC are early 70s born, they and their similar age DPs have always paid into occupational or private pensions. At least many will have paid off their mortgages, which is a huge help in retirement.

What state pension dream were those born in 60/70s sold? I was born mid sixties and have always known I needed another pension and didn't rely on the state pension as it has never on it's own given a decent standard of living.
I do agree that raising the state pension age will lead to more disability/ill health benefits.

That's life expectancy, the pp was talking about healthy life expectancy- two very different things.