Over 50 and not working by choice. Would a ‘mid-life MOT’ tempt you back?

[PuzzledObserver]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64083802

The phrase “not on your nelly” comes to mind.

There are reasons - good ones - why I retired early. They still apply, I’m not bored, I don’t feel my life lacks meaning, and finances are OK. So I’m finding difficult to think of a reason to rejoin the workforce.

How about you?

I think you have a point here. The gradual denigration of the dignity of workers in this country has meant that lots of people are just sick of being treated like crap, legally and without any difficulty by employers.

I'd love to know how many non-disclosure agreements are used in this country to bully people out. In my industry it's become the norm - for no particular reason other than having a reshuffle if someone face doesn't fit for the new boss. It's endemic. As someone said to me on finding out they were next in line "You're no-one until you've been through the process".

Even redundancy has been undermined.

What else will this ridiculous Government come up with next, I wonder? We need so many more younger, intelligent , fit , sensible people with a good strong work ethic to come and work alongside our young people. Oh wait, Brexit might not have been such a good idea then eh Johnson?

We have got a " broken "Britain under the Tories for sure. Why no pay rises of any useful amount over the last 12 years? Why do families need to top up wages with U C which has impact on hours worked by younger people? Why is child care such an obscene cost, making it such that parents cannot actually afford to work and they would like to?
Get the pay sorted, get the child care costs sorted and have a look at the wasted and lost billions and billions before anyone bleats about lockdown costs, no magic money tree etc etc or any other utter drivel.

While you are at it , let every bright kid who gets the results needed to train in medicine , dentistry or nursing, have a free university place as long as they commit to staying and working here for a good while after qualifying.

I still love the UK so much and there can be hope for the future .
Happy christmas ,

The burden young people carry isn't paying pensions to the over 50s who retire on their own personal savings

The burden they carry is supporting a failed economic model and a load of billionaires because they are too busy trying to survive to rebel

I think they need to address the massive ageism in the workplace first.

I'm 55 and trying to get back into the workforce and it's not easy at this age. What I'm finding is that most 30 year olds want to work with other 30 year olds, not someone old enough to be their mum!

Don't get me started on diversity. I recently did a pre-job agency interview with a panel that were a series of clones: 4 x white, female, same 30ish age group, all had English names (I have a French surname), and strangely enough they all had blonde Balayage hair!). If you work in one of these offices, please start thinking outside the box / diversity.

I'm 56 and looking to retire in the next couple of years on my own income. I won't get state pension until 67. I've worked and paid tax and NI since I was 16, 40 years currently. I don't think I owe society anything. I have a stressful job which I'm now struggling with. I don't want (or need) to work past 60. We need to get younger people trained and working on wages that they can grow their lives and contribute on.

I did type a huge reply but deleted it - Simply, I work full time in employment support for the unemployed, for an organisation not connected with the DWP, so I am able to do the right thing for the client and not just tick a box! The issues as to why some are no longer working are myriad and complex. The Government / DWP know the problems, but seem to ignore these as too difficult to comprehend or taking too much effort to address! Those that should be working range from 16+ to retirement age and this focus on age, is, imo, about addressing skill shortages imo and the fact we are now feeling the effects of failing to fix the following: our education system, social mobility, health care, social care, child care, allowing developers to build cheap rural homes and moving populations from where work is to where they struggle to find work that pays, lack of training.... I could go on and I feel this is yet another attempt to put the blame for failing UK plc on a group in our society, rather than the government doing what we vote them in to do, which is make the country a better place for us all!

I've just turned 50 and teach 3 days a week. The job takes me a minimum of 40 hours per week. I had my DC fairly late so spend most of the holidays looking after her. I have average levels of energy and am in reasonable health (mostly thanks to my previous employer having needs-blind healthcare insurance as a taxable benefit - was able to sort out two ongoing chronic health problems without waiting for the NHS).

The intensity of work and lack of healthcare are definitely factors. I also think Covid was depressing for a whole host of reasons. The centre assessed and teacher assessed grade debacles nearly drove me out.

They must be having a laugh. Once you are over 50 no one is interested in employing you. You might be ok if you have a particularly difficult skill (think brain surgeon), but for the rest of us no way.

No amount of MOT-ing is going to make employers have a more positive attitude about employing older people (with notable exceptions such as B and Q) At the grand old age of 54 my husband couldn’t even get an interview anywhere. Many of our friends have had similar experiences unless in a very specialised line of work. The only thing a 62 year old friend could get was night shift care work and those of us still working (me, part time) have set up our own small businesses. I’m in the group of women whose retirement age was pushed from 60 to 66+ anyway

If they really want to have older people working again as opposed to skilling up younger ones then maybe they’ll need to provide employer incentives?

This is the first shot in a war that will see early retirees become the "threat" that single mothers were in the 80s. I look forward to stories about how early retirement affects your sex life ("The Sun"), house prices ("Daily Mail"), how we need more immigrants because of all those selfish layabouts ("The Express", "Telegraph"). Then how their portrayal in the media becomes more and more negative. After all, with all that free time on their hands, they must be up to no good.

I meant to add that I had no problem getting a new job (I teach a shortage subject) and no-one's been ageist but I had to be very insistent on the part time. Most schools really want you to do 60 hours a week not 40! If you add a commute that's incompatible with family life or even staying healthy.

Fuck no!!!

It's exactly the same.

Never in a million years. Workplaces, and society in general, are riddled with ageism. I don't know why this isn't being discussed more in the media as it's so bad.

And what if these MOTs find health issues? Ableism is equally as bad.

I doubt employers will want to take on more mature people who they rightly or wrongly believe might need workplace adjustments or may be less productive because of disabilities, caring responsibilities etc.

Would it get me to go back to work? Would it chuff! I stopped working three years ago, having worked full time since leaving school, I’m now 55, I’m happy. I’ve never claimed benefits, my state pension won’t kick in until I’m 67.
DP is older than me, we retired together and that’s the way it’s staying.

I enjoy my job too much and have no intention of retiring, ever.

I read the article as encouraging this group to review their finances and long term plans as it seems a fair number retired during the pandemic, so maybe with less forethought than in normal times, and before the financial crisis, so they may not have sufficient funds to live well in the long term.
Whether people want to return to work or not, we all have a societal duty to fund ourselves and not expect the state or others to do it

Never in a million years. Workplaces, and society in general, are riddled with ageism. I don't know why this isn't being discussed more in the media as it's so bad.

It's very simple. If we can't get these workshy wastrels back to work there is a very real danger that wages will have to rise and conditions will have to improve. It's also makes it a lot harder to peddle the anti-immigrant hardline that keeps the Tory party in power.

However, as with most rightwing bright ideas this one is laden with unintended consequences. Probably the first being that us greybeards - especially if we aren't desperate to keep a job - are much more likely to tell management to go fuck themselves when (because it's always when not if) they try it on. And attitudes like that are contagious and likely to inspire the younger workforce.

As the posts here are making it abundantly clear ... if you wanted to avoid people retiring early, you should have paid and treated them right when you had the chance.

So you'll have to look very hard to find negative stories about retirees going back to work. In fact it will be quite the opposite. I am quite prepared for the next few years to consist of vomit inducing feelgood stories about how wonderful it al is.

This sounds like this sort of plan that the government had a year or so ago to staff schools during covid. They asked retired and ex-teachers to come back and save the day. I think an MP volunteered-was it Jonathan Gullis?! Wonder how many weeks he taught for?

That plan didn’t come to anything either.

I agree this sounds entirely cynical and worryingly likely to push people who are too ill to work back into jobs.

But I also think there should be support for people in their 50s who aren't in the workplace and could be. My MIL has been claiming she's 'retired' all the time I've known her, since her mid-50s. She is in a rotten financial situation and it is, frankly, miserable and very precarious. She's also clearly very lonely. But she simply cannot imagine herself with a job. She doesn't really understand how things could be better. She's talked herself out of the idea of working. There ought to be a way for people in her situation to get honest, gentle, helpful information about what might be out there, and there ought to be pressure on businesses not to discriminate by age, which I think still happens much more than it should.

It's crazy isn't it that you are encouraged to work and save so you don't claim of the state.

Some have managed to do that and can now afford to retire early. What incentive is there to save if the idea is to work until you drop and not see any benefit.

The ONS I put below shows that many do want to go back after leaving during pandemic

This isn’t for people who have zero interest but those who want to

I agree with pp that an incentive to employ that age group would be good too ageism is a big problem

58 vs 72 ? that isn't a massive difference and "consider" isn't a definite either (appreciate you didn't write this)

As i said earlier, employers do not want "oldies" or as i was once heard in a management meeting quite recently, over 50s referred too as "Grey Tops"

This from a senior HR director and female too, as a pp, up thread said ageism effected women more.

It's frightening really.

@CurlyhairedAssassin
Retirees still pay tax and those who can afford to retire early will usually have paid higher NI contributions anyway.

I know somebody in their late 50s who was made redundant during the early days of the pandemic (private sector. Company went into administration so only entitled to statutory severance). They'd love (and need!) to return to work, but employers aren't interested in older workers. If the government want to get older workers back in the workplace (and not just entry level jobs) they need to encourage employers to take them on instead of offering gimicky "financial MOTs". Most people know whether they can afford to retire or not.