If you can work you should... But why?

[Tryingtokeepgoing]

So, Rachel Reeves is of the opinion that if you can work you should. However, there are millions of us in the 50+ bracket who can work, but don't need or want to work. We are financially self sufficent, happily (ish) paying tax and spending money supporting the services economy on which so much of the country depends. Why should we work? Altruistically, I see my choice not to work as creating opportunities for progression for others...

Why should we work?
What is achieved by encouraging us to work?
If there are benefits to us working, how can she incentivise us to do so?

caveat - I am not a fan of the Telegraph, but it is a direct quote

“If you can work, you should work,” she said after official figures showed worklessness in Britain rose to its highest level in more than a decade.

@Elphame - you don't need to quote the opening post to make a comment. It is assumed you are replying to the OP unless you state otherwise. Imagine how long the thread would be if we all quoted the opening post before replying.

What you’re talking about is investment in people. After fourteen years of Tory rule that’s a joke. Hopefully will improve under Labour, but we’ll have to wait and see.

I don't think any of us who are older (that includes me) can say we are 'financially self-sufficient' or that we have paid more than our fair share into the system. For the healthy adult population, the greatest costs on the NHS come in the last few years of life. None of us know what might face us or what costs might be incurred as a consequence.

If you had children previous to the Tory government you would have had child benefit. Unless you chose not to take it. But then you wouldn’t have had NI stamp paid.

She clearly meant all the lazy bastards who are claiming benefits when they could work. On one hand i think they are lazy scroungers and on the other i don't blame them when if you know how to play the system you can get more on benefits than you would working 40 hours a week in a minimum wage job why would you work? I think working keeps you young and i don't intend to retire for as little as i can comfortably keep working.

From the wording in the consultation document for disability benefits it’s not just those who choose not to work that will be in the firing line. It will be the more severely disabled people who, up to this point, have been regarded as too sick or disabled to be expected to hold down a job. I have no problem with even those people working provided the system for assessing that ability is drastically changed, because at the moment it’s unfit for purpose, and as a result people who are ill have been forced into work and some have died as a result.

She's more than likely talking about those who are able to work but don't/won't, as opposed to people who are 60 and self sufficient.

@parkrun500club Many pensioners who felt they didnt need their winter fuel allowance gave it to a charity or charities of their choice. Charities have commented that they often got donations equal to the winter fuel allowance after it was paid. We used to donate ours but in the form of food for the food bank in January when they struggle and in school holidays when they also struggle.

Pensions are taxable. We still pay a lot of tax so we are still contributing to our meagre state pensions and to funding the NHS.

We used to volunteer, dont do a lot of it now. You dont need paid work to keep yourself healthy or to feel you are contributing to society. But if you want older people back at work then many charities will no longer be viable. "Productivity boost from volunteering 'adds £4.6 billion to UK economy each year' PBE study estimates annual productivity gains of at least £4,551 per volunteer working in professional and managerial occupations."

I doubt we are the only retirees wondering whether to sell up and take our money elsewhere.

Ageism in the workplace is rife. Many employers don't want to hire 50+ year olds.

No, no CB because of earning more than £60k pa.

I would have thought it’s fairly obvious she doesn’t mean you. If you don’t want to work and can financially support yourself then crack on. But people shouldn’t be sitting on their arse expecting the tax payer to support them

Is this in part because older people are less compliant and harder to exploit?

NI stops before pension age if your income is from pensions. No NIC on pensions, only on wages.

Imagine the outcry from the Labour opposition benches though, if someone like Jacob Rees-Mogg was saying that while the Tories were in power?

I am defining ‘more than my fair share’ as ‘more than the average person’ and ‘financially self sufficient’ as having enough annual pension and investment income to cover my planned annual outgoings for the rest of my life. So yeah, I think I can say both of those things!

The £60k rule only came in around a decade ago, so you'd have had child benefit before that however much you were earning.

True, Jan 13 it stopped!

Unfortunately the UK does have a work shy population and also a poor work ethic.

In my place of work, most people have a “why should I” attitude. I also know a lot of people back home who haven’t worked in years, and claim every benefit going,

There is a lot of tax coming out of my household, and on top of that we have paid for our own DC’s schooling, medical and dental. At 55 I have now taken a p/t job and I don’t give a shit what RR’s thinks. She can get the unemployed back to work, and others. It’s true that it is fuelling the migrant levels we have here. I refuse to pay anymore tax than has/ is already coming out of my house so I’m afraid telling 50+ to go back to work is falling on deaf ears here.

It had no cap until 2013. It was universal.

I think she'll also have to find ways to create jobs for disabled people if she wants them to work. Many are simply not able to work in mainstream workplaces doing mainstream work and there's a limit as to how much you can expect employers to accommodate them. We'd need organisations set up specifically to employ those who for a myriad of reasons wouldn't be suitable in normal workplaces. Of course we need to continue to encourage and support disabled people in normal workplaces too where feasible!

Places like the old "Remploy" would be good where the more severely disabled can be accommodated, encouraged and supported to do something worthwhile, both in terms of making/doing something productive, but also for their own wellbeing in terms of self confidence, feeling of self worth, meeting other people, making friends, etc. and also maybe getting people ready for "normal" workplaces.

You can still have the NIC credit without receiving child benefit - it's just a tick box on the form. The credit isn't linked to actually receiving CB.

I think those who can afford early retirement or to be socially inactive it is entirely their choice. There should be greater encouragement to move over to reduced hours by e.g. age 55 or even 50 in the workplace so employees did not burn out. I feel legislation should be put in place to implement this.

it would be communism to insist we must all work until state pension age!

More genuine people on benefits than not I believe. Genuinely unwell. The age 50 to 64 the second age group least likely to work due to physical health (the first age group least likely to work being age 16 to 24 due to mental health).

However despite the above more false benefit claims out there than it should be.

Blair/Brown contributed to the demise of adult education and the push for concentration of resources to the 16-21 school leaver age group, so you really can't blame the Tories for the crap state of adult education and adult retraining options we have today. Blair/Brown did as much damage as the Tories.

I’ve got the date in my diary for when my state pension will be fully contributed to. In the meantime I’m saving everything I can to retire early and be the buffer between this and pension age. As soon as I hit that date, I’m planning on retiring . It’ll be around 62. Life is too short to work work work and pay tax that others just milk dry.

I agree, Remploy and Community Programmes were excellent schemes providing practical, and financial help to get into the workplace even with some difficulties.