Workers will be consigned "to the misery of being too old to work but too young for a pension"
Tory plans to raise the state pension age have been blasted by the Unite the union leader as detrimental to working people, as campaigners urge the Prime Minster to rethink the current pension age scheme.
Rishi Sunak has been called on to abandon apparent plans to bring forward raising the state pension age to 68, and to rethink entirely its strategy on expecting people to work longer.
Currently the state pension age is 66 years, which is due to rise to 67 years from May 2026 and then to 68 from May 2044. But there are fears the Tories wish to bring this forward to 2037, however the government delayed the decision until after the election.
Many workers feel they cannot continue working in key roles after the current state pension age due to the challenges both mentally and physically, new research by Unite has found.
The survey of members working in the health sector found 86% felt they could not mentally continue their current roles beyond 66, whilst 83% said they could not physically continue in the role beyond that age.
Findings were similar across different professions, with 76% of road haulage and warehouse workers saying they will not be able to physically work after 66 and 70% citing that mentally they would have to stop working beyond the current retirement age.
For bus workers, 67% said the work would be too mentally demanding and 57% said they physically would not be able to continue in the role after 66.
Consequently, tens of thousands of workers will be forced out of employment due to physical and mental demands however will be unable to access a state pension.
Commenting on the retirement age rise, Sharon Graham said: “The government needs to urgently rethink its entire strategy of expecting workers to work even longer.
“A failure to do so will consign workers to the misery of being too old to work but too young for a pension.”
Demonstrations took place in May by a coalition of campaigners and trade unionists calling on the government to rule out plans to raise the pension age further.
General Secretary of the National Pensioners Convention (NPC), Jan Shortt, told LFF how it was a fight to ensure the workers of today don’t experience the same struggle that pensioners are currently facing.
“Working class people have contribute to this economy and now they’re struggling,” said Jan.
“Changes to the state pension age will not affect myself and others who have already retired, but it will affect our children and our grandchildren.”
“They deserve to have a better retirement than the one that many current pensioners are experiencing.”
The NPC believe the state pension age is already too high given existing age inequalities and a stall in life expectancy due to the cost-of-living crisis.
In the 1950s, the UK was 7th in the table of overall world nation rankings on life expectancy by the UN – whilst now, the UK is ranked 29th overall.
A Unite petition calling on Rishi Sunak not to raise the state pension age further has gathered over 2,000 signatures so far.
(Photo credit: National Pensioners Convention / Twitter)
Hannah Davenport is trade union reporter at Left Foot Forward
Left Foot Forward’s trade union reporting is supported by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust
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