Working beyond the state pension age in the United Kingdom: the role of working time flexibility and the effects on the home

Abstract

The present and future security of employee-pension funding remains at the forefront of public debate across Europe and beyond. In the United Kingdom, to finance future pension entitlements it has been suggested that the state pension age be increased. This paper presents the results of analyses of four major national social surveys that have explored the working and living conditions of workers in paid employment after the state pension age. Comparing the circumstances of these workers with workers just below that age illustrates the extent to which it constitutes a break in the working and domestic lives of older people. The findings suggest that, in order to accommodate older workers in the workplace, more attention may need to be placed on informal as well as contractual arrangements of flexible working. Beyond part-time working, older workers rarely take up additional or alternative flexible working arrangements. At the same time, older workers continue to experience housework as burdensome, while in partnered households the gendered division of domestic labour prevails. Research and policy have yet to consider in depth these risks associated with working longer in life.

Challenges at work and financial rewards to stimulate longer workforce participation

“…In this way, the workers benefit financially and moreover can spend some more time on private pursuits, this being the most important reason to take early retirement, as shown by the LASA analyses. This was confirmed by a recent study by Cebulla et al [19], which stated that there is broad consensus that older workers should be given the opportunity to retire gradually.…”

A scoping review of the incentives for a prolonged work life after pensionable age and the importance of “bridge employment”

“…Barriers of discrimination could also arise from the new UK government's "business case" approach where the decision on whether a person is welcome to work beyond the age of 65 rests with the line manager rather than the senior manager or human resources specialist [64]. Further, this prac-tice conflicts with the national discussion on whether or not to increase the state pension age in the United Kingdom [65,66].…”

Working past 65 in the UK and the USA: segregation into ‘Lopaq’ occupations?

“…See http://www.efa.org.uk/about/members.asp 2 Occupational profiles inSmeaton and McKay (2003) andCebulla et al (2007) include pension-age women of 60-64, for whom continued employment is comparatively straightforward as employment rights diminished at 65.…”