Ian Gee, 54, from Norwich was made redundant during the pandemic and recently got his private pension statement. Upon opening the statement, the van driver found out they had given him a retirement age of 68 and an annual income of £1,000. As a result, Me Gee does not believe he will be able to afford to retire in his 60s and expects to be working well into his 70s.
“£1,000 a year. What can you do with that?” Mr Gee said. “I don’t think I’ll live till 68. I could be dead by then.”
While Mr Gee has secured a zero-contract with an employer, he has been unable to find a full-time position. Furthermore, he has been hesitant to receive benefits of any kind as he is worried how that would affect his wages.
Despite considering accessing his pension pot early, the small amount he would receive is pushing him to find stable employment. But, this has proven to be tricky.
According to research carried out by Rest Less, almost 200,000 men aged 50 and older found themselves out of work between September and November 2021.
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This represents an increase of 24 percent in two years with half of them being unemployed for at least a year.
With men approaching retirement age increasingly facing this issue, it is all the more important that pension pots give people the retirement they deserve.
However, for men like Ian, this is proving harder to get and they face a future of working well past retirement age to make ends.
Stuart Lewis, the founder of Rest Less, outlined how men in their 50s are not being factored into the post-Covid economy.
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“Faced with a rapidly increasing state pension age and widespread ageism in the recruitment process, once out of work, many struggle to make ends meet until they reach the safety net of the state pension.
“Today’s cohort of 50 and 60 year olds fall between the cracks of missing out on the gold-plated final salary pensions their parents enjoyed, whilst missing out on a full working life under new pensions auto-enrolment.”
In light of this growing crisis, Mr Lewis is calling on the Government to provide targeted support for people in their 50s and 60s who are anxious about the state of their pensions.
He added: “The long-term unemployment of any group of individuals is bad news for everyone.
“We’d like to see the government provide more targeted support, retraining and career re-entry points to unemployed workers in their 50s and 60s.”
A Government Spokesperson said: “Older workers are a huge asset to our economy and there are currently over nine million workers aged over 50 on employer payrolls – an increase of more than 370,000 compared to a year ago.”
“Our Plan for Jobs is helping hundreds of thousands of older workers to retrain, build new skills and get back into work, including through our ‘50 Plus: Choices’ offer.”
“Across our Jobcentres we’re helping people take stock of their skills, health and wealth when planning their next career move, with our £400,000 funding boost for Midlife MOTs, and the advice and support of our Older Worker Champions.”
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