A million over-50s who want to work suffer illness, redundancy or forced retirement

More than a million over-50s are forced out of work as they approach retirement, new research reveals.

Older people are leaving their jobs due to redundancy, ill health, or being pushed into early retirement by their employers – despite recent government efforts encouraging them to stay or return to address a workforce shortage.

Overall, nearly one in ten people aged between 50 and state pension age are out of work involuntarily this year, according to the study by the International Longevity Centre think-tank and finance firm Aviva.

Many older people are out of work due to circumstances beyond their control,  new study finds

That amounts to 1.15million 50 to 64-year-olds, up from 1.02million when the same study was done in 2014, although the ILC says the increase was driven by a rise in the number of older people.

It believes people over 50 are pushed out of their jobs because of ‘shocks’ – circumstances beyond their control – because of a failure to support longer working lives.

The study of ‘involuntarily workless’ older people is based on Office for National Statistics data, and is part of a joint initiative by the ILC and Aviva to identify changes needed to deal with an ageing population.

They say: ‘Demographic change will drive a 2.6 million shortfall of paid workers by 2030 and almost every sector of our economy is facing skills shortages.

‘A decreasing proportion of us are aged between 18 and the state pension age and an increasing number of us are over 66. So, despite not having a mandatory retirement age in the UK, we still see a dramatic work exodus at state pension age.’

Men and women’s state pension age is currently 66, and between 2026 and 2028 it will rise again to 67, but the timing of the next rise to 68 remains up in the air.

In 2028, the minimum pension age for accessing workplace and other private retirement savings will also go up, from 55 to 57.

David Sinclair, chief executive at the International Longevity Centre UK, says: ‘We need to make work more attractive and accessible to more people. And we need more than headline-grabbing, sticking plaster solutions to address poor mental and physical health and get people back to work.

‘Patterns of work are changing and so are our attitudes to what’s most important for our working lives. Technology has already made a massive difference to the world of work and will continue to do so. The question is whether we can harness these changes to our benefit.

‘When we highlighted the ‘missing million’ in our 2014 report we called for action. But our latest analysis shows that while millions of over 50s would like to work they are still not receiving the help they need to get back into the workplace.’

Doug Brown, chief executive of Aviva UK & Ireland Life says the latest report’s findings highlight the structural issues of hiring and retaining workers aged over 50.

‘While the government announced a £70million investment to support over 50s staying in or getting back to work in its 2023 Spring Budget, employers have a big role to play in improving outcomes for this age group.

‘The good news is that there is momentum and support from UK employers. Our Working Lives research found that in the last year, one in ten employers have for the first time introduced support for retaining over 50s employees.

‘Furthermore, three-quarters of employers think that it is important to retain employees aged over 50, with a third saying it is very important.’

A government spokesman says: ‘We are investing millions in employment and skills support for the over 50s, and this is already paying off with payroll numbers at a near record high for this group at over eight million.

‘This includes Midlife MOTs, intensive, tailored support for jobseekers on Universal Credit and skills bootcamps and is part of this Government’s wider drive to halve inflation, grow the economy and put more money in people’s pockets.’

The number of 50 to 64-year-olds on company payrolls was at a near record high at 8.1m in in August, up 14,000 on the quarter and by 389,000 since February 2020.

The Government has told employers to play their part and that flexibility is essential if they want to make the most of talent available to them at every age.

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk