Clicking on her laptop Carolyne Martin, starts checking employment websites for part-time and temporary jobs
The mum of three and gran of four, finds three part-time accounts clerk positions as well as some kitchen saleroom weekend openings and starts uploading her CV.
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It’s not something Carolyne, who is 74-years-old, ever thought she’d be doing at her age.
But for the widow from Milton Keynes, Bucks, it’s become essential and the only way she can pay the bills on her £211 a week State Pension.
“There is no getting up late, pottering in the garden or going on much anticipated world cruises for me as an OAP.
“I have to go back to work to pay the bills. My pension leaves me almost £300 short each month and I have no option.
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“It’s work or end up homeless,” Carolyne, 74, told The Sun.
“I am a grey-rinse grafter applying for jobs in her seventies.”
“I’m not the only one who can’t afford to be retired. Many of my friends are the same. I am a ‘pensioner seeking a employment’”, she declares.
According to the grandmother, the cost of living crisis, spiralling inflation and volatile financial markets means pensioners in their seventies are forced to spend the day scouring wanted ads, rather than enjoying their twilight years.
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“I am not complaining. I come from a generation of people who find solutions. It’s not what I had planned but it’s what has happened.
“I’m back to work in my seventies. I don’t have a home. I have to rent and every penny now counts.
“There are times I feel terrified. Sometimes I feel scared. I can’t afford to be poor or even think about old age health issues. I have to pay the gas bill. I know I am not alone,” she says
Carolyne is just one of the nearly 900,000 Britons aged over 70 heading back to work, according to a Retirement Villages Group report, or staying longer in part- or full-time work since the pandemic and cost of living crisis.
The Office of National Statistics reveals there are now more people aged 50 and older in work or looking for work than before the pandemic hit.
More than half the total increase is among men aged over 65, whose economic activity levels increased by 66,000, or 8.5%, in a year, with 37,000, or 6.8%, more women over 65 in or looking for work.
‘Poorer than ever before’
Carolyne says she and her friends, who are now forced back to work, are feeling poorer than they’ve felt before.
“Every month I look at my pension and it buys less. Britain is a country in which retirement for those on fixed incomes is impossible.
“If price hikes continue it will be impossible to ever stop having to work.”
After leaving school in 1965 Carolyne trained as a credit control clerk before working in Butlins for a large portion of her career.
After marrying she worked part-time in credit control jobs and helped her husband Colin with his carpet cleaning business.
“I also worked in kitchen showrooms as a salesperson. Most of my life I have been customer facing or handling accounts in credit control. I am someone who can call up debtors and get results.”
Carolyne, who is mum to three children aged 48, 44 and 37, was devastated in 2011 when husband Colin passed away at 63, from a brain tumour.
“I was still working part-time and losing Colin was a bitter blow. We had planned to retire or semi retire by 2020 but knew things would be tight,” she said.
The couple hoped to downsize from their four-bed home and use some of the cash to supplement their state pensions, as neither have private pensions.
After her husband’s death Carolyne received a widows pension to supplement the pension she received at 60.
Now she gets £211 a week in state pension, the equivalent of around £914 per calendar month.
“After Colin died I couldn’t afford the upkeep on our house and sold it for £425,000 ten years ago.
“I helped my children out with their mortgages and bought a small house for myself.”
Huge monthly costs
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But Carolyne was forced to sell her new home due to rising costs in 2015 and shockingly found herself back renting.
“I never thought I’d be renting at 74. But I am doing what has to be done.”
Carolyne now rents a three-bedroom house for £1,500 a month and her housemate is her 48-year-old son, Darryl who is a divorced dad .
“I houseshare with my son and his two teenage children when they have their ‘dad time’.
“I am lucky in many ways. I can help my son and he can help me. This is modern life in a cost of living crisis.”
Carolyn says the monthly costs are huge – and leave her unable to sleep some nights fearing for the future.
Council Tax on the rented property is £198 a month, gas and electric £200, the water bill averages £50 and the phone and internet bundle is £140.
The food bill is £400 with Carolyn shopping at cut price supermarkets and cooking from scratch to save money.
“My son pays for the Sky subscription because his children use it and he supplements the food budget as the kids are growing up fast,” she says.
Carolyne still drives a second-hand car she bought for £3,000 in 2005 spending £70 on petrol, insurance and upkeep each month.
The gran-of-four explains her son pays £850 towards his portion of the rent and utilities.
That means her monthly pension of £914 isn’t enough to cover the rest.
“After we pool our resources and the bills are paid I am usually at least £300 short. That’s why I have to work.
“I am constantly looking for ways to save money on bills including switching providers, and seeing what deals are available.
“I use charity shops for clothes or revamp my old outfits. I buy second-hand outfits from friends and haggle over everything.
“My friends and I sell each other clothes and I get first dibs before they consider Ebay or Vinted.
“My cosmetics come from charity shops which have not been opened, samples from department stores and even Primark or Lidl.
“I budget every penny I spend.”
If she’s invited out Carolyne admits dinner or lunch is out of her reach.
“I meet friends for a coffee or once a month a glass of wine. I eat before I go. I layer up to avoid expensive heating bills.
“I do discounted yoga class and exercise by walking and do mature Pilates classes to stay fit.
Carolyne has £10,000 in savings which is the amount she is allowed as a pensioner before she has to pay tax when working part time on a pension.
“I have always been frugal and I dont have credit cards. I save and if I can’t pay for something I don’t buy it.
‘Jobs I physically can’t do’
Carolyne is signed up to multiple online job agencies.
“I often get sent job listings which require heavy lifting or long hours on your feet in retail or supermarket.
“I physically can’t do those jobs. I am good at face-to-face sales. Kitchen saleroom selling is something I have experience in and shine at.
“I also get work doing credit control. It requires lots of phone calls and I do that and get results.
“No one saw the cost of living crisis and inflation coming. People are putting off retirement. Or we can’t afford it.
“This wasn’t how I envisaged my seventies but I refuse to be depressed. I have to be positive and accept my situation. I plan on working as much as I can until as old as I can.
“I know there are pensioners far worse off than me. But I am scared at times. I am healthy and fit but anything could happen. I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.
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“Working for me is about paying bills . But the social aspect is critical too. It keeps me positive in my seventies and being in a team is part of feeling needed.
“The unretired working pensioners or what I call the ‘seventies staffers’ is now the reality of Britain’s workforce in 2023.”
