Pension Age - Why Should Young People Care?

When George Osborne delivered his Autumn Statement this week I'm sure many of you, like myself, turned a blind eye. And when he announced the pension age would increase to 67 once again, I shrugged my shoulders, because as a young person this won't be affecting me for years to come. Right?

Well actually as a matter of fact wrong, directly this legislation will affect people only in there 60s and late 50s, why should we, as the younger generation care? Well here's why; with the age of state pensions increasing older people will have to work for longer thus leaving less opportunities for the younger generations.


George Osborne's Autumn Statement has left unions outraged by his pension plans. Picture courtesy of mirror.co.uk

When David Cameron announced he was stopping benefits for jobless people under 25, he claimed all people aged between 16-25 needed jobs (providing they didn't go into higher education) now he's telling 65 year olds they need to work one or two years extra.

Either the government doesn't quite know the situation of the economic climate yet or they are deluded. Jobs are hard to come by and brushing off young people as lazy because they can't get jobs then telling older people they can't give up their jobs yet - well that is quite simply unfair!

What is worrying is that the pension age since the 1960s has always been increasing - after calculations by accountants PwC it's been predicted that if you're a teenager now you're going to have to wait till you're 75 before you get a pension. What makes it worse is that the government claims a person spends a third of their life on a state pension (on average). So if these increases continue at the same rate and a modern day teenager gets there pension at 75 for the government to be right the average person needs live to between 95-97, to me that seems farfetched.

Pension advisor to the Government, Ros Altmann, has defended the government she told the BBC: "the state pension age was set at 65 in the 1940 the vast majority of people retiring now left school at 15 or 16 and so by age 65 will have worked for 50 years.Young people now, who on average start work at 21 and will retire at 71 will also work on average 50 years," as correct as she is what about the people who did not continue to study at university they shouldn't need to suffer more - because they paid their taxes earlier! You can't expect someone in a job lifting heavy objects to continue working till 71, it's not healthy or feasible.

Ros Altman has surprised many by support George Osborne's pension plan. Picture courtesy of telegraph.co.uk

So what is the solution to this mess, how can we get pensioners and young people at work at the same time. What is needed is get young people apprenticeships with people a few years before they retire - then when the latter eventually finishes the apprentice will be trained and will have the correct skills to manage independently. The government should award grants for the elder (so both are still getting a reasonable pay) who opt for this kind of scheme. Not only does it keep both subjects in jobs it also saves training the young adult when the pensioner retires.

What has had most people seething is the chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne has claimed the whole pension scheme would have collapsed had he not increased the age of retirement. Yet it is okay for MPs to now receive a 11% pay rise - possibly so they can get their second home refurbished unless they use their expenses!