Age Concern has highlighted what it believes to be a contradiction between the UK's mandatory retirement age and the need to work longer to save for retirement.
The existence of a compulsory retirement age contradicts the need to save more for retirement, according to Age Concern. The charity was responding to a recent ruling by an advocate general at the European Court of Justice, who said compelling workers to retire at the age of 65 does not breach equality requirements.
A female spokesperson for Age Concern said that as a result of Britain's ageing population, many people are having to work beyond retirement age for financial reasons. Indeed, the government is encouraging individuals to do so, she pointed out.
However, having a mandatory retirement age makes this difficult as employers are within their rights to retire workers once they reach 65 without compensation, something Age Concern claimed is "completely contradictory".
"It just doesn't add up," the charity's spokesperson remarked. "On the one hand the government is saying that they need you to work for longer because of the ageing population and its increased longevity and on the other hand it's saying it wants employers to be able to say that they don't want to employ you after the age of 65."
According to research published recently by AEGON, 42 percent of people aged 50 to 65 have no clear idea about how much income they will have in retirement, while 33 percent plan to rely on their pension alone and have no other savings or investments.
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