By Masimba Mukichi
Historically the age at which one can claim state pension benefits in the United Kingdom has been 65 for men and 60 for women.
The current scenario in the United Kingdom is that life expectancy has improved and the majority of people are living longer – as a result the government end up paying some pensioners for more years in retirement than they spent working and paying National Insurance. To try and curtail this government intends to rise the pensionable age.
Those currently aged 20 will be the first to retire at 70. Those currently aged 46 are likely to get their pension at 67.Confronted with this scenario many people in their 40s and 50s who spoke to News Of The South are thinking of getting new skills since they are expecting to work longer – they don’t want to be doing the same things till their retirement age.
This reporter spoke to several people and below were their views:
Brian, aged 40, said: “Life begins at 40, I am still looking good and healthy, I need to train as a plumber so that I can leave this tiring factory job. I feel I won’t cope on the production line in my sixties. But if I train as a plumber I can cope it’s not so demanding like the factory job.”
Mitchel,50, said: “I’m thinking of going to college and study photography. I intend to pass time as a photographer and if God willing I want to start my own studio at the same time I would be looking after my Grandchildren.”
Rees, aged 45, said; “Distance learning for me is the best I intend to enroll with the Open University for a degree in Creative Writing so that I can write poetry and even teach English as a second Language to foreign students. Distance learning works best for me because I won’t be rubbing shoulders with my granddaughters in full time education at Swansea University. Do you think it’s cool to be doing the same assignment with my granddaughter? Obviously my granddaughter is smarter than me.”
Carol, aged 35, said: “I now want something challenging than working in a restaurant if I am to retire late in life. I want to go to University and study mental health. I want to work and help the mentally challenged. I feel I will cope well with the University life, it’s a matter of getting started.”
Ross aged, 46, said; “The food industry is the best here in United Kingdom. I’m planning to train as a Chef and start my own restaurant. I can’t work so long in life, working for someone for peanuts. A family restaurant will occupy me after my retirement.”
From this small cross section of people I talked to – the spirit in them is that it’s never to let to acquire new skills since the retirement age has been raised by the government. One can retrain in his forties and fifties and can still work for another twenty years enjoying the job one trained for. This conversation was also an eye opener to me and I am convinced, it’s better late than never – people are living longer and it’s worth it to train for new careers. Life is for living put a stimulus in it.
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