Boredom, loneliness and poverty: Pensions minister's warning of life for early retirees

Pension minister Steve Webb says retiring at the age of 50 will result to boredom, loneliness, and poverty.

17:17 13 June 2014

Pension minister Steve Webb has declared that millions of Britons are facing little but “boredom, loneliness, and poverty” when they retire as they have not been working long enough to have a decent income for when they stop working. 

 

The warning came in a joint foreword by Mr Webb and the employment minister, Esther McVey to a government paper which sets out policies to help more older workers stay in employment. 

 

They wrote: “For some, retirement is something to look forward to, something they’ve worked hard to achieve, a time to spend more time doing more of the things they love: taking up new hobbies, volunteering in the community or simply taking it easy.”

 

“For others, without adequate financial planning, it can become a time of boredom, loneliness and poverty.

 

“We need to act now and focus in the first instance on preventing individuals’ catastrophic withdrawal from the labour market, and where we cannot, support older workers to re-enter the world of employment.

 

“We owe it to those people who might otherwise be left behind.”

 

They added: “It is time to change the conversation about extending working life from one about working ‘until you drop’, to one about a fuller working life, that means working as long as is necessary to create the future you want. The business case is compelling.”

 

Based on official figures, the number of over 50s in the workplace increased by 10per cent to nine million for the past four years.