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date: 24 June 2010

embargo: For immediate release

Raising state pension age will hit less well-off, says TUC

Commenting on plans by Iain Duncan Smith to scrap the default retirement age, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'While we welcome the decision to end the arbitrary retirement age, raising the state pension age over this short timescale is clearly driven by a desire to cut spending rather than a planned approach to introducing more flexible retirement.

'Raising the state pension age will hit the less well-off far more than the rich. 65 year old men in Kensington and Chelsea can expect to live a further 23 years, while those in Glasgow only 14 years.

'A majority of 64 year old men are already out of the labour market. Raising the state pension age will not help any of them stay in work. It will simply turn a generation of 65 year olds from pensioners into the unemployed.

'The government must also spell out what will happen to women as only increasing the pension age for men is almost certainly a breach of sex discrimination law.'

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Press release (400 words) issued 24 Jun 2010