{"id":11642,"date":"2017-03-03T12:42:27","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T12:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11642"},"modified":"2017-03-03T12:42:27","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T12:42:27","slug":"work-till-drop%ef%bb%bf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11642","title":{"rendered":"Work till you drop\u010f\u00bb\u017c"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Pushing the retirement age up in the coming years would mean men in certain areas of the country could die before claiming their state pension.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A Commons Work and Pensions Committee debating the triple lock on pensions<\/a> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which sees the state pension rise by average earnings, the consumer price index or 2.5 per cent each year, whichever is highest \u00e2\u20ac\u201c pointed to statistics showing that life expectancy in the UK varies widely.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MPs discussed a new analysis<\/a> by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which argued that if the triple lock is to be sustainable in the future, the state pension age would have to rise to 70.5 by 2060.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The problem is that in many areas in the UK men have a life expectancy below 70.5. In England, in 26 areas including Blackpool, Manchester, Teesside, Leicester, East London and the Wirral, men on average live less than 70.5 years. In Blackpool, the city with the lowest overall male life expectancy in England, the average is 67.5 years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In parts of Scotland, the situation is even more dire, with male life expectancy below 70.5 in 62 neighbourhoods in Glasgow alone. The lowest male life expectancy was 62.5 years in the Parkhead West and Barrowfield area of Glasgow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stark contrast<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These figures stand in stark contrast to average male life expectancy in the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most affluent areas \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in Westminster, which includes Mayfair and Covent Garden, average male life expectancy is 92.9, a full 25 years longer than a man living in Blackpool.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Several MPs took the IFS analysis as evidence that the triple lock should end and be replaced with a different system pegged only to average earnings with some limited protection from inflation. Doing so, some MPs claimed, would mean that the state pension would not have to rise by as much over the coming decades.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams hit out against the proposal, noting that Labour aims to maintain the triple lock beyond 2020, when the present government said it would review the pensions policy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MPs in favour of ending the triple lock said that it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fair to younger generations, who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve borne the brunt of austerity, in a wider debate on \u00e2\u20ac\u0098intergenerational fairness\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But Abrahams argued that supporting young people working now doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessitate an end to the triple lock.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is important to protect the triple lock and universal pensioner benefits while making different choices to support other generations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Labour government made great strides\u00e2\u20ac\u201dabout 1 million pensioners were lifted out of poverty\u00e2\u20ac\u201dbut one in seven have remained in poverty since 2010.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat level is still much too high, and it should worry us,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Abrahams added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat is not acceptable in one of the richest countries in the world, and we must do all that we can to ensure that the trend does not rise again.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer for retired members Mike McCartney agreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe triple lock was introduced to keep pensioners out of poverty,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd in that respect, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been enormously successful. Most people don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t realise that the state pension is not some fantastic sum of money \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it just barely keeps many pensioners afloat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTaking away the triple lock will mean you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll have to increase benefits elsewhere,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCartney added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He dismissed the idea that the state pension age would have to rise to nearly 71 by 2060 an \u00e2\u20ac\u015bestablishment view\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe labour movement in particular has fought long and hard to reduce the pension age and now the establishment sees a way of increasing the pension age once again,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCartney argued. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo raise the pension age so drastically across the board even if people are living longer doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take into account how people of the same age have vastly different health outcomes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJust because people are living longer doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re living a decent life,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he pointed out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Not a zero-sum game <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite young member and shop steward Tom Duarte believes that protecting his generation\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future while simultaneously supporting those who are retired or approaching retirement is possible \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a zero-sum game.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And he too stands against the idea that future workers should have to work longer and longer before they reach state pension age.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJust because we might live longer in the future doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that we should be forced to work longer if we choose not to,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will have paid into the system for decades and so should be given enough years to actually use the state pension.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite retired member Wendy Mersh, who was previously a Unite rep working for Barclays, agrees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is a disgrace that some MPs are proposing raising the state pension age by so many years in the future \u00e2\u20ac\u201c people at that age have worked long and hard all their lives,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand that different people are mentally and physically fit at different ages. Everyone should be given the opportunity to enjoy life for many years after they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve stopped working.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wendy believes that young people like Tom should also benefit from the triple lock in future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLife is very different for young people today \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re facing much tougher times so ensuring we keep the triple lock to protect their futures is critical,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt irritates me when they call pensioners entitlements \u00e2\u20ac\u0098benefits\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Wendy added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015b\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Deferred earnings\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 is a much more accurate term \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid into the system for decades so the government should look after us.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And what of the idea that some MPs put forward \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that the triple lock has done its job in alleviating pensioner poverty and so should end?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know where they get this idea that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less poverty today,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Wendy argued. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bJust look around you \u00e2\u20ac\u201c you didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the level of homelessness you see today. It wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like before. Poverty is growing and the government just turns the other way.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pushing the retirement age up in the coming years would mean men in certain areas of the country could die before claiming their state pension.   A Commons Work and Pensions Committee debating the triple lock on pensions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which sees the state pension rise by average earnings, the consumer price index or 2.5 per […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[173,270],"wps_subtitle":"Older retirement age could mean dying before pension","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11644,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11642\/revisions\/11644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}