More
than one in five people – and nearly one in three men – will die before they
get a pension if the Government increases the retirement age to 70, the TUC has
warned.
Some
commentators have called for the retirement age to increase to 70 as a way of
tackling the UK’s pensions crisis, but TUC research shows that this will mean
an unacceptably large number of people – particularly in more deprived areas –
will have to work until they "literally drop".
Official
figures show that in England and Wales one in six of the population dies before
they reach 65, and a further 7.1 per cent die before they turn 70.
TUC
general secretary Brendan Barber said: “It is simply not an option for many
manual workers to carry on working until they are 70.
“They
will either die or be forced on to benefits before they can claim their
rightful pension,” he said.
