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.
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“They
will either die or be forced on to benefits before they can claim their
rightful pension,” he said.
