Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
News

UK ranks last in G7 for supporting longer working lives, Fidelity International finds

Among over-55s considering working past retirement age, 37% said they needed the income.

3 min read
Share
Fidelity data
ADVERTISEMENT

The UK ranked last among G7 countries for supporting longer working lives, research from Fidelity International found.

Its Longer Working Lives Index assessed whether people aged 55 and over could work, wanted to work, were employed and had rewarding jobs.

Italy ranked first, followed by the US, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and the UK.

The UK ranked last for work choice and motivation. 

Among over-55s considering working past retirement age, 37% said they needed the income.

ADVERTISEMENT

30% rated their retirement planning as poor, compared with 12% in the US and 13% in Canada.

Full-time UK workers aged 55 to 64 earned an average of 2% less than workers aged 25 to 54.

Around 43% of employed 55 to 64-year-olds had taken part in job-related training, compared with about 57% of those aged 25 to 54.

ADVERTISEMENT

Marianna Hunt, personal finance specialist at Fidelity International, said: “Almost every retirement plan assumes you can continue working until you choose to stop. 

“Yet for too many people, that assumption is proving fragile. 

ADVERTISEMENT

“Ill health, caring responsibilities, redundancy or difficulty finding suitable work can bring a career to an end years earlier than expected – with potentially significant consequences for someone’s retirement finances.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Hunt added: “That’s why we created the Longer Working Lives Index – to look beyond headline employment rates and understand how well different countries actually support people to remain in rewarding work later in life. 

“What we found is that no country has completely solved the challenge – and the UK ranks last overall.

“The lesson isn’t simply that people need to work longer. It’s that working longer should be a genuine choice – and people who want to continue contributing need access to good-quality work that allows them to do so.”

She said: “These findings suggest that many experienced workers in the UK may feel they have less choice over when they retire than their counterparts elsewhere in the G7. 

ADVERTISEMENT

“However, these findings should be viewed in the context of the UK’s wider pensions and labour market landscape.

“Many of today’s 55–64-year-olds spent much of their careers before automatic enrolment and also lived through the transition away from widespread private-sector final salary pensions.”

She added: “Whereas younger generations will benefit from automatic enrolment for much more of their working lives.

“There are two clear lessons for the UK. First, retirement planning needs to start earlier and prepare people for the possibility that their working lives don’t go exactly to plan. 

“A redundancy, health problem or fall in earnings in your 50s can have a significant impact on your retirement finances.”

ADVERTISEMENT

She said: “Second, we need to recognise that retirement is increasingly a journey rather than a single event. 

“People may reduce their hours, change careers or combine work with drawing a retirement income. 

“Our retirement system needs to give people the flexibility to navigate those different paths.”

She added: “Fidelity is also calling for a more stable and predictable approach to pensions policymaking, including greater notice before material pension changes take effect and a clearer medium-term roadmap for pensions tax policy, to help people plan for retirement with greater confidence.”

Related