More men working beyond pension age, says ONS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21589610

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More men than women have been found to be working beyond state pension age in the UK for the first time since comparable records began in 2005.

Some 12.2% of men in this age group were in employment in April to June last year, compared with 11.6% of women, the <a href="http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pensions/pension-trends/chapter-4--the-labour-market-and-retirement--2013-edition/art-pt2013ch4.html" >Office for National Statistics (ONS)</a> said.

However, the state pension age for women has been increasing.

Overall, two-thirds of pensioner workers were employed part-time.

Internet working

For women, state pension age starts at between 60 and 62 depending on their date of birth.

Those who worked beyond this age were most likely to be cleaners, administrators, or working in professional occupations, the ONS Pension Trends report said.

Men working after their state pension age of 65 were most commonly employed as managers, directors and senior officials, or in professional occupations or skilled trades.

For many, the decision to carry on working was the result of a potentially severe worsening in their lifestyles, according to financial planners, partly because private pensions had not lived up to what might have been expected.

As a result many continued working to maintain their current standard of living.

"Many self-employed people will not have had access to a company pension scheme and so have failed to put enough aside," said Craig Palfrey, from independent financial advisers Penguin Wealth.

"But in many cases, it is because newly retired people simply get bored. Having worked full-time all their lives in an employed role, and formally retired, they then take up self-employed consultancy work, which is often remote.

"The internet has certainly made it far easier for people to work from home and supplement their retirement incomes."

Steve Lowe, director at the annuity provider Just Retirement, said: "This data reaffirms what we already know, people are working longer and retiring later, but this is happening at a rapid pace. Estimates suggest both men and women are working for a year longer than they were in just 2004."