The Pensions Insight poll

October 2009

Yes 46%
No 46%
Maybe 8%

Your comments:
Yes: Poor pension growth means I shall have to work until at least 70. Also, if an employee wishes to work on and remains fit to perform the role, then the 'magic' default retirement age should be scrapped. My father had to retire at 65 and was on a wind-down programme for three years before retirement, which he did not like and created more stress when it should have been a positive time in his life. Andrew Thompson

Yes: In an age of DC provision this will help employers and employees realise that they must make realistic plans for an adequate retirement income at an age which suits both the employer and the employee. Currently employers underfund DC benefits and then use the default retirement age to force the employee out. Philip Mendelsohn

Yes: With the advances in medical science over the last 50 years, people are living longer and not always expecting to retire at 65. Their experience is invaluable and they should have the options to stay in work as long as they are able to contribute. John Paradise

Yes: The original retirement age was set when life expectancy was only a few years longer than that. So, you were only expected to be in retirement for maybe 5 to 10 years before shuffling off this mortal coil. That made final salary schemes feasible to offer and represented only a small liability. Over the years, life expectancy has increased but there has been no change in the default retirement age. Aidan Bailey

Yes: Under age discrimination law it effectively has been scrapped ­– it just requires the joined up thinking so lacking in this government to catch up. Duncan Jones

Maybe: It's now clear that some people will need to continue working to supplement their pension income. If the default retirement age is scrapped, then it must be the trigger to introduce phased retirement, where older staff work reduced hours, whilst drawing their pension. John Watson

No: Employers need to manage succession planning and have some certainty over retirements. Adrian Harris

No: We have to have some starting point. If you work in an office and never have to work outside in all weather you will probably have better health. Most people who work after 65 have mostly had easy jobs that are very well paid. Alan Thomas

No: The growing problem of young people unable to enter the employment market is not helped by older people continuing to work and restricting opportunities for others. The ineptitude of so-called "financial experts" and politicians in planning for the long term instead of the short term opportunism designed for their own financial or electoral advantage is the cause of the current economic recession. Despite the optimistic bleating of those same people that the recession is coming to an end this is not reflected in the lives of many people. Robert Harvey

No: This will affect a lot of people nearing retirement ie, those who have made plans to retire at 60. This is a generation where university/further education was an option for people who were clever enough to continue their study. The rest of us got jobs when we left school ie, we have been working since 16 years of age! Ann Hathaway-Jones

No: No person in a free society should be sacked because of age if they are compos mentis and physically capable of doing the job they have. The residual value of individual pension funds must be passed on without an onerous tax charge which defeats pension saving. Paul Wood

No: Older workers should retire to make way for younger people to enter the workforce. Jayne Baldwin

No: It would be very difficult to value liabilities in DB schemes without a default age. Angela Marshall