Workers face fight to remain employed until 66

Employees who want to work on until they are 66 to avoid losing out when the state pension age rises in January face an uphill battle as employers opt to keep the retirement age at 65.

Fewer than one-in-eight employers (11.5%) surveyed say they have increased or abolished their retirement age or that they intend to do so in line with the pension changes, and just over a quarter (26.7%) say they “may” facilitate individual requests to work on.

Workers caught out by the decision to increase the eligibility age for the state pension to 66 as of Jan 1 will have to sign on for jobseeker’s benefit for the first year of retirement if forced to leave work at 65.