Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T13:02:02.492Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Inequalities in women's awareness of changes to the State Pension Age in England and the role of cognitive ability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2018

Daniel Holman Open the ORCID record for Daniel Holman [Opens in a new window] ,
Liam Foster  and
Moritz Hess
Daniel Holman*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Liam Foster
Affiliation:
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK
Moritz Hess
Affiliation:
Institute for Gerontology, TU Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As a response to the ageing population, the United Kingdom (UK) government, like many others, has increased the State Pension Age. This has involved equalising women's State Pension Age with men's, raising it from 60 to 65, with further increases already underway. It has been argued that a key issue with how this change has been implemented is the lack of notice the government gave to the women affected, impacting on their ability to plan for retirement. So far, there has been very little research exploring inequalities in awareness of these developments and, in particular, considering whether women of particular socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to know about the changes. This has implications for potentially further widening inequalities in old age. In this paper we analyse data from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. We consider the role of cognitive ability in mediating the relationship between socio-economic background and awareness, given recent debates on deficiencies in financial literacy. We find that socio-economic inequalities exist, especially with respect to labour force status, occupation and education. We also find that cognitive ability, especially numeracy, mediates a sizeable proportion of the relationship. These findings have important implications in terms of implementing future policy changes and awareness campaigns to help mitigate the possibility that they will further entrench inequalities in older age.

Keywords

state pension ageinequalitiescognitive abilityawarenesssocio-economic status
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 144 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldridge, A (1998) Habitus and cultural capital in the field of personal finance. The Sociological Review 46, 1–23.Google Scholar
Banks, J (2010) Cognitive function, financial literacy and financial outcomes at older ages: introduction. The Economic Journal 120, F357–F362.Google Scholar
Banks, J, O'Dea, C and Oldfield, Z (2010) Cognitive function, numeracy and retirement saving trajectories. The Economic Journal 120, F381–F410.Google Scholar
Boudiny, K (2013) ‘Active ageing’: from empty rhetoric to effective policy tool. Ageing & Society 33, 1077–1098.Google Scholar
Boyle, PA, Yu, L, Wilson, RS, Segawa, E, Buchman, AS and Bennett, DA (2013) Cognitive decline impairs financial and health literacy among community-based older persons without dementia. Psychology and Aging 28, 614–624.Google Scholar
Carers in Employment Task and Finish Group (2013) Supporting Working Carers: The Benefits to Families, Business and the Economy. London: HM Government.Google Scholar
Carrino, L, Glaser, K and Avendano, M (2018) Later Pension, Poorer Health? Evidence from the New State Pension Age in the UK. Munich Personal RePEc Archive, working paper number 87575. Available at https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/87575/1/MPRA_paper_87575.pdfGoogle Scholar
Clark, GL and Strauss, K (2008) Individual pension-related risk propensities: the effects of socio-demographic characteristics and a spousal pension entitlement on risk attitudes. Ageing & Society 28, 847–874.Google Scholar
Creighton, H (2014) Europe's Ageing Demography: ILC-UK 2014 EU Factpack. London: ILC-UK.Google Scholar
Cribb, J, Emmerson, C and Tetlow, G (2013) Women Working in Their Sixties: Why Have Employment Rates Been Rising? London: Institute for Fiscal Studies. Available at https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/6662.Google Scholar
Cridland, J (2017) Independent Review of the State Pension Age: Smoothing the Transition. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/611460/independent-review-of-the-state-pension-age-smoothing-the-transition.pdf.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2004) Public Awareness of State Pension Age Equalisation. Available at http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130314011743/http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2003-2004/rrep221.pdf.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2012 a) Attitudes to Pensions: The 2012 Survey. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/193372/rrep813.pdfGoogle Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2012 b) Extending Working Life: Behaviour Change Interventions. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/193404/rrep809.pdf.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2014) Fuller Working Lives: A Framework for Action. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/458861/fuller-working-lives.pdf.Google Scholar
Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) (2017) New Timetable for State Pension Changes to Maintain Fair and Sustainable Pension. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-timetable-for-state-pension-changes-to-maintain-fair-and-sustainable-pension.Google Scholar
Di Gessa, G, Corna, L, Price, D and Glaster, K (2018) The decision to work after state pension age and how it affects quality of life: evidence from a 6-year English panel study. Age and Ageing 47, 450–457.Google Scholar
Diamond, A (2013) Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology 64, 135–168.Google Scholar
Duncan, C and Loretto, W (2004) Never the right age? Gender and age-based discrimination in employment. Gender, Work & Organization 11, 95–115.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B (2015) The privatization and marketization of pensions in Europe: a double transformation facing the crisis. European Policy Analysis 1, 56–73.Google Scholar
Ebbinghaus, B and Hofäcker, D (2013) Reversing early retirement in advanced welfare economies: a paradigm shift to overcome push and pull factors. Comparative Population Studies 38, 807-840.Google Scholar
Fasang, AE, Aisenbrey, S and Schömann, K (2013) Women's retirement income in Germany and Britain. European Sociological Review 29, 968–980.Google Scholar
Foster, L (2012) ‘I might not live that long!’ A study of young women's pension planning in the UK. Social Policy & Administration 46, 769–787.Google Scholar
Foster, L (2018) Active ageing, pensions and retirement in the UK. Journal of Population Ageing 11, 117–132.Google Scholar
Foster, L and Heneghan, M (2018) Pensions planning in the UK: a gendered challenge. Critical Social Policy. 38, 345–366.Google Scholar
Foster, L and Walker, A (2015) Active and successful aging: a European policy perspective. The Gerontologist 55, 83–90.Google Scholar
Ginn, J (2003) Gender, Pensions and the Lifecourse: How Pensions Need to Adapt to Changing Family Forms. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Ginn, J and MacIntyre, K (2013) UK pension reforms: is gender still an issue? Social Policy and Society 12, 91–103.Google Scholar
Grady, J (2015) Gendering pensions: making women visible. Gender, Work & Organization 22, 445–458.Google Scholar
Harada, CN, Natelson Love, MC and Triebel, K (2013) Normal cognitive aging. Clinics in Geriatric Medicine 29, 737–752.Google Scholar
Hofäcker, D (2015) In line or at odds with active ageing policies? Exploring patterns of retirement preferences in Europe. Ageing & Society 35, 1529–1556.Google Scholar
Hofäcker, D, Hess, M and König, S (eds) (2016) Delaying Retirement: Progress and Challenges of Active Ageing in Europe, the United States and Japan. London: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Huppert, FA, Gardener, E and McWilliams, B (2006) Cognitive function. In Banks, J, Breeze, E, Lessof, C and Nazroo, J (eds), Retirement, Health and Relationships of the Older Population in England: The 2004 English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. London: Institute for Fiscal Studies, pp. 217–230.Google Scholar
Hurst, L, Stafford, M, Cooper, R, Hardy, R, Richards, M and Kuh, D (2013) Lifetime socioeconomic inequalities in physical and cognitive aging. American Journal of Public Health 103, 1641–1648.Google Scholar
Hussein, S and Manthorpe, J (2011) ‘Third-age’ workers caring for adults and older people in England: findings from secondary analysis of the National Minimum Data Set for Social Care. Diversity in Health and Care 8, 103–112.Google Scholar
Huston, SJ (2010) Measuring financial literacy. Journal of Consumer Affairs 44, 296–316.Google Scholar
Kruse, A and Schmitt, E (2012) Generativity as a route to active ageing. Current Gerontology and Geriatrics Research, 1–9.Google Scholar
Lain, D (2016) Reconstructing Retirement: Work and Welfare in the UK and USA. Bristol, UK: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Loretto, W and Vickerstaff, S (2015) Gender, age and flexible working in later life. Work, Employment and Society 29, 233–249.Google Scholar
Lusardi, A and Mitchell, OS (2011) Financial literacy around the world: an overview. Journal of Pension Economics and Finance 10, 497–508.Google Scholar
MacPherson, SE, Phillips, LH and Della Sala, S (2002) Age, executive function, and social decision making: a dorsolateral prefrontal theory of cognitive aging. Psychology and Aging 17, 598–609.Google Scholar
Mann, K (2005) Killing us softly with their words? Retirement pensions and New Labour. Benefits 13, 104–108.Google Scholar
McClymont, G and Tarrant, A (2016) Towards a New Pensions Settlement: The International Experience. London: Rowman and Littlefield International.Google Scholar
Naumann, E (2014) Raising the retirement age: retrenchment, feedback and attitudes. In Kumlin, S and Stadelmann-Steffen, I (eds), How Welfare States Shape the Democratic Public: Policy Feedback, Participation, Voting and Attitudes. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, pp. 223–243.Google Scholar
Naumann, E (2017) Do increasing reform pressures change welfare state attitudes? An experimental study on population ageing, pension reform preferences, political knowledge and ideology. Ageing & Society 37, 266–294.Google Scholar
Oehler, A and Werner, C (2008) Saving for retirement – a case for financial education in Germany and UK? An economic perspective. Journal of Consumer Policy 31, 253–283.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2012) Pension Trends. London: ONS.Google Scholar
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2015) Main Results from the Wealth and Assets Survey: July 2012 to June 2014. London: ONS.Google Scholar
Pensions Policy Institute (2016) The Under-pensioned 2016. London: TUC/JRF/Age UK.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C, Vickerstaff, S and Lain, D (2016) Achieving fuller working lives: labour market and policy issues in the United Kingdom. Australian Journal of Social Issues 51, 187–203.Google Scholar
Prast, H and van Soest, A (2015) Pension Awareness, Pension Communication, and Choice Architecture (MOPACT Project Report). Available at http://mopact.group.shef.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/D4.5-Pension-Awareness-Pension-Communication-and-Choice-Architecture.pdf.Google Scholar
Price, DJ (2015) Financing later life: why financial capability agendas may be problematic. Working with Older People 19, 41–48.Google Scholar
Rowlingson, K (2002) Private pension planning: the rhetoric of responsibility, the reality of insecurity. Journal of Social Policy 31, 623–642.Google Scholar
Scott, J and Clery, E (2013) British Social Attitudes 30 – Gender Roles. NatCen Social Research. Available at http://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/38457/bsa30_gender_roles_final.pdf.Google Scholar
Thane, P (2006) The ‘scandal’ of women's pensions in Britain: how did it come about? In Pemberton H, Thane P and Whiteside N (eds), Britain's Pension Crisis: History and Policy. British Academy Scholarship Online. Available at http://britishacademy.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.5871/bacad/9780197263853.001.0001/upso-9780197263853-chapter-5.Google Scholar
Thoresen, O (2008) Thoresen Review of Generic Financial Advice: Final Report. London: HM Treasury.Google Scholar
Thurley, D and Keen, R (2017) State Pension Age Increases for Women Born in the 1950s (No. CBP-07405). House of Commons. Available at http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7405.Google Scholar
Wadey, A (2015) The Older Health and Social Care Labour Force in England: Characteristics, Work Patterns and Policy Implications (Doctoral thesis). Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK. Available at http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/397614.Google Scholar
Waine, B (2009) New Labour and pensions reform: security in retirement? Social Policy & Administration 43, 754–771.Google Scholar
Walker, A (1993) Intergenerational relations and welfare restructuring: the social construction of a generational problem. In Achenbaum, A, Bengston, V and Robinson, P (eds), The Changing Contract Across the Generation. New York, NY: Aldine, pp. 141–165.Google Scholar
Walker, A and Deacon, B (2003) Economic globalisation and policies on ageing. Journal of Societal and Social Policy 2, 2, 1–18.Google Scholar
Work and Pensions Committee (2015) House of Commons – Communication of State Pension Age Changes. Available at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmworpen/899/89906.htm.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2002) Active Ageing. A Policy Framework. No. WHO/NMH/NPH/02.8. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar