Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T08:55:19.253Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Working beyond the state pension age in the United Kingdom: the role of working time flexibility and the effects on the home

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2007

ANDREAS CEBULLA ,
SARAH BUTT  and
NICK LYON
ANDREAS CEBULLA*
Affiliation:
National Centre for Social Research, London.
SARAH BUTT
Affiliation:
National Centre for Social Research, London.
NICK LYON
Affiliation:
National Centre for Social Research, London.
*
Address for correspondence: Andreas Cebulla, National Centre for Social Research, 35 Northampton Square, London EC1V 0AX. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present and future security of employee-pension funding remains at the forefront of public debate across Europe and beyond. In the United Kingdom, to finance future pension entitlements it has been suggested that the state pension age be increased. This paper presents the results of analyses of four major national social surveys that have explored the working and living conditions of workers in paid employment after the state pension age. Comparing the circumstances of these workers with workers just below that age illustrates the extent to which it constitutes a break in the working and domestic lives of older people. The findings suggest that, in order to accommodate older workers in the workplace, more attention may need to be placed on informal as well as contractual arrangements of flexible working. Beyond part-time working, older workers rarely take up additional or alternative flexible working arrangements. At the same time, older workers continue to experience housework as burdensome, while in partnered households the gendered division of domestic labour prevails. Research and policy have yet to consider in depth these risks associated with working longer in life.

Keywords

older workersextended working lifestate pension ageflexible working
Type
Research Article
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 27 , Issue 6 , November 2007 , pp. 849 - 867
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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

Association of British Insurers 2004. European Pension Reform and Private Pensions: An Analysis of the EU's Six Largest Countries. Association of British Insurers, London.Google Scholar
Cebulla, A., Heaver, C., Smith, N. and Sutton, L. 2004. Drugs and Alcohol as Barriers to Employment. DWP Research Report W193, Department for Work and Pensions, Sheffield, South Yorkshire.Google Scholar
Centre for Research into the Older Workforce 2004. Are Older Workers Different? Briefing Paper 1, Centre for Research into the Older Workforce, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey.Google Scholar
Emmerson, C. and Tetlow, G. 2006. Labour market transitions. 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 (Wave 2). Institute for Fiscal Studies, London, 41–63.Google Scholar
European Commission 2006. Adequate and Sustainable Pensions. Synthesis report 2006. Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, European Commission, Brussels.Google Scholar
Falter Mennino, S., Rubin, B. A. and Brayfield, A. 2005. Home-to-job and job-to-home spillover: the impact of company policies and workplace culture. Sociological Quarterly, 46, 1, 107–35.Google Scholar
Humphrey, A., Costigan, P., Pickering, K., Stratford, N. and Barnes, M. 2003. Factors Affecting the Labour Market Participation of Older Workers. DWP Research Report 200, Corporate Document Services, Leeds, West Yorkshire.Google Scholar
Kaur, H. 2004. Employment Attitudes: Main Findings from the British Social Attitudes Survey 2003. Employment Relations Research Series 36, Department of Trade and Industry, London.Google Scholar
Lissenburgh, S. and Smeaton, D. 2003. Employment Transitions of Older Workers: The Role of Flexible Employment in Maintaining Labour Market Participation and Promoting Job Quality. Policy, Bristol, Avon.Google Scholar
Loretto, W., Vickerstaff, S. and White, P. 2005. Older Workers and Options for Flexible Work. Working Paper 31, Equal Opportunities Commission, Manchester, UK.Google Scholar
Meadows, P. 2003. Retirement Ages in the UK: A Review of the Literature. Employment Relations Research Series 18, Department of Trade and Industry, London.Google Scholar
McNair, S. 2006. How different is the older labour market? Attitudes to work and retirement among older people in Britain. Social Policy and Society, 5, 4, 485–94.Google Scholar
National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) 2005. Extending Working Lives: Adapting Pensions for an Older Workforce. NAPF, London.Google Scholar
Office of National Statistics 2004. Labour Force Survey Statistics. ONS, London. Available online at www.statistics.gov.uk [Accessed 7 May 2004].Google Scholar
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2006. Live Longer, Work Longer. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris.Google Scholar
Pensions Commission 2006. A New Pension Settlement for the Twenty-First Century: The Second Report of the Pensions Commission. Pensions Commission, London. Available online at http://www.pensionscommission.org.uk/index.asp [Accessed 30 April 2007].Google Scholar
Pensions Policy Institute 2003. Raising State Pension Age: An Update. Pensions Policy Institute, London.Google Scholar
Phillipson, C. and Smith, A. 2005. Extending Working Life: A Review of the Research Literature. DWP Research Report 299, Corporate Document Services, Leeds, West Yorkshire.Google Scholar
Reday-Mulvey, G. 2005. Working Beyond 60: Key Policies and Practices in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire.Google Scholar
Smeaton, D. and McKay, S. 2003. Working after the State Pension Age. DWP Research Report 182, Corporate Document Service, Leeds, West Yorkshire.Google Scholar
Vickerstaff, S. 2006. I'd rather keep running to the end and then jump off the cliff. Retirement decisions: who decides? Journal of Social Policy, 35, 3, 455–72.Google Scholar
Vickerstaff, S., Baldock, J., Cox, J. and Keen, L. 2004. Happy Retirement? The Impact of Employers' Policies and Practices on the Process of Retirement. Policy Press, Bristol, Avon.Google Scholar
Whitehouse, P. and Whitehouse, E. 2006. Pension challenges and pension reforms in OECD countries. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 22, 1, 78–94.Google Scholar
Yeandle, S. 2005. Older Workers and Work-Life Balance. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, York.Google Scholar
Yeandle, S., Phillips, J., Scheibl, F., Wigfield, A. and Wise, S. 2003. Line Managers and Family-Friendly Employment: Roles and Perspectives. Policy Press, Bristol, Avon.Google Scholar