Now it seems we’re all going to have to keep clocking on until we hit 70

Working from home on a MacBook Air is not possible if you are nurse, builder or retail worker (Photo: Adobe)

Gone are the days when people could look forward to a cosy retirement pottering about in the garden before settling down to watch Pointless.

That luxury may still be open to those lucky enough to enjoy the benefits of a gold-standard pension, but many of us over the age of 60 still have to work to make ends meet. And now it seems the economy needs us to keep clocking on until we are at least 70.

Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report which reveals that a person who was 70 in 2022 has the same cognitive ability as a 53-year-old in 2000. It goes on to suggest that governments could now consider “changes to statutory retirement ages, reducing early retirement benefits, introducing incentives to postpone retirement...” In other words, raising the retirement age to at least 70.

Now that might work for people like me lucky enough to earn some sort of a living from the comfort of my sofa, but most people do not belong to the “laptop” classes. Working from home on a MacBook Air is not possible if you are nurse, builder or retail worker. Us oldies may be as sharp mentally as we were 20 years ago, but physically we are not the same as we were in our forties. Caring for bedbound patients or fitting double-glazing requires physical strength as well as mental acuity, so it is impractical to suggest that all workers are able to work until they drop.

To give them their due, the clever people at the IMF recognise that any future changes to the pension system will need to mitigate old-age poverty and inequality, pointing out that while some people may be able to work well into their old age in a world on “the cusp of a potential AI revolution”, many others will struggle to cope.

Will the state pension have to be means-tested in the future? We live in a society where the state pension of £12,000 year is for many people their only income, but for a significant minority it is a delightful bonus on top of their generous occupational pension. But good luck to any government that dares to suggest change.