TUC: Right to offer choice of working longer

The Trade Union Congress (TUC) has responded to recent comments made on the subject of retirement ages in the UK by Lord Turner, the former chairman of the Pensions Commission.

Speaking exclusively to the BBC, Lord Turner said that proposals previously laid out by the commission in 2004 had not been drastic enough and that the age of retirement should now be increased sooner than originally planned.

He added that public sector workers should no longer expect a final salary pension but an average salary and that workers could expect to receive the state pension at the age of 70.

Commenting on the interview, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "It’s absolutely right to give people the choice of working longer, but making people doing heavy, repetitive or dull jobs work longer for a pension would be unfair."

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He said this was particularly the case as there was such a difference in the life expectancy of the UK’s rich and poor populations.