Left-leaning think tank Fabian Society has published a new report entitled ‘When I’m 64’ outlining a strategy for tackling poverty before State Pension age.
It says that, while people usually associate the years before state pension age with affluence and not poverty, the UK is facing a hidden poverty crisis among 60 to 65-year-olds with a quarter of them living in poverty – the highest poverty rate for any adult age group.
In this new research, the Fabian Society’s Sasjkia Otto looks at the roots of the problem and presents a strategy to address it. They say long-term action targeting people at every stage of working life to ensure better health, better jobs, lifelong learning and careers support, more pension savings, and stronger social security is required. Interventions are also needed to support people over 55 to stay in work, to return to work quickly or to achieve higher living standards if they have little prospect of working much again. Solutions need to come at the problem from two directions: support for longer working lives, and improved financial support for those who cannot work more.
Find out more and download the report here.