Pensions - Articles - Malcolm McLean calls for an 'early retirement' option

 In a TUC report released Friday, the organisation calls upon the Government to reverse its decision to raise the state pension age. This comes in light of figures showing considerable regional disparity in average life expectancy increases. Commenting on the report, Malcolm McLean, consultant, Barnett Waddingham, says:

 “The TUC is right to point to the problems that fairly rapid rises in the state pension age (SPA) could have for people in different parts of the country and from different walks of life. Raising the SPA beyond 65 was always going to be something of a blunt instrument – too blunt perhaps for many of the people referred to in the TUC report.

 “With our population ageing at the current rate, there seems no option other than for the Government to proceed as planned. However, one solution would be to introduce an “early retirement” option into the state pension system, allowing individuals where necessary to opt to draw their pension earlier than SPA, but at a reduced rate. This could be, for example, a 3 or 4% reduction of the rate for each year that the pension was paid early. A minimum age at which the “early retirement” option is available should be set at 65."