Yesterday I asked “are we sick of work or sick at work?”. Alistair’s graph tells the story. The fact is that many people of my age (63 or thereabouts) aren’t working because they’re “done in”.

The ONS are confirming something that LCP’s Stuart McDonald picked up a time ago.

In his 2022 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor highlighted an increase of 630,000 since the start of the pandemic in the number of people of working age who are ‘economically inactive’. Various explanations have been put forward for this trend, with some dubbing it a ‘Great Retirement’ and most discussion focusing on getting the over 50s ‘back to work’.

You can still read the paper here

And the blog I wrote about it here

So what’s to be done?

Blame the NHS,. blame the long tail of COVID but in the long scheme of things , this looks like one of those unexplainable maladies that we may not understand until it is over.

What I don’t think we can accuse a generation of , is being work-shy. The “fit to work” argument put forward by the Prime Minister yesterday, argues that our best way to get people back to work is to make it harder to get signed off. I would argue that we should be doing more to make work attractive.

Understand your pensions and your benefits

Last week, I got quite a shock when I discovered that the work I am doing is earning me an extra £40,000 in state benefits. It turns out that post 2016 earnings can not only earn you more workplace pension but reduce the contracting out deductions on your state pension , meaning you can earn a full state pension and get contracted out pensions as well. This may sound complicated and by goodness it is.

I found the journey to understanding this taxed my brain and I’ve been in pensions 40 years.

It is high time the over 55s had proper help understanding their state pension statement.

And I’m pleased to say that you can get that help (see below).

The people I’ve spoken to who have spoken with the DWP, have got good advice on what they’ve got. By “advice” I mean an explanation of what they’ve got and what they can do to get more, I don’t mean the “save more into your workplace pension” advice, I do mean the “make the best of what you’ve got” type.

Get help

As has been explained several times, not everyone can get the architect of the state pension to explain thing for you

Your first port of call is the Moneyhelper helpline, manned by my virtual friend Brian G who reminded me of it following yesterday’s blog.

Given how busy Steve Webb is, please direct people who have not yet reached state pension age and who want to understand what their state pension forecast means to the Moneyhelper Pension helpline on 08000113797 on weekdays between 9am and 5pm.

We are not there to CALCULATE why their figures are what they are, but we can explain the forecast in plain English and help them understand the things to think about when evaluating whether to make Voluntary National Insurance Contributions.

There is also a DWP  helpline, also  person ed by real people , that you can call if you have your state pension forecast to hand. ( This is the link to your state pension forecast.)

Helpline 0800 731 0181

Textphone 0800 731 0176

Monday to Friday: 8:00am to 6:00pm

I’ve been sick myself this week (now recovered) and there was nothing that speeded my recovery so much than to discover that in 54 months , I will be getting an extra £37.60 (triple locked) in my hand – every week for the rest of my life!

Only thing about it – I’ve got to do 54 months work! Sounds like a deal to me. So here’s Sam and Dave to remind you, help is just around the corner- just hold on!