I have always distrusted the “mid-life MOT” which seemed to me the thin end of the wedge of a Government “save now or no benefits later” program. Version one was benign, an innocuous interview with an Aviva sponsored guide who nudged you towards greater self-reliance in years to come. If you work for Aviva, you are not likely to throw yourself on the state as you grow older, so this was a grown up version of Pension Wise, an opportunity for the well off to validate their finances.
But what Mel Stride (or more likely his capable side-kick Guy Opperman) is now proposing is an altogether more sinister mid-life MOT. I quote from the BBC’s website
Older people who have given up work could be offered what is being dubbed a “midlife MoT” to entice them back into employment, the Times reports.
The paper says the MoT would assess finances and opportunities for work.
It follows a recent House of Lords committee finding that a wave of early retirement following the pandemic has caused a huge labour shortage.
The report by the influential economic affairs committee examined the jump in economic inactivity – the number of people not in work or looking for work – and rising vacancies since 2020.
Let’s be clear, the Midlife MOT is not concerned with our physical or mental health, it’s about getting a cohort of malingering middle aged Brits back into work , paying taxes, increasing our GDP and earning the DWP a big pat on the back from all at number 10 and 11 Downing Street.
The “notion” that these people are due some early retirement needs to be “countered” according to the Times
The measures are part of a wider initiative by the government, due to be launched in the new year, that intends to reduce the nearly nine million adults of working age who are economically inactive. Government sources said the plan was a priority for Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, to counter the notion that the economy was being dragged down by low employment rates and a high level of long-term sickness.
So where did this notion come from? Well I seem to remember peddling a vision of early retirement to my peers when I was in my thirties and forties and the people who were listening to me and buying the personal pensions I had in my briefcase sound like the people who are now deciding to pack in work years before their state retirement age.
If people reach 55 with a pension pot that can pay for them to take it easy for a bit, is it really the job of the Government , which was selling the save harder – retire earlier – message , to stop them? If I was putting my feet up in my fifties, because I could, I’d stick two fingers up at Sunak-Hunt-Stride and Opperman.
As I read on through the Times article, my worse fears were realised. This Mid-Life MOT is not a gentle nudge at all, it’s a thinly disguised back to work scheme.
At the same time the government is looking at changes to reduce the number of workers on long-term sick leave. Government sources said the plan was part of a broader agenda by Sunak to tackle some of the fundamental problems facing the country. This includes further action to reduce the NHS waiting list, education reform and a continued focus on the immigration crisis.
It would seem that many of those on long-term sick leave are indeed malingering, despite Government’s figures showing an alarming backlog of treatment that tells us that the NHS isn’t giving people with health problems short-term treatment.
Ministers are also planning reforms to reduce the number of workers who drop out of employment because of mental ill health. Long-term sickness accounted for 28 per cent of all those out of the labour market in June to August, compared with 15 per cent at the start of the pandemic.
“Too many workers get signed off sick and simply never return,” a government source said. “We need to work with the NHS so that the priority is supporting people to stay in work.”
All of this may be true, but the “package of measures” being considered by the DWP doesn’t look like a nudge , so much as a shove in the back. It’s work or else.
Changes will also be made to universal credit to “iron out the quirks in the system” that, at certain points, discourage people from taking on more work.
Not so much a midlife MOT as “on yer bike”.
“ Changes will also be made to universal credit to “iron out the quirks in the system” that, at certain points, discourage people from taking on more work.”
Quirks like marginal deduction rates of around 90% – before work expenses – would be a welcome but expensive structural feature to fix.
Surely “mid life” is nearer 45 than 55 and is this rather late to start to consider self reliance?
The actions of the present government is to penalise those who made provision so no wonder many are opting out and choosing the excuses for economic ignorance provided.
Mid life MOT…..Bull**** more an early parking place in the scrap yard
More deflection to divert the harsh gaze of attention away from the government’s incompetence. Brexit has led to colossal losses in tax revenues because of the massive reduction in trade with our erstwhile largest market. The NHS and social care systems are entirely disconnected and there are massive shortfalls in funding and in staffing levels. Despite the fine words of Teresa May to focus on mental health provision there is next to no provision for this unless you pay. This government vilifies those who seek a better life by coming to the UK and will therefore dissuade those with the skills we are lacking to come to the uk. So the solution is to turn on the economically inactive and shove them into employment for which they are neither trained for or motivated to do. Let’s get the middle aged and old out in the fields picking fruit, let’s get them transformed into low paid care workers. Training? Pah! Mental health? Pah! Get back to work you lazy lumps and snowflakes.
The pension freedoms have a lot to answer for here. Take £16K p.a. using UFPLS until your state or DB pension kicks in. You end up with no tax on any of it. Compares well with working full time on minimum wage.
I take exception to the term “economically inactive”. Anyone that’s retired, as opposed to long term sick, are generally spending investment income. That’s usually derived from global investments and so is bringing new money into the economy which is being used to pay the innumerable “economically active” baristas!