It’s old hat to say people must retire in their sixties

HANDS up who remembers Drop The Dead Donkey, the 1990s Channel 4 comedy series set in a television newsroom clearly modelled on what was then a relative newcomer, Sky News. It was hilariously topical and often savagely satirical.We all recoiled, but howled laughing, at Damien Day, the sociopathic reporter played by the great Stephen Tompkinson, who carried a teddy bear with him to lay at scenes of tragedy in order to provoke an emotional response in viewers at home.

All the surviving original cast have reunited for Drop The Dead Donkey – The Reawakening!, a stage show touring the UK until the summer. This time, the gang are involved in a startup channel with shady backers and a reliance on populism, clearly taking the mick out of the lamentable GB News.

Realised

My sister and I went to see the show in Brighton on Tuesday night and, as I looked around, I concluded that the audience was very much on the older side. Then, picking up interval drinks in the bar, I caught sight of myself in a mirror, and realised so was I.

To underline the fact that I’m now 60 and have to actively think about such matters, the headline on yesterday’s Irish Daily Mail was that the Government is proposing a new Bill that would outlaw mandatory retirement ages in employment contracts drawn up by private firms.

As things stand, if most public sector workers wish to do so, they can continue working until they are 70, rather than the 65 that is common in the private sector. Even where there are exceptions, such as for personnel in An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and the prison service, the mandatory retirement age will increase from 60 to 62 if the Dáil agrees.

These are welcome moves. Far too often, the veneration of youthful enthusiasm sees experience needlessly squandered. There are plenty of gardaí, for instance, who might not be able for the physical challenges that presented themselves when they were younger, but still have a lot to offer when it comes to sifting through evidence, or just identifying patterns to certain crimes because they know the past form of those who committed them.

Our concept of ageing has changed significantly in the past few decades. Sixty is not really the new 40, but it certainly is the new 50, and many who have long settled into their seventh decade still feel they have something positive to contribute in the workplace.

Then there are others who poured money into pension pots precisely so they could retire early, and good luck to them, because that too is and should be a choice. Indeed, in some employments, there is a sweet spot in the late 50s or early 60s at which it actually makes more sense to get out, because enhanced packages might be available. If you wait too long, companies are more likely to allow nature and time do the heavy lifting.

So, yes, later retirement ages might be good for the individual, and even for a company that needs muscle memory of what worked and what failed in the past. The most pressing problem is that for many people, retirement age is not a choice at all, because they simply have to keep working. In some cases, that is because the State pension increases incrementally the longer you leave it before you retire.

Increasingly, though, many simply can’t afford to retire at all. We used to be horrified when we visited the United States and saw people in their 70s and 80s still working in the likes of Walmart, but are we really that far off seeing that happen here too? The 2022 Census showed that the number of people over 65 living in rented accommodation rose by 83% over the previous census in 2016, and now accounts for almost 17,000 households. We all know that rent controls are a joke and, given the ongoing accommodation crisis, we also know the strain the renting retired are finding themselves under. There are, no doubt, a great many who simply would not be able to afford their current rent on the State pension, even with attendant supports.

Collapsed

Equally, there are many who, thanks to the flagrancy of the banks in the boom years, signed up to mortgages with 30-year terms when they were in their later 30s or early 40s, possibly assuming they would pay off the balance with pensions that simply collapsed when the bust came in 2008.

I have a few years before I personally have to make any decision. My job is busy and, thanks to daily deadlines, occasionally though not often, stressful; I’ve been doing it for almost 43 years now, and know what is required. I certainly couldn’t compare it to manual or mostly outdoor work such as construction, and I would hate to see builders compelled to work until they were 70.

Nor, though, should anyone who feels that he or she is not done, that there is still a way to make a positive contribution, feel compelled or obliged to quit before they are ready to do so.

No matter what our ages, we should be allowed do the job if we feel we can, with some exceptions. Looking at you, Joe Biden and Donald Trump!