12.5% forced to give up work before pension age

One in eight people is forced to stop work before state pension age because of ill health or disability, new research reveals.

Almost half a million workers within five years of pension age have had to leave their job for medical reasons, according to the TUC.

Regional differences were discovered, affecting one in four people in Northern Ireland leaving work early because of sickness or disability, compared with one in 13 in the south-west of England.

Workers in lower paid jobs such as cleaning or those in heavy manual jobs are twice as likely as managers or professional staff to stop working before retirement age due to sickness or disability.

TUC general secretary Frances O’grady said: “Raising the state pension age is an easy stealth cut.”