‘It’s exhausting but I think I’m going to have
to keep working’: the over-65s who can’t
afford to retire
Many of those who have left the workplace are being
forced to return by the cost of living crisis to bolster their
finances
Dee, 67, who lives in Accrington in Lancashire, left
school at 14. She worked in factories, hairdressing
shops and bars, and did secretarial temp work all over
the country before she took a job at HM Revenue and
Customs, where she worked full-time for 23 years.
Last year, in May, she began her retirement, but after
only a few weeks she realised that she could not afford
it because of the rising cost of living. “I had two
months off, then I had to return to work,” she says. “I
rent my home and I can survive on my state pension
of around £800 a month and two small private
pensions, but I cannot live. My rent and household
bills alone come to just under £700.”
Dee is not alone in her financial predicament. There
were almost 100,000 more Britons aged 65 and over
in the workforce this spring compared with three
months earlier, more than twice the rise in those in
their 50s and early 60s.
The rise in economic activity in the UK was spread
among all age groups, but was highest among the
over-65s.
Dee now works in an administrative role for the NHS,
and recently reduced her hours to 26 from 37.5 a week
because of the strain on her health.
“I think total retirement is never going to be an
option. I don’t think I’ll ever be in a situation where I
don’t go to work, so at 70 I’ll go down to perhaps one
or two days. It’s depressing.
“I’d like to save up five figures, for emergencies, but
with everything going up in price, it’s really, really
hard.”
Dee is one of dozens of people aged 65 and over who
spoke to the Observer about why they have recently
returned to paid work. While some of those who got in
touch said they had returned to the workforce because
they enjoyed working and keeping active, most said
they had done so out of necessity rather than by
choice.
HR adviser Sue Picken, from Christchurch, Dorset,
who will turn 65 this month, returned to full-time
work in January 2022 after 18 months of retirement.
“With living costs rising, I have to work permanently,”
she says. “I have three small occupational pensions
totalling about £1,000 a month, and my husband has
a teacher’s pension, but we can’t afford to live without
working. When our energy bills rose to £400 a month,
there was no choice but to go back.”
Apart from feeling the pinch because of high inflation,
the couple are having to clear debt they accrued
during the Covid lockdowns, when they had to
financially support their three grownup children.
“They are all living in or around London, and two of
them were made redundant during the pandemic. We
took out a £10,000 loan to help out with their rent
and other things for four, five months. I’m working to
pay that off, and we still help out now and again.”
Having to work again is “absolutely exhausting”,
Picken says.
“It takes me most of Friday to recover. Sometimes
when I’m feeling particularly unwell, I time it and
sleep in my car at lunchtime for an hour.
“But we know we are lucky. We can heat our house
and eat healthily. We feel for the young people and the
old who are struggling to live in this country while
others seem to have endless wealth. We are
surrounded by people who visit their second homes at
weekends, driving 4x4s or electric cars.
“As I work in recruitment, I see lots of people applying
for work who are older. This country has truly become
a place of haves and have-nots. It feels Dickensian.”
Chris Green, 68, a father of six who lives in a village
near Duns in the Scottish Borders, started winding
down his small foundry workshop seven years ago,
but has now had to abandon his retirement plans.
“After nearly 40 years of self-employed work, I was
doing perhaps 10 to 15 hours a week, and had hoped
to be retired completely by now,” he says. “But
recently, I’ve had to increase my working hours again
to about 35 a week.”
He has returned to the grind, Green says, both for his
own financial benefit, as his state pension is
insufficient to cover rising costs, and to help his self-
employed children with their businesses. “Material
and other overhead costs are spiralling ever higher
and inflation is corroding their profit margins,” he
says.
“The cost of living crisis is definitely the main reason
for my return to almost-full-time work, which wasn’t
planned at all. My rent has risen, and the cost of
childminding means I also have to provide free
childcare for some of my grandchildren. It’s
exhausting – I’m very tired today – but I think I’m
going to have to keep going.”
For Vanessa Curran, 66, from Motherwell, North
Lanarkshire, retirement in September last year from
her job as a store supervisor at Primark also proved to
be a short-lived reprieve.
“I went back to work six weeks ago,” she says. “Four
hours, three times a week, in a supermarket. I just
didn’t have enough funds to live. I make £110 a week
now – better than nothing. I was cutting back on
everything and couldn’t contribute as much as I used
to to our household bills, and I don’t want to depend
on my partner financially.”
The government’s cost of living payments, Curran
says, “did not touch the sides”. She adds: “It’s just
getting harder and harder to get by. I can’t afford to
help my children any more. I like to drink Coca-Cola,
and can’t drink as much of that as I’d like. I need
knickers and socks, I’m buying substandard food.”