
One in three
people born
today will reach
100
Please visit the COVID-19 response page for resources and advice on managing through the crisis today and beyond.
The End of Retirement?
people born
today will reach
100
fertility rate required to keep the population stable
2.1
1.88
fertility rate
in the UK
The existing population is
ageing rapidly.
By 2020 half the working population
will be over 50 years of age
15.8%
1.5%
18%
2%
26%
7%
mid
1991
mid
2016
mid
2066
Over the same period, the median age is expected to rise from
34
43
These fundamental changes in the age structure of our population are challenging many of our assumptions around education, work, health and our finances.
The assumptions need to be examined and adapted in the following ways to facilitate opportunities across these four key areas.
Education
Work
Retirement
Services and products that develop and maintain both short and long term financial resilience
Continuous development and lifelong learning as the new normal
Personalised retirement age based on biological age and individual preference
Later life working enhancing health resilience
Defined benefit is an endangered species
An average earner saving
8%
would still need to work to
age 77
to achieve a retirement income of
2/3rd of pre-retirement earnings.
Average earnings have only risen
68%
Median price paid for homes leapt
259%
Private renter needs roughly an extra £185k in retirement to cover off their rent in order to leave them in the same position net of housing costs as an outright home owner.
53%
of people in their 20s say they can’t afford to save for the long term because of competing financial priorities.
26%
of working age adults have
NO rainy day savings.
58%
of working adults say they have
less than £500 to hand.
17%
of working age adults say they
have no disposable income.
One educational period before starting work is no longer sufficient.
Education needs to be accessible throughout life to address the growing need for highly skilled workers.
Jobs of the future will require a highly-trained workforce with over
300k
new jobs created in the next seven years alone
By
2020
There will be 7.5 million less workers than jobs.
EVERY UK employer would need to increase the number of workers aged 50-69 in the UK by 12% to address this widening skills gap.
As of 2016,
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) has a student base of more than 58 million students across the globe accessing courses from more than 700 universities
DWP - Apprenticeships
see a new makeover as they get extended to people for all age groups. 11.3 % of those starting an apprenticeship in 2015/16 were aged between
45 and 59
We can now work for as long as we want and for many of us, our working lives may extend beyond 50+ years.
Today over 50s form
27%
of the workforce
By 2020 it will be
33%
86%
65%
31%
50
year olds
60
year olds
65
year olds
UK GDP would be
9% higher
if we matched
the employment rate in
New Zealand
of those aged 55 and over
If the employment rate of people
aged 50-64 matched that of
those aged 35-49,
it would add more than
5%
to UK GDP,
or £88bn
People are increasingly healthy and employable up to very advanced ages and retirement can negatively impact their lives.
Increasing mortality means we can expect healthier active years after what retirement age is currently.
A 60-year-old female can expect to live another 25 years most likely in good health.
And among those aged 70–74,
61% of men
and
68% of women
report that their health does not in any way limit the kind or amount of work they could do if they wished to.
have a significant negative impact on cognitive ability.
increase social isolation which impacts physical and mental health negatively.
helping to stave
off dementia
helping to maintain or increase memory and mental processing speeds.
50%
said they were simply not ready to stop working.
15%
said they had bills to pay.
7%
said it was to boost their pension pot.
Improving mental health for workers of every age is an increasingly important challenge for business
64%
of people with common mental health problems are employed; therefore, in the UK, there are an estimated 4.6 million people in work who may have a common mental health problem.
In 2016,
41%
of businesses reported an increase in mental health problems such as anxiety and depression.
I recently attended a session on senior-year education at my son’s school. It focused entirely on the importance of preparing young adults for the next stage in their lives, be it further education or the working world.
READ THE BLOGFaisal leads Cognizant Consulting’s Insurance Practice for the UK & Ireland that includes a large team of strategy, architecture and delivery subject matter experts. He is passionate about the enabling role of technology and financial services to improve the financial resilience and well-being of those on low and middle incomes, across all age groups. He is a graduate of Imperial College and has worked in the Insurance industry for over 20 years.
David Sexton is Vice President and a leader of Cognizant’s Insurance Practice for UK & Ireland, covering all industry subsectors - life and pensions, general insurance and the London market. He is responsible for Cognizant’s response to the UK insurance industry challenges, delivering to our existing client engagements and bringing Cognizant’s IT modernization and industry innovation to our clients and the UK&I insurance arena. Based in London, David brings 20 years of experience in insurance and technology.