MALE RETIRING AGE (Hansard, 17 December 1981)

§ Lord Elton

On the assumption that the numbers deferring retirement would be higher than is presently the case among men aged 65 to 69 years, that only two-thirds of the jobs vacated by men in employment retiring earlier were actually filled, and that of those jobs filled only three-quarters would be filled by persons on the unemployment register, the net cost to central Government funds for a full year at average 1981–82 rates of lowering male pension age to 60 is estimated to be of the order of £2,500 million.

The estimate takes account of the net increase in public expenditure—in the extra costs of pensions less the savings in other national insurance benefits and supplementary benefit—as well as the net loss of national insurance contributions and surcharge, National Health Service, Redundancy Fund and maternity pay funds income, and a broad estimate of the change in income tax revenue. The estimate relates solely to the net cost to central Government funds and takes no account of the financial implications for occupational pension schemes. The net cost would be higher with lower levels of unemployment.