§ Mr. Jannerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the average age at which (a)men and (b)women retire from work in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. Major[pursuant to his reply,11 February 1987, c. 284]: Information is not available in precisely the form requested.
Information is held on the average age at which men and women claim retirement pensions on their own contributions and, from survey information, on the proportion of men and women in different age groups who consider themselves to be retired. Since it is possible to continue work whilst drawing state retirement pension and since some people retire from employment before minimum state pension age, both sources are relevant. The information is set out in the tables.
Table 1—Average age of persons awarded basic state retirement pension on their own contributions in the six months to 31 March 1986 (Great Britain) years Men 65.4 Women 60.6 Source:Retirement pension and .widows benefit biannual inquiry: movement tables.
Table 2—Persons by age group considering themselves to be retired, spring 1985 (Great Britain) per cent. Age Men Women 50–54 —1 0.9 55–59 3.5 5.0 60–64 19.4 40.7 65–69 68.8 n/a2 Source:Labour Force Survey.
Notes:
The survey information relates to men and women who did not have a job in the week before the interview, were not seeking work, and gave as the reason that they were retired.
1 Too small to be significant.
2 Question not asked of women in this age group.