Pinoys happy with UK’s new retirement rule

LONDON – The government of the United Kingdom will implement new retirement rules that will allow its citizens to work even after the age of 65.

Starting October of this year, the default retirement age of 65 in this country will be scrapped. This means that those who are close to retirement will not have to worry about being asked by their employers to retire at work when they reach 65.

Unlike before, employers can force their workers who are already 65 years of age to apply for retirement. But this new rule has also given the employers the right to carry out a “fair dismissal” to an employee who performs poorly and unable to do the job they are paid to do.

Many Filipino workers here who still want to work until the age of 65 can now grab this opportunity. In the United Kingdom where there are a lot of Filipino workers who have two to three jobs to support their family here and back home, many are delighted with the new change on retirement rules.

Myrna Aquino, a government employee, welcomes this new change. As an Administrative Officer for the Department for Work and Pensions, she admitted that she is willing to work until the age of 65.

“For me, as long as I can still work at this age, I’ll take advantage. As long as I can do it, I will still work,” she said.

If some Filipinos are in favor of the new law, others have expressed their disappointments.

Maribeth Fagta, a National Health Service housekeeper, complained that she couldn’t wait until the age of 65 to retire.

“Why should I wait until the age of 65 to retire? Who knows we only have a short life. I might not be able to reach that age, I’m dead already,” she said.

According to a BBC report, workers are still entitled to file for an early retirement and claim their state pension assuming someone has enough savings to retire or has a private pension. The report also said that people who will still work after 65 can take a slightly larger state pension when they finally retire.

Meanwhile, in the Philippines, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago has proposed to change the retirement age of Filipinos to 70 years old. Senator Santiago’s Senate Bill No. 2797 aims to stop the discrimination against Filipinos who still want to work even if they are already 65 and older. –Jomel Anthony Gutierrez, ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau