Title
Contents
Acknowledgements 7
The Authors 8
Summary 9
1. Introduction 17
1.1 Background 17
1.2 The research 18
1.2.1 Scope of the research 18
1.2.2 Design and methods 19
1.3 Note on reporting 21
1.3.1 Reporting of the research process 21
1.3.1 Reporting of findings 22
1.4 Subsequent events 23
1.5 The research team 23
1.6 Report structure 24
1.7 Note on Appendices B to D 24
2. General context for communications about extending working life 25
2.1 Introduction 25
2.2 Expectations about retirement 25
2.3 Mood as retirement approaches 27
2.4 What retirement means? 30
2.5 Phased transition 32
2.6 Planning for retirement 33
2.7 Longevity and retirement 33
2.8 Attitudes to working 35
2.9 Attitudes to working longer 36
2.10 When to stop work? 38
2.11 Options as retirement approaches 39
2.12 Scope for extending working life 40
2.13 Age discrimination 43
2.14 Ageing and work 44
2.15 Tax breaks 45
2.16 Pension deferral 46
2.17 Pension expectations 47
3. Responses to message content relevant to extending working life - key lessons 49
3.1 Introduction 49
3.2 'Hard' messages and uncomfortable facts 50
3.3 Options as retirement approaches 57
3.4 Training/retraining 60
3.5 Sorting out retirement money 63
3.5.1 What you will get 64
3.5.2 What you will need 67
3.6 How retiring at different ages affects pensions 69
3.7 What you get from staying in work. 72
3.8 Talking to your employer 81
3.9 Local employer case studies 83
3.10 Suitable work patterns 85
3.11 Benefits of working case studies 87
3.12 Stepping down to retirement 88
3.13 Laterlife ideas about finding work past SPA 91
3.14 Delivering information and messages: narrative approach 94
4. Variations between sub-groups of the target population 101
4.1 Introduction 101
4.2 Women 101
4.3 People on low incomes 103
4.4 Men in lower-paid manual occupations 104
4.5 Different income levels 105
4.6 Education and financial literacy 105
5. Delivering information and messages: authors' discussion of sources and channels 107
5.1 Constraints on research exploration 107
5.2 How people acquire information and build images 108
5.3 Types of information 108
5.4 Salience of the issue 109
5.5 Trust and related matters 109
5.6 Information relating to working on 110
5.7 Sources and channels 110
5.7.1 Channels for information 111
5.7.2 Sources of information 115
5.8 Reactions to research information 120
6. Communicating about extending working life: reflections on the findings 121
6.1 Introduction 121
6.2 Extending working life - a difficult context for communications 121
6.3 How and where people get information 124
6.4 Implications for messages about extending working life 125
6.5 Messages in the real world 131
6.6 Partnership in communications 133
Appendix A Index of focus groups 135
Appendix B Round 1: Topic guide and stimulus materials 137
Appendix C Round 2: Topic guide and stimulus materials 166
Appendix D Round 3: Topic guide and stimulus materials 204
References 238
Table 1.1 Fieldwork structure for each round 20
Table 1.2 Numbers and key socio-demographic characteristics of respondents across the whole project 21
Figure 2.1 Two conflicting lifecourse models 26
Figure 2.2 Context for extending working life messages 28
Figure 3.1 Different ways of working that might be considered in retirement 59
Boxes
Box 1: Changes which affect retirement and pensions 50
Box 2: Sorting out your retirement money: What you'll get 64
Box 3: Sorting out your retirement money: What you'll need 68
Box 4: How retiring at different ages affects pensions 70
Box 5: What you get from staying in work 73
Box 6: Talking to your employer as retirement approaches 82
Box 7: Local employer case studies 84
Box 8: Suitable work patterns 85
Box 9: Benefits of working case studies 87
Box 10: Stepping down to retirement 89
Box 11: How to find part-time paid work after retirement age (excerpts from Laterlife website) 91
Box 12: Narrative text - male building surveyor, higher income 95