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Pensions Bill

I agree with the noble Baronesses that there will be many people working in particularly arduous or dangerous jobs who find themselves physically or mentally unable to continue until the state pension age, be it 65 as it is now or 68 as it will become. However, I do not believe that they are best served by writing them off as not fit for useful employment, at an age when their peers continue to engage fully in the workplace, not least because I noticed no dissent from either noble Baroness when we discussed the Welfare Reform Act as recently as this Session. The whole point of that legislation is to encourage people whose disability does not allow them to continue in their current employment to seek, if not to secure, alternative employment. Instead of putting these people on the employment scrapheap, I would like to see more opportunities for these and other older workers to transfer to other careers. Indeed, I tabled Amendment No. 34 to cover the point—an amendment that, given this discussion, I do not intend to move. It will be rare in the future that any person will stay in one job for the whole of their lives. Men and women who wish to leave a physically difficult job still have a great deal to offer society, and should be encouraged to explore other skills that they may have before being forced to retire. As a result, I am afraid that I cannot support the amendment.