Liam Foster
Dr. Liam Foster is a senior lecturer in social policy and social work at the University of Sheffield, England, who specializes in pensions and theories of ageing. Dr. Foster has developed a national and international profile in ageing and pensions. He has commented on retirement planning in the media, advised unions (TUC), been involved in projects with pension providers (AXA and Prudential) and charities (The Fawcett Society), and has been referenced by political parties (Labour’s Older Women’s Commission) in relation to pensions. He has presented his research at a variety of national and international conferences and has been an invited speaker at the Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Education, the European Parliament in Brussels, the House of Lords, and the UN in New York as a world leading expert on ageing. Dr. Foster is a member of the UK Social Policy Association Executive Committee. He is also the managing editor of Social Policy and Society. He has authored over 45 publications in peer-reviewed journals and book chapters, and has authored or edited five books
Ageing (un)equally? The role of active ageing, extending working lives and pension policy on women’s retirement in the UK
Responses to the challenges of ageing in Europe have largely focused on productivist notions of active ageing, with more comprehensive responses tending to be reactive and largely remedial. This approach prioritizes the extension of working life (EWLs) in order to reduce the ‘burden’ of population ageing. This presentation will briefly identify some of the key challenges and responses associated with demographic ageing, including active ageing. Using the example of the UK, it will define and chart the development of active ageing responses to demographic change, and the emergence of the EWLs agenda. It will then focus on pension measures associated with extended working lives, including raising the pension age, restricting access to early retirement, and providing a stronger link between pension benefits and contributions, indicating how they incentivise remaining in the labour market. However, it will also show that opportunities to extend working lives have not been experienced equally. In practice most policies are gender blind. Women’s existing employment and pension disadvantages have been largely ignored in the development of EWLs policy, which has perpetuated or expanded many women’s financial disadvantages in older age. It highlights the need for a greater focus on gendered pension inequalities in the development of EWLs policy, in order to ensure they don’t adversely impact on women’s circumstances in later life. This needs to be considered in the context of a wider more comprehensive life course focused approach to active ageing.