Money Box Life: Working for Longer
Money Box
BBC
4.2 • 825 Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The number of people working past retirement age is growing. New analysis of tax data found a 12% rise over the past five years. It was carried out by the specialist employment law firm, Littler, which says official estimates for the last financial year show 2.1 million workers and self-employed people are over state pension age. For some people carrying on working is a positive choice. They enjoy the routine, like the social side, and of course the money but for others it’s much more about necessity, when pensions alone not stretching far enough.
But, how flexible are employers when it comes to older workers and what are the tax implications of collecting your state or private pension while still working?
To talk it all through Felicity Hannah is joined by Zoe Alexander, Director of Policy at Pensions UK, Morgan Vine, Director of Policy at charity Independent Age and Julie Dennis, Head of Inclusive Workplace Strategy at ACAS.
Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Sarah Rogers Editor: Jess Quayle Senior Editor: Sara Wadeson
(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 28th of January 2026)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
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| 0:18.1 | The uptake, the amount of product that's been sold, the amount of money |
| 0:21.2 | is cost. What the drugs do, how they work, and the knock-on effects of their widespread use. |
| 0:26.5 | We'll be sitting here in three years' time going, oh, it caused problems that we're now going |
| 0:31.3 | to have to fix. The Hunger Game with me, Professor Gilesio. Listen first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:38.3 | Hello, we're breaking away from the regular Moneybox Live style today. This is the kind of podcast we call Moneybox Life, because we're going to hear about the lives and financial complexities around working beyond state pension age. It's something more and more people are doing. Now to some, state pension |
| 0:55.7 | age feels like a clear finishing line, a time to stop work, start drawing your pension and |
| 1:00.4 | spend more time with your hobbies. But for a growing number of people now, that line has |
| 1:04.6 | become much more blurred. And you have been sending us your experiences by Voice Note. |
| 1:09.7 | I have no immediate plans to retire. |
| 1:13.2 | I started a business in my 50s and I'm absolutely loving it. |
| 1:19.5 | I retired about five years ago. |
| 1:21.2 | I'm still working as a consultant. |
| 1:23.6 | I also, last September, started a part-time master's in film studies. |
| 1:28.9 | I retired at 67, having had some problems with my knees. |
| 1:33.3 | I now would actually quite like to go back to work. |
| 1:35.9 | Well, thank you so much for those. |
| 1:37.6 | People there working, some because they want to, others because they have to. |
| 1:41.8 | Let's find out a bit more about what's going on with our experts. |
... |
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