Denmark’s pensions lobby is calling on the government to make changes to pensions legislation to facilitate flexible retirement, citing a new poll showing this is what most Danes want.
Insurance & Pension Denmark (IPD) said a survey it had carried out reveals 57% of the population could see themselves working after retirement age as long as they were able to reduce working hours in the period leading up to that point.
Karina Ransby, deputy director of IPD, said older people would like to stay in the jobs market for longer – but want more flexibility.
“Today, you are largely either a pensioner or you are on the labour market, so what is missing is the golden middle ground,” she said.
“The pension system needs to be constructed so you have the opportunity for a flexible transition from working life to retirement,” Ransby said.
Older people played a key role in the labour market and for economic growth in Denmark, she said, while also mentioning that the country was facing a future labour shortage.
Lawmakers had recently put good financial incentives in place in Denmark for older people to work after the state pension age, she said.
“Now the politicians must remove the rules that make it difficult for you to start paying into your pension while you are working, and make it possible to pause payments from an pension (ratepension) again,” Ransby said.
IPD made a number of other proposals for improvements in legislation, including aligning the age for the earliest payment from a pension to five years before the national pension age.
The Danish industry association also called for changes to allow people to pay into an old-age pension (aldersopsparing) at the higher rate via an employer-run pension scheme, even if the plan was already in payment.
In neighbouring Sweden, politicians in the cross-party Pensions Group moved last week to facilitate working beyond retirement age, deciding to go ahead with legislation to allow pauses in occupational pension payouts.
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