Life expectancy is so low in Blackpool many people won’t see their pension

'It seems like I'll be working until I drop.'

Waiting outside Coral Island, a pirate-themed amusement arcade on the Blackpool coast, a taxi driver called Mark thought about his death.

‘Well I’ll be dead before I’ve even got my pension,’ he said. ‘I’m not surprised at all, even if it is a bit depressing.’

He’d just been told about reports the UK Government is planning to raise the state pension age to 68 by the end of the 2030s.

That jump, which could be announced in chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s March Budget according to The Sun, was originally scheduled for 2046.

But the UK’s falling birthrate and ageing population have got nerves jangling in the Treasury, as the number of working taxpayers begins to fall out of balance with the number of pensioners.

A hike in the state pension age means different things to different people around the country.

To some, it means a frustrating extra period of waiting before they can relax into retirement – but to others, like Mark, it can mean giving up hope of reaching retirement at all.

In the Bloomfield ward of Blackpool, the life expectancy for men is 67.3 years.

Mark said: ‘I know people are living longer, like my mum – she’s 81 and she’s had a good innings.

‘But to be predicted to die before you can even take the money you’ve worked hard for is ridiculous.’

Tony Townsend, who used to run a stall at the seaside town’s Abingdon Street Market, felt a similar way.

He said: ‘It seems like I’ll be working until I drop. It’s absolutely depressing.

‘I’m relying on that state pension to let me retire. We should do what the French have done, be up in arms.’

In France earlier this month, more than a million people took part in protests against plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Schools, trains and flights were among the services brought to a complete stop by strikes across the country.

Back in the UK, the state pension age is currently 66 for both men and women, and it is expected to rise to 67 by 2028.

Adi Gill, who moved to Blackpool just more than a decade ago, admitted he doesn’t pay into his pension pot anymore as he’s not sure if he’ll be around to withdraw it.

He said: ‘To be honest with you, for what this country is going through currently with the cost of living and everything, I think it’s quite problematic that the government are planning to up the retirement age.

‘I know people from Blackpool who have died at 40 to 50 years old.

‘I think they should actually be lowering the pension age, not making it harder for us to retire.’

Not everyone is so pessimistic about the future of the Lancashire seaside resort, which still attracts millions of visitors every year to see the famous Illuminations and Pleasure Beach.

Blackpool Resort’s marketing manager James Bates said: ‘I think we’re in a time now, where Blackpool is a firework waiting to be set off.

‘I think over the next 20 years or so, we’re going to see so much investment into Blackpool, so many new jobs created, local investors such as ourselves creating jobs.

‘All this changes everything – it changes people’s mental health, their well-being, and over time I think we’ll see that number of 67 go up anyway.’

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