Monday 6 December 2010

The case for “Lighter Later”

Last week the Daylight Saving Bill passed its Second Reading in the House of Commons. The Bill, if successful, would move our clocks forward by one hour throughout the year. Our clocks would still be put forward in spring and back in autumn, but an hour of daylight will be moved from the morning to the evening.

There is a compelling case for change. Campaigners at Lighter Later argue that the change would cut at least 447,000 tonnes of CO2 pollution - equivalent to more than 50,000 cars driving all the way around the world - each year.

Road safety organisations also appear to back the move. The AA and Brake claim that the changes would have a positive impact on road safety. Others highlight the benefit to business of working on “Berlin time”. Giving people an extra hour of daylight could also open up further opportunities for sports and leisure activities.

There is some (at least anecdotal) evidence that the early nights do create a barrier to socetal participation among older people. The reluctance (and fear) of some older people to go out in the dark means that in effect, those affected can find themselves at home from 4pm in the winter.

Earlier this year, The Telegraph highlighted research from Saga which stated that two thirds of those aged 50 plus were in favour of change. The dark nights seem to have an impact on depression with more than 40% of respondents saying that they were more depressed by dark evenings. A quarter of this group felt “grumpier”. (1)

But there is not unanimous support for the change. Many in Scotland have previously resisted change, arguing that darker mornings could cause risk to school children (although of course there could be solutions by changing the start and finish time for schools in Scotland).

Other professional organisations across the UK, such as the National Federation of Builders and Dairy UK, oppose the change, as do the Orthodox Jewish community who point out the clash between dawn prayer times and leaving for work.

The farming industry in Scotland has historically argued that changes could make livestock farming more difficult. But earlier this year, the NFU in Scotland dropped its opposition to the change saying that it would accept the change if a permanent time shift benefited the UK as whole (2)

Lighter Later point out that the Sunday Times recently quoted a senior Government source as saying that “there is a very strong majority in both Houses in favour of this bill. The Government has decided to give it a fair hearing”. This seems to be a move from the position in the summer when another government source said: ‘Scots will get a veto so this will never see the light of day.’ (4)

Some have argued that Scotland, Wales and England don’t have to have the same time zones (3). But it seems hard to believe that the UK would go down the route of having different time zones within it.

We are at early stages of the Bill and its passage is by no means certain. But proponents see a better opportunity for change than at any time over the past 20 or 30 years. The fact that the Bill is a Private Members Bill is helpful to the Government (who haven’t yet set out their position on the Bill) who could continue to allow free votes on the topic.

There is a case for change in England. And such a change could benefit older people.

David Sinclair

(Also published at www.ilcuk.org.uk)

http://www.lighterlater.org/
(1) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/8088674/Putting-clock-back-makes-older-people-depressed.html
(2) http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/oct/29/scottish-farmers-lighter-later-campaign
(3) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-11660950
(4) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1302570/David-Cameron-clocks-forward-permanently-convince-Scots.html

Tuesday 19 October 2010

Women and Pensions

Scottish Widows have today published their 6th annual report on women and pensions (1). The report makes an important contribution to understanding the situation facing women in the context of pensions.

Over recent years we have seen significant policy change which has increased the chance that women with caring responsibilities have access to full basic state pensions.

But whilst we have seen progress on the state pension, the report paints a worrying picture of a future generation of women who aren’t saving enough. The report reveals that 53% of women under 50 think they aren’t preparing adequately for their retirement, a rise of 8% from last year.

One area highlighted in the report is of changes in attitudes towards retirement age. The report reveals that for the first time in several years there was a rise in the age at which men and women said they would like to retire. That said, the aspiration of a retirement age of about 61 still seems very low compared what is likely to be the reality for the future generation of retirees.

Dr Craig Berry’s report for ILC-UK (2) highlighted the reasons why people retire when they do. His report also explored some very significant gender issues in relation to retirement. Women are more likely than men to retire above state pension age (admittedly a lower SPA at the moment), partly because couples make the decision about retiring at the same age.

Dr Berry also highlighted the fact that caring responsibilities play a major role in forcing people to retire early. Although interestingly, whilst he found that women are the main carers, caring responsibilities has arguably as big, if not a bigger impact on when men retire than women. This is partly because more women than men are likely to be working part time and are often already undertaking a caring role whilst managing a job.

The Scottish Widows report is a useful contribution to the debate about pensions and retirement. But it is clear that our aspirations for a relatively low retirement age are probably unrealistic, particularly given low levels of private saving. NEST will help, as will other new products and initiatives to encourage saving. Also important will be a move towards a more positive attitude from employers towards gradual retirement and flexible working.

But the underlying message from this report is clear. Whilst changes to the State Pension have reduced the likelihood of women not getting a full basic state pension, the aspiration of a relatively early retirement is not likely to be met unless we can find ways of saving much more than we are at the moment.

David Sinclair

(Also posted at www.ilcuk.org.uk)

References

1) Scottish Widows Women and Pensions Report. http://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/about_us/public_affairs/research_women_pensions_reports.html

2) Berry, C (2010) The Future of Retirement http://www.ilcuk.org.uk/files/pdf_pdf_134.pdf