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The cost of job loss security? 11,000

The jobs market is on a knife edge once again, as Britain teeters on the edge of a second national lockdown. Large swathes of the country are already back under strict restrictions and the Government is having to rush through new support.

This included an extension to the furlough scheme for workers in the worst affected areas. For some, however, the damage has already been done. Many businesses spent thousands preparing to reopen this summer and shutting down once again could prove fatal.

Experts are predicting that, while the number of available jobs should be back to normal by January, these will be concentrated in “recovery” areas, such as logistics and healthcare. Sectors including travel and hospitality, by contrast, will be decimated.

One of the hardest hit groups has been older workers. There are now 122,000 fewer people over the age of 65 in jobs than at the start of the pandemic, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Last week the retirement age hit 66 for the first time, which means this group faces the double whammy of having to work longer just as jobs dry up. Concerned campaigners are calling for people nearing retirement to be given early access to their state pension to help them through the pandemic.

Pension pots should be raided only when truly necessary – reflecting the gravity of the situation. Another proposal raised this week to allow young people to use their pension savings to buy a home could be far more dangerous and risks leaving them facing retirement poverty, as our senior reporter Adam Williams writes.

So how can you protect yourself should the worst happen? A new report released today suggests that the average couple should put away a savings pot of 11,000 as a safeguard against losing their job.

But the pandemic has also brought about opportunities for adventurous workers. Some have made the most of their new-found “work from home” freedom and moved abroad to enjoy a better quality of life and save on bills. Here Harry Brennan speaks to one who is saving 800 a month after relocating from Dublin to Sicily.

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In our comments section, David Price said of Letting the young use their pension to buy a property will ruin both and help no one: "If you have 20,000 in your pension pot now, and it grows at 5pc a year on average, you would have around 70,000 over 25 years. If you pay rent of 1,000 a month, then you'll have lost 70,000 in less than six years. If you could use that 20,000 to get yourself on the housing ladder six years quicker, then you would have six years of mortgage payments, paying down your debt, and you would have an asset."

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