Lord Wei calls for a National Retirement Service

Lord Wei of Shoreditch will be launching “Next steps: Life transitions and retirement in the 21st century” on Monday the 2nd of July – a report supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

Millions of people make significant life transitions every year in Britain, whether it is related to schooling and youth (e.g. transition into adulthood), starting a family (e.g. becoming a parent), entering (self) employment, or entering later life and retirement. Although many are planned and desired, for many people such transitions can often be traumatic, carrying often a high personal cost and stress as well as social and economic consequences for the state.

Lord Wei’s report finds that there has been limited systematic focus in policy making on supporting life transitions holistically; and that there is scope to use National Service Programmes as a tool to address the most common ones, particularly those faced by young people, new employees, new parents and retirees. Given the impact of the millions due to retire in the coming years, the report highlights the potential to create a National Retirement Service, led by retirees, for retirees – a service designed to assist those entering retirement with the support of their employers and the state, to plan for the future, build self-help networks, and engender trust across generations.

Download the report

The Guardian: Why we need a national retirement service (Article written by Lord Wei)

The Telegraph: Lord Wei calls for national service for baby boomers