Forget retiring...'Everyone should work until they are physically incapable', says David Blunkett

Everyone should be prepared to carry on working for as long as they are physically capable, David Blunkett said on Wednesday.

He called for an end to the assumption that the Government had 'prime responsibility' for supporting the elderly through the 'ever increasing years of retirement'.

Mr Blunkett, a former work and pensions secretary, said in a speech to the Counsel and Care charity in London that there should in future be a 'merging' of the adult population who were considered to be 'of working age' with those who were not.

Suggesting his proposals would help the population stay fit and healthy, Mr Blunkett said he believed carrying on in 'work activity'  -  whether full-time or part-time  -  for as long as possible should form part of the 'social care agenda' for the future.

'My presumption is this,' he said. 'That all of us, every one of us who is capable of doing so, should aspire to continue with some meaningful activity to the point of our incapacity overtaking us.

'Preferably work, of course, increasingly part-time, flexible and in many cases, very different-to the work undertaken in our earlier lives.

'Perhaps, increasingly, volunteering  -  within our own family and immediate circle as well as outside.

'Offering what we can and receiving from others what we cannot.'

He warned that a doubling of the population over the age of 80 meant new ways would have to be found to fund their care.

With £700billion tied up in homes owned by retired workers, Mr Blunkett argued they should increasingly be prepared to use equity release schemes to pay for care rather than protecting the value of their families' inheritance.