Early retirement among ambulance workers

Unlike other ‘blue light’ emergency service workers in the UK, ambulance workers are not provided with a right to early retirement. Nowadays, the 2015 NHS Pension Scheme is linked to the State Pension Age. This means ambulance workers may be obliged to work up until they are 68 in order to qualify for full pension rights (rather than 60, as is the case with other emergency service workers such as police and firefighters). Older workers are likely to be more vulnerable to the documented risks to their health associated with work in the service (such as those arising from heavy lifting, assaults, shift work, psychological trauma and so on). Knowledge of this increased risk is further likely to contribute to pressure on ambulance workers to voluntarily leave the service well before retirement age, seeking alternative employment often outside the Health Service in order to lower the work-related risks to their health and achieve improved financial security for their retirement. Thus, leading to a loss of skills and cumulative experience for the service.