Age Concern has thrown its support behind the idea of raising the age of retirement above 65.

Claudette Fleming, executive director of the senior support group, said allowing Bermudian seniors to continue working for a few extra years was a ?great idea?.

She said the watchdog also welcomed confirmation from Government that the option of working past 65 in Bermuda would be voluntary. It was ?critical?, she added, that seniors who reached the current retirement age limit would be able choose whether or not they wanted to carry on drawing a salary.

Ms Fleming told : ?People who want to continue working should be able to do so. It?s an economically sound idea and it allows people to remain in the workforce.?

The Age Concern director said the advocacy group had come across many cases of workers who had been forced into retirement over the years, particularly in Government and the private sector. ?They do not want to retire,? added Ms Fleming. ?but because it?s policy they have to.?

The comments from Age Concern came after Government said it was looking closely at lifting the retirement barrier a ?year or two longer?.

Finance Minister Paula Cox told the House of Assembly recently that 65 year olds still able to make a valuable contribution at work may help head off a future state pensions cash crisis.

Government has already confirmed that employee pension payments were set to rise in an attempt to ease the burden on the Contributory Pension Fund.

With population trends showing people living longer as the workforce shrinks, Ms Cox said it would be ?prudent? to open talks with unions and employers on letting skilled and experienced seniors work a few more years.

The Finance Minister, however, said there were no plans to make working past 65 compulsory, a stance welcomed by Age Concern Bermuda.

Ms Fleming said yesterday: ?The choice is critical because there are people who are ill and it would not be right for them to continue working. If they are not able to keep up to speed, they should keep the opportunity to retire at 65.?

When the Government plans are fleshed out, she said it would be interesting to see what impact the age increase could have on the social insurance system, with more people paying in and possibly accessing it later.

But Ms Fleming said the debate on later working also had to stress to younger generations the importance of planning their finances for the future.

Government has warned that the number of workers in the 20 to 64 age pool was expected to fall from nearly 40,000 to about 32,000 in the next four decades. If economic conditions remained buoyant in Bermuda there would be a shortfall of 8,000 workers on the Island.

And Ms Cox said it was in the national interest to give Bermudians approaching the retirement age the first chance to reduce this shortfall.