New research by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that the gap between the number of professional workers and manual workers dying before they reach 65 has increased.

The research means that the ConDems Government's plans to increase the retirement age to 66 by 2016 and then increase it up to 70, is directly discriminatory against manual workers.

The ONS report found that between 2001 and 2008 the number of manual workers who will die before they are 65 is now 407 out of 100,000 while the figure for professional and managerial workers is 178 out of 100,000. The ONS research found that the gap between the pre-retirement death rates of manual workers and professionals has widened, from manual workers being twice as likely to die before they were 65 compared to professional workers, to being 2.3 times as likely to die.

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The problem is particularly acute in construction where the majority of workers are forced to retire from the industry before the age of 65 due to injury or illness.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of construction union UCATT, said: "The ONS figures prove what manual workers already know, that the decision to raise the retirement age discriminates against them. Manual workers are over twice as likely to die before they reach retirement age than professional workers and their overall life expectancy is far lower.

"If the Government had a shred of decency they would rethink their proposals and allow manual workers to retire earlier, in order to be able to enjoy their hard earned retirement."

(CD/GK)