More people in the UK are working into later life than ever before, with around 12 per cent of people aged 65+ working today, a record number that continues to rise.
With the current state pension age rising to 67, increased life expectancy and rising living costs mean that working beyond this age is becoming increasingly common.
For some, the decision to keep working can bring positive health, financial and wellbeing outcomes, but for others, it is challenging.
“Sizeable proportions of people experience ageism in the workplace and feel their age works against them when applying for jobs,” Dr Andrea Barry, deputy director for work at the Centre for Ageing Better, tells TheiPaper.
“With longer and increasingly varied working lives, skills, training and apprenticeships should be open to everyone, at all ages, to help make career changes possible.
“An estimated one million people aged 50 and over are either actively seeking work or would like to re-enter the workforce,” she said. “This is a similar figure to the number of NEETs (young people Not in Education, Employment, or Training) which has prompted the Government to launch their Youth Guarantee. We need something similar for 50+ workers.”
The iPaper spoke to three people who moved into a new career in their sixties.
Shorts – Quick stories
TECHNOLOGY
Training chatbots to sound friendlier ‘may cause more mistakes’
Caption: Businesswoman using technology smart chatbot AI Photographer: Krongkaew Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF
Training AI chatbots such as ChatGPT to sound friendlier may lead them to make more mistakes, a study suggests.
Platforms that prioritised warmth were also more likely to tell people what they wanted to hear, especially if users expressed sadness.
What you need to know
For the study, experts at the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford generated and analysed more than 400,000 responses from five platforms; Llama-8b, Mistral-Small, Qwen-32b, Llama-70b and GPT-4o.
Caption: Smartphone with a glass speech bubble with the chatbot symbol inside.Chatbot concept. open AI, Artificial Intelligence. Photographer: Francesco Carta fotografo Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF Copyright: Francesco Carta Caption: Illustration Photographer: Malorny Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF
Researchers used a training process similar to what developers may use to make their chatbots sound friendlier, and compared how the original and modified platforms responded.
A closer look at the detail
The study found that chatbots trained to sound warmer made between 10 per cent and 30 per cent more mistakes on topics such as medical advice and correcting conspiracy theories. They were also 40 per cent more likely to agree with a user’s false beliefs, particularly if the user expressed sadness or vulnerability.
Exclusive
5 min read
LIFESTYLE
4 min read
‘Warmth may come at cost of accuracy’
Researchers said the findings, published in Nature, suggest that training AI platforms to be warm “may come at a cost to accuracy, and that warmth and accuracy may not be independent by default”.
“As these systems are deployed at an unprecedented scale and take on intimate roles in people’s lives, this trade-off warrants attention from developers, policymakers and users alike,” they added.
SCIENCE
6 min read
Caption: Pigeons fly around a woman who is feeding birds at St George’s Park, Bristol, in cold, but sunny Spring weather. PA Photo. Picture date: Tuesday April 14, 2020. See PA story WEATHER Spring. Photo credit should read: Ben Birchall/PA Wire Photographer: Ben Birchall Provider: PA Source: PA
SCIENCE
Urban birds fear women more than men
Birds in urban areas are more scared of women than they are of men, scientists have discovered.
The findings have defied the expectations of researchers, who hypothesised that birds would perceive men as more threatening than women.
What methods did researchers use?
Caption: A pigeon drinks at a public fountain during a heatwave, in Mulhouse, eastern France, on August 22, 2023. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP) (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON/AFP via Getty Images) Photographer: SEBASTIEN BOZON Provider: AFP via Getty Images Source: AFP
Men and women were paired monitored as they walked towards pigeons, starlings and other birds in green spaces.
Participants were matched according to their height and clothing, and hair was hidden if longer than a partner’s.
Caption: Close up of wild city pigeons in sunny day on asphalt. Photographer: Olena Ruban Provider: Getty Images Source: Moment RF
Researchers tested whether birds perceived female versus male observers differently in five European countries.
What did the study show?
The birds allowed men to get a metre closer than women in the study, only taking flight when male participants were 7.5 metres away. Birds were less tolerant of women across the five countries in the study: Czech Republic, Poland, Germany and Spain and France. And this behaviour was observed in all 37 bird species in the research.
LIFESTYLE
4 min read
HOMES AND GARDENS
2 min read
What did scientists conclude?
Researchers have described the findings as unexpected. Based on the results, one possible explanation is that in hunter-gatherer societies “women, if they hunted, could have focused more on smaller prey, while males hunted mainly larger prey”.
Caption: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – APRIL 18: A woman feeds birds under a tree at a park during warm weather in London, United Kingdom on April 18, 2026. (Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images) Photographer: Anadolu Provider: Anadolu via Getty Images Source: Anadolu Caption: LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – APRIL 02: A view of ducklings at St. James Park in London, United Kingdom on April 02, 2026. (Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images) Photographer: Anadolu Provider: Anadolu via Getty Images Source: Anadolu
But they said further research is needed to understand the phenomenon.
HEALTH
Cancer rates in under-50s are rising – and no-one can be sure why
Bowel cancer has the steepest rise in early-onset cases (Photo: Sebastian Kaulitzki/Getty)
Clare Wilson
Science Writer
One of the most concerning trends in cancer is that rates of the disease in people under 50 are on the rise. And we don’t know why.
Now, a group of respected British researchers say that part of the explanation is that people are getting fatter. But other experts are sceptical.
What you need to know
Trend in early-onset cancer spans decades
50%
The rise is biggest in bowel cancer, with about a 50 per cent increase in under-50s since the 1990s in the UK. There are also smaller rises in this age group in tumours affecting over 20 other parts of the body.
9 in 10
It is especially puzzling because rates in the over-50s worldwide have been flat or even slightly declining for many tumour types, studies suggest.
Cancer is a disease that usually affects older people, with nine in 10 tumours arising in people over 50.
What did the study find?
The study looked at lifestyle factors known to raise cancer risk to see if any of these could be responsible for the 22 tumour sites where early-onset cancers are rising.
Eleven of these cancers have known behavioural risk factors. These are: obesity, smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, red and processed meat intake and lack of fibre in the diet.
Only one of these – obesity – has been increasing over the past few decades and could potentially explain the rise researchers said, whose study was published in the journal BMJ Oncology.
That’s what led the researchers to claim that excess weight is “the strongest clue to the rise in cancers in under-50s”.
But this study did not prove that the rise in obesity is causing the rise in early-onset cancers – only that the two trends have been happening at the same time.
The bigger picture
When researchers looked at how much the rise in early-onset cancer could be blamed on rising obesity, they found it varied on the tumour type, but obesity never accounted for more than 25 per cent of the extra cases.
Caption: EMBARGOED TO 2330 WEDNESDAY JANUARY 7
Picture posed by a model. File photo dated 03/03/14 of someone using a set of weighing scales. People on fat loss jabs need ongoing support, researchers have said, after a major study found they put all the weight back on much faster than traditional dieters. Researchers from the University of Oxford discovered that people on drugs including semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro) lose weight during treatment but, on average, regain it within 20 months of stopping the jabs. Issue date: Wednesday January 7, 2026. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Chris Radburn/PA Wire Photographer: Chris Radburn Provider: Chris Radburn/PA Wire Source: PA Wire
Caption: Embargoed to 2330 Tuesday July 29
File photo dated 27/04/25 of a half-pounder burger and chips in a takeaway carton. Academics have found a link between consuming high levels of ultra processed foods (UPFs) and lung cancer. An international team of researchers tracked the health and food habits of more than 100,000 US adults, with an average age of 63. After an average of 12 years the team identified 1,706 cases of lung cancer. Issue date: Tuesday July 29, 2025. PA Photo. Photo credit should read: Philip Toscano/PA Wire Photographer: Philip Toscano Provider: Philip Toscano/PA Wire Source: PA
“Body mass index only explains a small part of the increase,” Professor Montserrat García-Closas, a cancer expert at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, who led the research, said.
The hotspots where it’s most difficult to sell your home
The average length of time to sell a home is just a day longer than a year ago despite higher mortgages, although in London homes are taking nearly a week longer to be snapped up typically, according to a property website.
Caption: Estate agents ‘for sale’ and ‘let’ signs outside residential properties in Guildford, UK, on Monday, July 28, 2025. The number of UK home loans given the green light rose to a three-month high in June, as the housing market continued to shake off the impact of April’s tax hike.??Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images Photographer: Bloomberg Provider: Bloomberg via Getty Images Source: Bloomberg Copyright: ? 2025 Bloomberg Finance LP
A closer look at the figures
33 days
Across the UK, the average time to sell a home is 33 days, just one day longer than last year.
6 days
The London area stands out as being particularly affected by recent events, with the average home there taking six days longer to sell than a year ago, the report found.
The locations on the list of hotspots
Here is how long on average it takes to sell a home, according to Zoopla analysis of the seven weeks to 17 April, 2025 and the seven weeks to 17 April, 2026:
Scotland – 15, 15
North East – 28, 28
Yorkshire and the Humber – 31, 31
North West – 28, 31
Wales – 34, 34
West Midlands – 33, 34
South West – 36, 35
East Midlands – 37, 37
East of England – 35, 38
South East – 37, 39
London – 35, 41
Caption: LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 30: People lok at houses for sale in an estate agents window in Mayfair on October 30, 2025 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images) Photographer: John Keeble Provider: Getty Images Source: Getty Images Europe Copyright: 2025 John Keeble
What do experts say?
Mortgage rates are drifting lower and there is greater choice of homes for sale
The best-value homes are moving quickly, particularly in northern cities and Scotland, whereas the room for negotiation is greater across southern regions,” Richard Donnell, executive director of Zoopla said.
Can you learn to love pigeons? A much-unloved animal in the UK
Features writer Kasia Delgado went on a safari to see if she could look past their rat-like nature
The tour guide
People think pigeons are stupid but lots of studies have shown them to have amazing memories, that they can identify people by their facial features, and they have an extraordinary sense of direction.
Florence Wilkinson, author of Wild City: Encounters with Urban Wildlife, took Kasia on a tour.
Positives of pigeons
War heroes
During the Second World War, carrier pigeons were routinely used to send messages, and they saved thousands of lives.
Homing ability
Scientists have put them in blacked-out vans and put miniature goggles on them to blur their vision and still the pigeons manage to return home.
The Dove family
We think of them as all grey, but they vary in shades, and some of them are quite amazingly coloured, says Florence.
Kasia’s feeding test
As I gingerly chuck some seed, wincing slightly, 15 or so flap their wings at me. I wouldn’t say I feel content or relaxed but I don’t hate it as much as I thought I would. I can see they’re not going to do me harm and after all, they’re just enjoying some free food.
A common myth?
Disease carriers
Research has found that between 1941 and 2004, there were only 207 reports worldwide of pathogens transmitted from pigeons to humans.
Not all walks are created equal
Read on to find out how to supercharge yours into an unbeatable health-builder
How to supercharge your walk
Get a bit breathless
All walking paces are linked with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease but there are additional gains made by those who walk at a moderate-to-vigorous intensity.
Walk uphill
Try to find varying inclines to increase energy and muscle burn.
Add weights
The extra resistance challenges your heart to work harder, increasing cardiovascular fitness.
How to supercharge your walk
Uneven ground
Mountainous and uneven terrain work your stabilising muscles harder, increasing the difficulty and output from your walk.
Go Nordic
Using poles engages the arms as well as the legs and core, turning walking into a full-body workout.
A walk is beneficial at any time of day, but after eating could be best. Research has found that 10- to 30-minute walks taken 10 to 30 minutes after a meal can reduce the peak blood-sugar measurements reached.
Slower and lower blood sugar throughout the day reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
How to supercharge your walk
Go green
Walking in nature has more psychological benefits than concrete. It’s shown to significantly reduce anxiety and depression.
Improve your posture
Staying tall through the spine, open your chest and keep your eyes forward (not leaning over on your phone..).
Meet outside
Walking is a good time to have conversations, whether with your boss or a friend.
Mistakes to avoid
1Focusing on step count – most research suggests that benefits plateau at 7,000 steps a day.
2Using ankle weights – they can tug at the hip flexors and the knees.
3 Doing one-and-done – just hiking for three hours on the weekend, and nothing throughout the week, means you’re missing out on benefits.
4Thinking it’s not a workout – walking packs in cardio and brain-boosting effects without the recovery time of intense exercise.
Eight million people in the UK are living with heart or circulatory disease
And while chest pain is a well-known symptom, there are more subtle signs you should be aware of too.
Overlooked signs of heart disease
Dizziness and fainting
An abnormal heart rhythm can cause a dizzy feeling. While much dizziness is not serious, it can be associated with life-threatening complications.
Increased breathlessness
This breathlessness could be due to blockages and reduced blood flow in the arteries.
Swollen ankles
Unusual swelling can indicate a problem with the body’s circulatory system and kidneys.
Worsening fatigue
Ongoing and worsening fatigue can indicate an underlying health issue, and it could be a sign that your heart isn’t working as effectively as it should be. If persistent fatigue is impacting you day-to-day, the best thing to do is speak with your doctor.
Ruth Goss, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation
Overlooked signs of heart disease
Indigestion-type symptoms Discomfort in the stomach, chest and ribs, or a burning sensation in the chest area, could all be symptoms of heart disease.
Erectile dysfunction If it’s an ongoing issue, there could be an underlying health problem, including atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries), diabetes or high blood pressure.
Emotional detachment is a key life skill
Read on to find out how to embrace it, from GP Dr Radha
Healthy detachment
[Detachment] is not selfish – we can still care and empathise. We don’t avoid, we just balance and respond rather than react because we are not too invested in the outcome. This is very different from emotional numbing, which often happens after trauma.
dr Radha Modgil
When we need detachment
Toxic friendships
When you feel that an interaction brings out the worst in you, or that you are having to watch everything you say or do.
Dysfunctional families
Healthy detachment is helpful when we become overly invested in trying to control or fix someone.
Work issues
It’s helpful in situations you are not in control of and helps you leave work behind at 5pm.
How to start it
Examine your beliefs
You may have been conditioned to think that it is your responsibility to fix everything. Is this a fact or based on old patterns?
Look at the impact
Consider what negative impact your “fixing” has; it can keep situations stuck, or infantilise others from growing up.
Which problems are in your control?
Understanding what problems are ours to hold and which aren’t can help avoid emotional burnout.
How to maintain it
Firm boundaries
This means understanding your sense of self, what is yours and what is not and sticking to it.
Self-care
Recognise and look after your own energy levels, mental health and your need to live your own life.
Be objective
Try to have a factual, calm, rational attitude in moments of conflict. This includes trying to release the need to control.
‘I wasn’t ready to work in a charity shop’
Judith Buck, 70, West Yorkshire
Judith Buck graduated with a degree in chemistry in the 1970s, becoming one of the early women IT pioneers helping bring companies into the computer age. But she found the big multinational company she was working for in her mid-60s to be ageist. “I was getting signals that they wanted me out,” she says. “I think they thought I was blocking other people’s’ promotions – and I suppose I was – but I did enjoy my job. I wasn’t looking for a way out until they started pushing me.”
Buck had been coaching young swimmers for many years on a voluntary basis and had enjoyed it. Teaching in a more formal capacity was always at the back of her mind. “I really enjoyed working with young people,” she says.
During Covid, she began exploring what a teaching career might involve, eventually applying for training through Now Teach. “When they accepted me, I thought ‘my goodness – this might actually happen rather than just being a pipe dream’.”
As part of her teacher training, Buck was assigned a mentor through Now Teach and offered support with job applications. “There’s a tendency to think that a trainee teacher will be a young teacher,” she says.
While her first year was “a learning curve”, she states that “the kids get you through it”. She says: “A good piece of advice I got was when you go into that first classroom, the children will expect you to be an experienced teacher [because you are older], so live up to that.”
Despite teaching being a notoriously demanding career, Buck took to it easily. “It was exciting because they seemed to really value me,” she recalls. “My previous employer had wanted to get rid of me, but here people were saying, ‘You’re doing a great job’. And the kids were just fantastic.”
Buck started her first year as a qualified teacher at the age of 67 and is now in her third year of teaching on a part-time basis. Life experience also means she handles stress and pressure differently than earlier in her career. “I don’t let it get to me,” she says. “And I’m not too proud to ask for help.”
On the subject of whether older people are underestimated in society, Buck replies: “I think people in their 60s and 70s sometimes underestimate themselves. I applied for four jobs and got the fourth one. Some parts of society haven’t got the vision to see through the age barrier – but look at Sir David Attenborough!”
She continues: “I think generally people see us as expensive, but I’m at the bottom of the pay scale. “A lot of people I know of who are my age don’t really want to work anymore. But I didn’t want to sit at home – and I wasn’t ready to work in a charity shop just yet. I want to be around younger people, because I want to see where they’re going and hear their ideas.”
She encourages anyone older considering a career change to go for it, adding: “Grab the opportunity because you may not get it again.”
‘It looked easy – but it turned out to be a completely new career for me’
Bob Lawrence, 73, Derbyshire
Bob Lawrence has been working for B&Q as a showroom customer adviser for the past nine years after a long career as an operations manager in the construction industry ended abruptly. Aged 63, he attempted to find another job. “I must have done at least 35 applications a month and in 12 months, I only got two interviews,” he said.
With years of experience under his belt, it was something he struggled with. “I accept not getting a job when you’ve been interviewed, but to not even get shortlisted… age was clearly an issue. Generally speaking, once you get into your fifties and sixties, there’s a feeling that employers prefer younger people.”
Bob Lawrence now works in B&Q (Photo: Provided)
Being more financially stable was Lawrence’s primary motivation for finding another job. While he had “a few private pensions and the state pension”, it wasn’t sufficient for him to give up work entirely.
“That was my only objective,” he says. “I was still job-hunting and saw the job at B&Q and thought ‘that’ll do’. After a pressured management position, it looked like a nice, easy job. I honestly expected to just roll up, put on the old orange apron, stack shelves and for it to just prop up my pension. But it turned out to be a completely new career for me.”
B&Q has built an enviable reputation for staff training and for employing older workers, with around a third of its workforce aged 50+. It’s something that Lawrence has personally benefited from. He said: “When I arrived, I wasn’t stacking shelves – I was working on the showroom team on the design of kitchens and bathrooms.”
As part of his role, he also took an apprenticeship to help him transition into a retail environment, which involved sitting City & Guilds exams in maths and English. “I flew through maths, but I struggled with English – and doing the apprenticeship enabled me to get to grips with what was once my Achilles heel.”
Lawrence said he was accepted in his new job easily. “One of the things I love about B&Q is it’s so inclusive,” he says. “I’ve never felt my age.”
As well as advising customers looking for a new kitchen, he fields questions about DIY matters. “I’m an avid DIY-er and that’s one of the things that attracted me to B&Q,” he says.
Now, he works 30 hours over five days a week. “I love it. And I’ve made some really good friends. It wasn’t one I was expecting, but it’s been a good career change. I’m 74 this year and I don’t feel it.”
And for anyone in a similar position to him, his advice is to go for it. “You need to have the confidence to not write yourself off, because somebody will give you a chance – you’ve just got to find that chance.”
He adds: “Some of the old-timers that were here when I arrived have retired now. I’ll do that one day – but I’m not ready for it yet.”
‘I feel very blessed to be able to finish my career in a job that I love’
Kerry Wiggins, 69, Hampshire
Kerry Wiggins has been in her job as a senior membership services coordinator at the Chartered Institute for Archaeologists for nine years and lives on the border of Hampshire and Berkshire.
She graduated with a degree in archaeology in 1978 and worked as a field archaeologist for five years. After that, she had a “varied” career which included the third sector, supporting unemployed people, working for the National Careers Service and being a dog walker.
A negative experience with a former employer prompted her to look for another job. “I started Googling jobs near me and it [her current role] popped up. Absolute serendipity! It was so exciting, but I didn’t think I stood a chance.”
Wiggins drew on the career guidance she had once issued to job seekers in a previous role, however. “I thought ‘apply and they can only turn you down’. I submitted an application and the rest is history. I started work two weeks before my 60th birthday.”
At the end of her interview, Wiggins said: ‘I’m approaching 60. Why did you interview me?’ “The CEO looked at me and said, ‘Because you were the most suitable candidate’.” She smiles.
Wiggins’s varied career has also given her lots of transferable skills. “When I started the job, I was absolutely floored because I’d been out of archaeology for a long time and it’s very different,” she recalls. “But in terms of being organised, having structures, working with members, communication and developing empathy, that was all absolutely second nature.”
Most of her team are in their forties and fifties, but Wiggins works with members of all ages. “All through my working life, I’ve worked with people a lot older than me. And when I ran a Youth Training Scheme, I worked mainly with 16-year-old boys. I’ve learned from just about everyone. I’m still 25 in my head.”
When asked if her job has changed how she feels about ageing, she says: “I’ve never really thought about ageing – I’ve never been sorry about a birthday.”
Despite her enthusiasm, Wiggins agrees that society underestimates older people. “When I was a careers adviser, I was constantly seeing talented, qualified people in their fifties being turned down for jobs,” she says. “I spoke to recruitment agents who said they knew of organisations that refused to take on anyone aged over 50.”
She continues: “I think there’s an unfair assumption that older people will be more difficult to work with because they’ll expect more money and responsibility and will tell other colleagues how to do their job. For the most part, I don’t think this is the case.
“The people I worked with understood they would need to change and were prepared to step into a new arena and offer their expertise without expecting it to be taken.”
Her advice for anyone older seeking a new job is to get some solid advice. “What gets in the way of most people moving on professionally is a rubbish CV and rubbish interview techniques,” she says. “You can blag your way through a lot with good products.”
Working within a supportive, professional organisation has been life-changing for Wiggins. “It’s absolutely wonderful. I feel very blessed to be able to finish my career in a job I love with a team I absolutely adore.”
