Working beyond state pension age and volunteer participation: evidence for a substitutive relationship

Purpose This study aims to explore the relationship between working beyond state pension age (SPA) and volunteering. Given policy changes increasing the SPA, and with older adults encouraged to work beyond it, there is a need to explore the potential impact this could have on older adults’ volunteering. Design/methodology/approach This analysis used a sample from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, comprising of 59,113 observations from 14,873 participants, with further analysis on a subsample (3,338 observations from 1,644 participants) of workers aged above SPA. Mixed-effects logistic regression models with random effects are used to take account of the hierarchical structure of the data. Findings Findings suggest that, controlling for other relevant factors, working beyond SPA has a negative association with volunteering. Furthermore, those working beyond SPA for financial reasons were significantly less likely to volunteer than those who continue working because they enjoyed their job/working generally. Originality/value These findings were the first that could be found to date directly exploring the relationship between working beyond SPA and volunteering in England and build on existing work showing work and volunteering have a substitutive relationship. This analysis therefore adds to an emerging area of research exploring the influence of increasing the SPA on productive activities older adults partake in outside of work. This could be of interest to volunteer-involving organisations and volunteer policymakers, as further raising the SPA could mean a potentially smaller volunteer force.