The self employed work on average longer that employees and public sector workers. According to 2007 figures, the average self-employed person stops work at age 61, while both employees and civil servants retire at 59. Just under a quarter of the self employed stop work before the retirement age, mostly at 60. At one time they paid a penalty of 5% per year under 65, and, while that has been reduced, the self employed are still “heavily penalised,” according to Unizo.

For a self-employed person retiring at 60, the penalty still comes to 25% of the pension, something Unizo has called “a continuing scandal”. The penalty is a life-long punishment since the reduction is applied even after the retiree reaches the age of 65. Unizo is calling on the new government to take further steps to narrow the remaining gap and to do away with the continued penalty on retiring early.

Figures from 2009 put the number of those on a self-employed pension at 490,524 – one retired small business owner for every 1.9 active. Of the total, just under 69% have a mixed self-employed/employee pension. The other one-third have been self employed throughout their career.