Meet the Yorkshire 'unretirement' expert making the case for nation's over-50s workers

According to the International Longevity Centre UK, while the economy is facing a 2.6m shortfall of paid workers by 2030, there are currently 1.6m people aged between 50 and 69 who have been pushed out of work early.

While joining the dots between the two problems has largely evaded successive Governments, Victoria Tomlinson is determined to highlight the vast untapped potential of over-50s in this country and has set up her own company called Next-Up to do something about it.

Aged 69 herself, Tomlinson is very much practicing what she preaches as she continues to work full-time and was shortlisted in the Business Leader/Entrepreneur of the Year category at this week’s Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business awards.

Tomlinson worked in London in a senior post as director of client services for Arthur Young and Co in the late 1980s which subsequently became part of accountancy giant Ernst & Young.

But after falling in love with Yorkshireman Julian Horrocks, who was a partner at law firm Eversheds, she moved to Harrogate and established a PR company called Northern Lights.

In more recent years, she became something a digital expert and wrote a book in 2011 about the importance of businesses embracing social media.

Tomlinson says that expertise led on to her frequently being contacted by senior professionals who had either chosen or been forced into early retirement and were struggling to find new opportunities.

"They’d go on a Friday from being a mini-God at work and then on the Monday after they went, they would be a nobody. They couldn’t believe it,” she explains. "They came to me because they needed a LinkedIn profile after previously hating it and ignoring it. It became clear a lot of them were really lost and in a bad way mentally. I began to think, ‘This is ridiculous – we are wasting a lot of talent here’."

The situation led to her starting Next-Up in 2018, an organisation that has gradually evolved to offer a range of different services. These include workshops in professional firms for partners approaching the latter stages of their careers with clients including Magic Circle law firms and Big 4 accountants.

She admits that some people can feel uncertain how to take an invite to one of the workshops.

"People worry they have been tapped on the shoulder. We had one firm and we had several partners who said, ‘You must be joking, I’m not going on that’. But by lunchtime they had heard it was brilliant.”

She says typically 70 per cent of those who attend workshops describe themselves as “apprehensive” about their futures but by the end of sessions that “completely flips” with a similar or larger number feeding back they are now excited about what lies ahead. In addition to offering structure and advice to those taking part, she says it is also useful for the firms involved.

"It helps with succession planning. If you are positive about the future, you will be more engaged in terms of bringing on the next generation and looking forward rather than holding on.”

An online platform, currently called Rethink Retirement, has also been created following a successful pilot with a bank.

"The platform talks about the fact there is a grieving process when you leave work,” she says. “People don't think about how much their sense of purpose, the social element of work and that sense of identity is wrapped up in their job.

"When you take that away people can feel very lost. Then it is trying to show what people can do next. The platform has 200 video stories of people sharing the ups and downs of what they have done and how they worked out what they wanted to do and what they are doing now.

"The critical thing for people is making new social connections. Jobs, paid opportunities and volunteering is most likely to come out of meeting new people."

Next-Up is also playing a direct part in creating opportunities. In addition to a core team of three people, the company uses dozens of over-50s to deliver training, sessions and advice to younger generations.

"We’ve been getting the experienced generation to mentor entrepreneurs and it is absolutely amazing. The rooms absolutely buzz and I want to expand that more."

Tomlinson has become something of an “unwitting campaigner” on the wider issue of over-50s work, having letters published in The Times and Financial Times and appearing on GB News to discuss the topic.

Tomlinson says retirement in this country needs to be rethought.

"The concept is way out of date. I’d like to see the whole retirement concept gone and people helped to slightly scale back on full-time work and start doing new things. The bit that matters is finding a sense of purpose and a reason to get up in the morning.”

She has called for the Government to introduce age diversity reporting in a similar way done to the gender pay gap to help tackle the issue, arguing that firms should have 30 per cent of their workforce aged 50 and above.

"We have huge ageism and age discrimination in this country,” she says.

"It goes against the grain as a businesswoman to say I want to introduce something bureaucratic but I think like the gender pay gap there should be reporting on how we appoint people by decade.

"If you looked into every sector, there are opportunities we haven’t even got our heads around. I’m passionate about intergenerational working – this isn’t either/or. Let’s employ the people who want to work and can work.”

Tomlinson herself certainly has no plans to slow down and is also working on a book about the issue.

"I’m 69, I'm full time and I’m loving it, I’m having the best time of my life. I feel like all my skills and experience are coming together. We did an in-person event and somebody said what we are doing is normalising the conversation around retirement. We’re giving people permission to talk about 'what next’ without saying ‘I’m leaving tomorrow’.”