As Brits work longer and the state pension age rises, a growing number of workers in their fifties are abandoning established careers in favour of entirely new professions, businesses and passions.
Where once a career path meant working for the same firm for decades, there’s now a new way of thinking. The employment rate of those aged between 50 and 64 is currently 72 per cent, but statistics from the OECD suggest that only a third of firms would hire someone aged between 45 and 54.
As a result, thousands are embarking on “second careers” in new fields. Analysis by ONS in 2023 found that almost half (48 per cent) of self-employed workers in the UK are aged 50 or over, the highest proportion between 2013 and 2023. Research from think-tank Phoenix Insights shows that a third of people aged between 45 and 54 expect to change careers before they retire.
Shorts
Cath Gosden, 53, based in West Sussex, is one worker who gave up her lifelong career in payroll and bookkeeping. “I felt like there had to be more than this,” she says. “I needed something that lit me up and excited me. I was bored.”
