The T&T As­so­ci­a­tion of Re­tired Per­sons (TTARP) has wel­comed — and even tak­en cred­it for — rec­om­mend­ing the in­crease in the Na­tion­al In­sur­ance Sys­tem (NIS) re­tire­ment age from 60 to 65, ac­cord­ing to the as­so­ci­a­tion’s First Vice-Pres­i­dent, Reynold Coop­er.

Dur­ing an in­ter­view with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Coop­er said the pro­pos­al, an­nounced by Fi­nance Min­is­ter Dave Tan­coo in Mon­day’s na­tion­al bud­get, will “sig­nif­i­cant­ly re­duce the per­cep­tion of age dis­crim­i­na­tion,” re­in­forc­ing the view that old­er cit­i­zens are ca­pa­ble of work­ing be­yond the tra­di­tion­al re­tire­ment age of 60.

“We are pleased about it be­cause we feel that the el­der­ly can work up to age 70 and be­yond,” he said.