Ending The Default Retirement Age Is A Must

Welcome News From Government For All Older Workers

by Dr. Ros Altmann

(All material on this page is subject to copyright and must not be reproduced without the author’s permission.)

---

The Government’s decision to ban employers from being able to sack their staff just for being age 65 is brilliant news. This should have been done many years ago. As the first baby-boomer has reached 65 this year and as millions more will reach that age in the next few years, the labour market has to adjust to reality.

Most people are not old at 65 any more – they are not ready for the scrapheap, work-wise. Indeed, they still have valuable skills and experience which, if lost, would damage all our futures.

A recent Saga Survey of the over 50s showed that nearly half of those not yet retired want to work past the age of 65 and around 7% want to work into their 70s.

Employers need to adjust the new realities. They will have to assess how to judge workers’ skills and abilities for the job, rather than retaining the easy option of just getting rid of them because of their age. Such age discrimination has no place in a modern economy. If a worker is fit and able to do their job, or if a worker is not up to their job, then Human Resources managers must find ways to assess and prove this.

The ideal will be to facilitate far more part-time work in later life, with employers and workers having a mature discussion about the best way to retain workers’ skills as they reach their 60s. As more of the baby boomers reach this age, it will be beneficial to all of us to keep them in the labour force, producing and earning to support the economy and themselves. If we waste their skills and throw them out of work, without much money to live on, they will have less to spend, create less jobs for younger workers and set in train economic decline.

Well done to the Government for finally introducing this much needed reform.