Proposed Scrapping of the Compulsory Retirement Age
Published February 2010
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has promised to focus on reforming the retirement age in its pre-election campaign, putting extra pressure on all parties to include it in their manifestos.
The proposals are backed by a number of older workers, with a quarter of men and two-thirds of woman over 50 wanting to carry on working past the current default retirement age.
Compulsory retirement has already been criticised in a case brought by the charity Age Concern. Although the High Court agreed that the legislation complied with the EU Directive against age discrimination, it also said the case for changing the law was compelling.
Currently, staff can appeal against being forced to retire at 65, with 1.3 million people over that age working in the UK.
Considering more than 80 percent of Saga’s customers – the holiday and financial services company for the over-50s – will definitely vote, this could become one of the crucial factors in the upcoming general election.
However, should the proposals be accepted, they would become one of six employment laws due to be implemented in 2011, which may cause problems for businesses already struggling with recent changes to employment law.
