Charities slam enforced retirement age of 65
Two leading age charities have reacted angrily to the Government's decision to institute a default retirement age of 65.
Tessa Harding, Special Adviser to Help the Aged, commented: "The Government's decision is extremely disappointing. "The forthcoming regulations to ban age discrimination in employment have had the stuffing knocked out of them before they are even on the table.
"Every employer will be free to kick someone out of a job just because they have reached a certain birthday. And every older worker will find that they lose employment rights on that same birthday – even if they do their job extremely well and want to carry on working.
"This reinforces the stereotypes of older workers and the very inequalities that the Government says it wants to do away with. There is a real danger that employers will not implement the forthcoming regulations on age equality seriously when the Government itself is sending such contradictory signals.
"We have heard a great deal about our ageing population, the need for people to be prepared to work longer, the value of older workers to the economy and the need for all of us to save more for our pensions. In the light of these debates, the Government's decision is simply incomprehensible."
Keith Frost, a spokesperson for the Third Age Employment Network (TAEN), added: "This means that hopes for the extension of employment rights against unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy payments to workers over 65 have been dashed.
"The age legislation due in 2006 is supposed to outlaw age as a factor in making employment and training decisions. However, not only will employers be able to continue to push employees out the door, they will also be able to let them work on, safe in the knowledge that if they want to dismiss them on the grounds of age or redundancy in the future, they can do so without fear of any sanction or cost.
"If that isn't direct age discrimination, I don't know what is."