Firms speak out against rise in retirement age

Employers are standing up for the rights of older workers with nearly nine in ten believing they shouldn’t be forced to work until they drop, according to new research.

The survey of HR professionals by Croner, one of the UK’s leading providers of business information and advice, follows the CBI’s recent recommendation to raise the retirement age from 65 to 70 by 2030, but 85 percent of those polled disagree.

The survey also found that 92 percent believe there are benefits to having an increasingly mature workforce in the UK, and Richard Smith, HR expert at Croner, which is part of Wolters Kluwer UK, says this indicates a positive shift in attitudes of employers towards older workers, who can often be undervalued and under appreciated in the workplace.

Richard says: Employees aged around 50 or over often complain that they feel ’pushed out’ of their organisation to make room for younger talent, or if they are unemployed, find it difficult to get a job.

Even when age discrimination legislation comes in to force in two years it will have minimal impact on this unless employers’ attitudes change, but our survey reveals that an overwhelming majority are actually supporting more mature employees.

But Richard also says that, while most employers are not intentionally ageist, when it comes to dismissing older workers they may still fall foul of unfair dismissal laws due to lack of understanding of employment legislation.

And there could be further confusion when new age discrimination legislation is introduced in 2006, which will provide extra protection to older workers by making it unlawful to dismiss an employee because of their age. He says: Employers must not assume that 65 is the ’default’ retirement age as there may be organisations where the normal retirement age is higher or lower. Even though age discrimination legislation is not yet in force, employers cannot simply dismiss employees when they reach ’retirement age’, unless it is clearly stated in an employee’s contract that this is expected.


The employee could still claim unfair dismissal and seek compensation, for example under the Disability Discrimination Act if they are unreasonably dismissed for being no longer thought capable of doing their job. From 1 October, prior to enforcing retirement, the employer will need to call a meeting explaining their intentions and allow an appeal against a compulsory retirement decision.

Croner is offering the following guidelines to employers to help ensure they do not dismiss older employees unfairly:

Don’t assume that employees expect to retire at 65. Many wish to continue to work beyond this age Look at the benefits older workers can bring in terms of skills, experience, attendance levels and maturity More mature employees may be less prone to ’job hop’ and thereby reduce costs of retention and replacement Even if a number of redundancies are being made, age may not be a fair criteria to adopt for selection - although consideration for selection should be given to those who are past retirement age If it is felt that the employee is no longer capable of their work due to deteriorating health, ask them for a medical report and consider any reasonable adjustments that could be made to their current job to allow them to continue employment. If no adjustments can be made, alternative work or part-time work should be also considered Update all contracts of employment with the Company policy on retirement, which should include the age at which they will be expected to retire.