Following consultation, the government announced proposals to tackle age discrimination in the workplace. It proposed that legislation should set a default retirement age of 65, with a right for employees to request working beyond a compulsory retirement age, which employers would have a duty to consider; ensure close monitoring of the retirement age provisions so that evidence was available for a formal review of age discrimination five years from implementation; and allow employers to objectively justify earlier retirement ages if they could show it was appropriate and necessary.
Source: House of Commons Hansard, Written Ministerial Statement 14 December 2004, columns 127-130WS, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Hansard | DTI press release | Consultation responses (pdf) | Age Concern press release | EFA press release | Help the Aged press release | TUC press release | CBI press release | CIPD press release | Mercer press release
Date: 2004-Dec
A report called for further pension reform, to simplify the system and encourage later retirement; further steps to prevent disability-related benefits being used as a de facto early retirement scheme; measures to increase the willingness of employers to hire and retain older persons; and measures to strengthen older workers' employability, such as enhancements to the New Deal 50 plus programme.
Source: Ageing and Employment Policies: The United Kingdom, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (+33 1 4524 8200)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2004-Sep
Two pensioners sacked by their employer lost a claim for unfair dismissal and redundancy pay. The Court of Appeal ruled that employment rights did not extend beyond the state retirement age.
Source: Rutherford and another v. Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Court of Appeal 3 September 2004
Links: Text of judgement | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
A National Audit Office report said that 'good progress' had been made in increasing the overall employment rate for older people. But substantial regional and local variations remained in employment rates for older people, and in the number who were economically inactive, with areas like the North East and Wales having particularly high levels of inactivity.
Source: Welfare to Work: Tackling the barriers to the employment of older people, National Audit Office (020 7798 7000) HC 1026 (Session 2003-04)
Links: Report (pdf) | NAO press release | Help the Aged press release
Date: 2004-Sep
A study examined how management policies interacted with employees personal choices about when to retire. It concluded that the retirement experience had been individualised, both culturally and in practice. People had previously expected to continue working until normal retirement age, barring redundancy or major health problems: there were now more possibilities, but choice was, in most cases, profoundly constrained in arbitrary ways.
Source: Sarah Vickerstaff, John Baldock, Jennifer Cox and Linda Keen, Happy Retirement?: The impact of employers policies and practice on the process of retirement, Policy Press for Joseph Rowntree Foundation, available from Marston Book Services (01235 465500)
Links: JRF Findings 714
Date: 2004-Jul
A research report explored the decisions people made about work and retirement when they reached state pension age, the factors influencing those decisions, and what policies might support and encourage those who wished to continue working.
Source: Helen Barnes, Jane Parry and Rebecca Taylor, Working after State Pension Age: Qualitative research, Research Report 208, Department for Work and Pensions (0113 399 4040)
Links: Report (pdf links) | Summary (pdf) | DWP press release | PSI press release
Date: 2004-May
A series of articles examined the theme of age, employment and policy - focusing on older workers.
Source: Social Policy and Society, Volume 3 Issue 2
Links: Contents page
Date: 2004-Apr
Two linked reports said that in the years up to 2021 the overall proportion of people in work could be sustained by improving opportunities for older people to work. To achieve this there was no need to raise the state pension age or restrict access to sickness and disability benefits: but employment options needed to be flexible to reflect the diversity of older people and allow everyone to strike a balance between paid and unpaid roles.
Source: The Economy and Older People, Age Concern England (020 8765 7200) | Pamela Meadows and Volterra Consulting, The Economic Contribution of Older People, Age Concern England
Links: Report (pdf) | Age Concern press release
Date: 2004-Feb
A research study identified available datasets on the age dimension of various labour market indicators, from both the employer and employee perspectives; and provided a descriptive account of the labour market profiles of different age groups.
Source: Peter Urwin, Age Matters: Review of existing survey evidence, Employment Relations Research Series 24, Department of Trade and Industry (020 7215 5177)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2004-Feb
