Further to our previous news items in The People Bulletin on the default retirement age , the government is asking employers for evidence on how the current default retirement age1 is working in practice. It wants to know:
- the reasons businesses use for mandatory retirement ages;
- the impacts on businesses, individuals and the economy of raising or removing the default retirement age;
- the experiences of businesses operating without a default retirement age; and
- opinions on how could any of the costs of raising or removing the DRA be mitigated and benefits realised.
Business minister Pat McFadden and minister for pensions and the ageing society Angela Eagle issued a joint statement on 28 October 2009 calling for evidence on retirement ages to be submitted by 1st February 2010. Eagle said: ‘As people live and work for longer, it is sensible that we have the debate on what works for business and individuals. The laws around employment and retirement need to reflect changes in economic and social circumstances…That is why earlier this year we announced we were bringing the review of the default retirement age forward to 2010. Today we are asking for evidence to be submitted by 1 February to allow that to happen.’
McFadden added: ‘The default retirement age is a subject that employees, the business community, trade unions and charities all have a strong interest in. We want to receive information from all of these parties as it is important that our review is based on robust, detailed and wide-ranging evidence.’
Submissions are requested by 1 February 2010 and should be emailed to :
draevidence@bis.gov.uk and/or posted to DRA Evidence, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, V497, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET.
www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/Default%20retirement%20age/index.html
[1] See RIP the default retirement age in The People Bulletin, 7 October 2009 and Will you still need me…when I’m sixty-four in The People Bulletin, 22 October 2009.