A Mind Lost

The UK government has announced that businesses will no longer be able to insist that employees retire at 65.  At the moment, an employer is required to discuss retirement with the individual six months before their 65th birthday and while they can continue to work past that date with mutual agreement, the employer can insist that the employee retire.

While it is good news that people are more in control of their working life and how they choose to move on from it, it raises other problems which the government and the pressure groups have not been keen to address.  Firstly, a workforce working longer means that younger people coming onto the jobs market have less jobs to choose from.  Secondly, there is a probability that ill-health will become more of a factor in a persons life and there must be a framework in place whereby a persons employment can be terminated if ill-health results in unacceptable absence levels.  You can argue that this falls within existing employment law but experience has told me that it is no easy matter to end the employment of someone through long-term or repeated absence.  Such a decision requires critical attention to procedure and with an older employee may result in claims for discrimination on the grounds of both age and disability.

It’s good news for the individual, but a potential minefield for the employer.