News
Manifesto committments to abolish forced retirement
13 April 2010
All three major political parties commit to abolishing the DRA.Labour's manifesto (published on Monday 13th April) included the following statement "Age discrimination in the workplace has been banned. As well as promoting flexible working, we will now proceed to end default retirement at 65, with a review to establish the right way in which to support more people to work longer should they choose to do so." The full manifesto document can be found here. The Conservatives followed suit the following day with the statement "We will look at how to abolish the default retirement age, as many older people want to carry on working." which would seem to rule out simply raising the age of retirement. The full manifesto document can be found here. Finally the Liberal Democrats commit to "Scrap compulsory retirement ages, allowing those who wish to continue in work to do so." The full manifesto document can be found here. These manifesto committments are an unequivocal sign to employers that a huge shakeup in retirement is on the way. Employers who are currently using the DRA should start planning now to ensure they are ready for this change. Understanding the experience of employers operating without a DRA will be essential, and will give them confidence to enable employees to choose when they reitre. See the EFA press release here.