News
EFA welcomes the Equality Bill in Queen's speech
3 December 2008
Today's Queen's Speech included the announcement of a major shakeup of discrimination laws in the UK, in the form of the Equality Bill.Employers Forum on Age welcomes the Equality Bill in Queen's speech but urges goverment to end default retirement age.
Today's Queen's Speech included the announcement of a major shakeup of discrimination laws in the UK, in the form of the Equality Bill. The Employers Forum on Age, the UK's leading authority on age, believes that employers, who are vital to achieving equality in the UK, must not be sidelined in the drive for more legislation.
Catharine Pusey, Director of The Employers Forum on Age comments, "Today's announcement of the Equality Bill is welcomed and we are pleased to see that ageism continues to be treated as seriously as sexism and racism, in part due to the 2006 age legislation. Our members support the Government's commitment to ending unfair age discrimination and we urge the Government to announce the abolition of the Default Retirement Age as a crucial part of their commitment to rid the workplace of ageism. We welcomed the Civil Service's decision last month to remove the unfair and discriminatory practice of insisting employees retire at 65 and hope that it helps focus the Government's mind on the importance of this issue.
"At work, to really achieve equality there needs to be a fundamental change in attitudes. As working lives get longer, an important part of the work we are doing is to ensure that our members understand age legislation in all its intricacies and benefit from having an age diverse workforce. The EFA's long-term campaign is to persuade the Government to commit to remove the retirement age in 2011 - rather than merely reviewing it. This will provide clarity for employers and employees and give employers several years to prepare. Legislation can only provide a framework to protect against unfair discrimination, it cannot achieve the level of culture change which is needed to end ageism."
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For further information please contact:
The Employers Forum on Age
Catharine Pusey: 0207 785 6556 - catharine.pusey@efa.org.uk
Beth Vaughan: 020 7785 6539 - beth.vaughan@efa.org.uk
Or
Lansons Communications
Helen Thomson: 0207 294 3604 - helent@lansons.com
Livia Murphy: 0207 294 3693 - liviam@lansons.com