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Employers Welcome Pensions Green Paper 17 December 2002 Ms Sam Mercer, campaign director of the Employers Forum on Age, says: ´The Employers Forum on Age (EFA) welcomes most of the proposals put forward in today´s pensions Green Paper. These announcements suggest the government has recognised the importance of changing lifestyles that, combined with demographic change, make the traditional model of working and retirement out of date. ´The EFA has been leading the campaign for government to break down the tax barriers on occupational pensions schemes preventing employers from providing more flexible retirement – recent research from the EFA showed that 93 percent of employees would be willing to extend their working lives if offered flexible retirement options. This effectively means that the ´traditional´ link between service and pension needs to be reviewed if employers are to offer employees the opportunity to reduce their hours and/or responsibilities as they ´gradually´ retire.´ As the government proposes measures to end compulsory retirement ages, the EFA warns it should not underestimate employers´ concerns regarding this issue. ´One key message which needs to be communicated to employers is that abolishing mandatory retirement is not about forcing companies to retain individuals who are no longer able to perform their jobs, says Sam Mercer. It is about stopping the enforced exit of individuals from the workplace for no other reason than their age. And although employers believe that ending compulsory retirement may be the right thing to do in the long run, employers may need some limited opportunity to retire their staff under certain circumstances. The green paper suggests this is possible, but employers are going to need clear guidance as to the circumstances under which they can retire people.´ -ends- back to the archive |
