Age discrimination legislation

On 14 December 2004 the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Trade and Industry made a joint statement to Parliament outlining the Government's proposed plans to outlaw age discrimination in relation to retirement ages.

Although it had originally been suggested that the Government intended to abolish mandatory retirement ages, the actual proposals are far less controversial.

The Government's main proposals are as follows:

• A default retirement age of 65 will be set but employees will have the right to request to work beyond 65 and employers must seriously consider any such request;
• The right to request to work beyond 65 will follow the model for the right to work flexibly. Therefore it is likely that if an employer wishes to refuse a request they must explain in detail the business grounds for the decision;
• Employers will, in limited circumstances where they are able to show that it is necessary and appropriate, be able to set a compulsory retirement age of under 65;
• The Government intends to monitor the default retirement age for 5 years to see whether it should be changed;
• The decision on retirement ages will not have any direct implications for occupational or state pension arrangements. The Government emphasised that it has no plans to change the state pension age once it has been equalised for men and women at 65, and they shall continue to provide for pension schemes to set normal retirement ages if they need to.

The joint announcement promised draft legislation on age discrimination by the summer of 2005 – we will therefore clarify the scope of the proposed laws when the draft legislation is published.