David Prosser: More haste, less speed on the retirement age
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Outlook No-one sensible disagrees with the abolition of the default retirement age, which the Government confirmed yesterday would take place on 6 April. No employer should be able to get rid of someone simply because of their age, and forced retirement is a much cheaper option than redundancy.
That is not to say, however, that ministers were right to ignore calls from business groups for abolition to be postponed for 12 months. There are some real worries about the new rules, not least from the perspective of employees. Some staff may now face intrusive monitoring of their performance as they get older, or find themselves excluded from benefits such as health and life insurance.
Equally, employers warn they will no longer be able to ask staff about their plans for retirement, for fear of being accused of age discrimination. That's unhelpful for managing the workforce.
This change in the law is widely supported. But it would do no harm to have a short delay to ensure that even the most old-fashioned of employers have no reason to complain.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments