The Department for Work and Pensions has published new research by the Age Partnership Group into sector-specific treatment of older workers.
Nine sectors – Business Services; Construction; Education; Health and Social Care; Hospitality; Manufacturing; Retail; Transport and Logistics, and Other Community (eg media, sport, public services and the arts) – were examined with the researchers considering the recruitment, training and retention of older workers.
The research found:
- Eight sectors use length of experience to fix starting salaries or as a criterion in selection for recruitment and retention.
- Seven sectors use age or length of service as the basis for redundancy decisions.
- Five sectors provide age information on candidates to short-listing and interviewing staff.
- Four sectors set maximum or contractual retirement ages and for two of these sectors the contractual retirement age is often below 65.
The reports also examine what employers are doing to remove compulsory retirement ages and adopt flexible approaches, as set out in the Pensions White Paper, as well as looking at how the age legislation affects young people in the workforce.
These findings will be used as part of the government’s Age Positive campaign ahead of the introduction of the new age discrimination regulations on October 1.
James Purnell, Minister for Pension Reform, said: “As announced in the Pensions White Paper, we are working with employers to remove compulsory retirement ages and adopt flexible approaches. We recognise that we have an ageing population, with many older people who want the choice to continue working rather than retire.
“The reports also give employers good advice on how to comply with the Age Regulations. We are working closely across the sectors to ensure that businesses have all the information they need to make the necessary adjustments.”
