Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Equality, diversity and inclusionAge discriminationRetirement

Default retirement age should be scrapped in Equality Bill say HR chiefs

by Personnel Today 25 Jan 2010
by Personnel Today 25 Jan 2010

HR directors have backed calls for forced retirement at 65 to be scrapped using the Equality Bill on the condition that employers receive at least one year’s notice of the abolition.


With the government intent on getting the Equality Bill onto the statute books before the general election, HR professionals called for the removal of the Default Retirement Age (DRA) to be written into the legislation, but for the effect of this amendment to be delayed to enable employers to adjust their policies and workforce planning.


An Equality Bill amendment pushing for the new legislation to spell an end to the DRA is due to be debated in the House of Lords today.


Susan Campbell, head of HR and development at utility company Business Stream, told Personnel Today employers would need at least a year to prepare for the scrapping of the DRA.


She said: “I don’t think for a lot of companies it will be enough time to implement the changes if it came in in October. It should be a delayed scrapping through the Equality Bill – it should be delayed for at least a year.”


She added the Equality Bill was the right way to dispose of the retirement regulation because it was the government’s intention to use the Bill to compile all equality legislation in one place.


Colin Game, head of HR for line upgrades, projects and maintenance at London Underground, went further and said employers would need the Equality Bill amendment to delay implementation until 2012.


But one HR director of an NHS trust in the North West, who asked to remain anonymous, said the organisation was currently reliant on the DRA to cut staffing levels, but that they would support the delayed implementation of the amendment once the financial crisis had passed.


The HR director said: “Over the next few years we will have to cut back on staffing numbers because of budget issues. [The DRA] is a useful mechanism for us for the future.


“[Ending the DRA] could be in the Equality Bill but with a time delay for once we are through the financial crisis in five years’ time. It’s useful to us now.”


However, another public sector HR professional, who also wanted to remain anonymous, opposed the abolition of the DRA altogether, because of their organisation’s dependence on the regulation to cut jobs.


They said: “My organisation’s stance is we are looking to reduce staffing numbers so we have been using the DRA as a means to lose staff, so we wouldn’t welcome [the scrapping of the DRA].”


Meanwhile, the equality watchdog has called on the government to scrap forced retirement at 65 to create more employment opportunities for older workers.

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
CIPD warns recession impact on unemployment worse than suggested
next post
Workers could bring a lawyer to disciplinary hearings following ruling

You may also like

How to keep up with conflicting voices in...

9 Jun 2023

CIPD Festival of Work 2023: HR has major...

9 Jun 2023

Police Federation discriminated against officers bringing pension claim

8 Jun 2023

Female graduates’ starting salary lower than men’s

1 Jun 2023

Leaked emails suggest RAF disadvantaged white male applicants

31 May 2023

Hybrid working: Combatting loneliness and enabling inclusion

31 May 2023

Top five findings on DEI and how to...

31 May 2023

Whitehall accused of ‘racist bias’ in civil service...

30 May 2023

Carer’s Leave Bill receives Royal Assent

25 May 2023

Goldman Sachs to pay $215m sex discrimination settlement

10 May 2023

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+