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Despite the recent decision by the European Court of Justice to refer the Heyday legal challenge to the default retirement age (DRA) back to the High Court, many commentators believe it is just a matter of time before the DRA is scrapped.
That is also the opinion of the dedicated and passionate age campaigner Baroness Sally Greengross. She, perhaps more than any other person in the political arena, is best placed to talk about the twin issues of age and the workplace.
Before entering the Lords in 2000 as an independent peer she had been director-general of Age Concern for 13 years. She helped establish groups including Action on Elder Abuse and the Employers Forum on Age, and is currently chief executive of the International Longevity Centre, a charity that examines the implications of demographic change.
Greengross, well into her 70s and as active as ever, firmly believes the DRA - which allows employers to retire someone at the age of 65 - is a blot on the equalities landscape.
"Age is the most unreliable indicator of someone's capacity or potential to do a job," she told Personnel Today.
"Some people can be past their prime at 35 others are innovative and competent when they are at an advanced age. It's unfair, unreliable and damaging to judge people on their birthdays."
She stopped short of branding the UK 'institutionally ageist', but said attitudes in the workplace, and in wider society, must change.
"I'm old enough to remember when the law was changed on race and the horrid notices outside flats saying 'no blacks'," she said. "The minute the law changed people stopped doing that, but it didn't change their racist attitudes straight away. There is always a time lag between legislation and culture change."
And she insisted that employer groups like the CBI, which has argued strongly for the government to retain the DRA, have got it wrong.
"I accept there are difficulties [in not keeping the retirement age], and that it's not easy for organisations to adapt. But the DRA is an excuse for lazy management the amateur approach is letting someone coast towards retirement and then letting them go," she said. "It's an out-of-date approach in today's world. There ne
