Employer regulations 'will end age discrimination'

Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:00 AM

People aged over 65 will get the same rights to unfair dismissal and redundancy payments as younger workers under new measures outlined by the trade and industry secretary today.

Alan Johnson said the draft regulations, currently open to consultation and due to come into force on October 1st 2006 if they are passed by parliament, would ban age discrimination in the workplace.

"Individuals should have the choice to carry on working if they want to. This is not about forcing people to work longer, it is about freedom to choose," he said.

"Equally, to thrive in a competitive market British business increasingly bases its employment and training decisions on talent not age. Employers know that they cannot afford to ignore the skills of any worker - young or old."

Employers would be obliged to consider an employee's request to continue working beyond retirement under the plans, and would have to give written notification to employees at least six months before their intended retirement date.

Mr Johnson insisted that the regulations would not affect the age at which people can claim their state pensions, but said they were "an important step forward" that gave individuals more rights while allowing businesses to operate productively and fairly.

However, shadow trade and industry secretary David Willetts said the plans were misleading as they only protected older people from forced retirement up to the age of 65, beyond which they were no better off than before.

Mr Johnson said the measures would remove the current upper age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, but Mr Willets dismissed this claim.

"[Today's announcement] implies that people aged over 65 will have the same rights on unfair dismissal as younger workers," he said.

"However, the announcement today makes quite clear that 'retirement will not constitute unfair dismissal if it is on or after 65', so older people can in fact be dismissed in a way younger people cannot."

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