A combination of tradition and confusing legislation encourages firms to continue with a fixed retirement date, but older workers can still contribute to the workforce
Duncan Brown, director of HR business development, Institute for Employment Studies
Publication date:
19 January 2010
So, Labour's deputy leader Harriet Harman has broken ranks and admitted that the default retirement age (DRA) is "arbitrary" and would apparently be abolished by a future Labour government.
The messy legislative compromise that this government engineered (the complicated request-to-continue-working procedure) has served only to confuse employees and employers alike. It has also worked against what Harman referred to as the desirable scenario of "facilitating choice for all stakeholders" by allowing employers to continue to fire employees, irrespective of their ability and contribution, just because they reach their 65th birthday.
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