Michael Carty“The default retirement age should be abolished and public services and policies reshaped to promote extended working life.” This is according to John Sibson of consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). A new report from PwC argues that the UK’s “retirement schedule” must be “reset” (external website) to cope with the financial and demographic challenges posed by the UK’s ageing population.
There is currently widespread speculation as to whether the Government will scrap the default retirement age. In this context, IRS – part of the XpertHR group - is conducting its 2010 benchmarking survey of retirement procedures, to investigate issues around the default retirement age, and explore employer practice in this area.
The survey closes on Friday 5 March 2010. All organisations taking part in this confidential survey will receive a free copy of the research report when it is published. Full benchmarking data from the survey will be published via the new XpertHR benchmarking service (subscription required).
More from XpertHR on retirement:
- Retirement – the legal basics (subscription required)
- Retirement FAQs
- How to handle retirement dismissals (subscription required)
I think the statutory retirement should be lifted to 66, but do not think it should be completely scrapped. We need to think of the youngsters who are struggling to get a job even with degrees. In my experience an older workforce gets very stale and jaded.
Many thanks for your comment, Judith. It is possible that more clarity will be provided on what is to be done about the default retirement age when Chancellor George Osborne delivers his emergency Budget next Tuesday (22 June 2010). Any related developments will be covered in XpertHR’s live blog on the key points for HR of the emergency Budget 2010.