Liz Lynne hails victory in campaign to scrap compulsory retirement age

2.31.22pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 24th Jun 2010

Liz Lynne has long campaigned with charities and others against mandatory retirement ages.(from left) Alvaro Oliveira, Legal and policy officer for the antidiscrimintaion unit of the Commission, Liz, and Richard Baker, Chair of the AGE antidiscrimination group

Treasury documents released with the Budget confirm that the Coalition Government is to scrap the compulsory retirement age, a change long championed by MEP Liz Lynne and Age UK charity campaigners.

The Daily Telegraph reports today that the Chancellor George Osborne will move 'quickly' to phase out the Default Retirement Age, preventing staff from being sacked just because they reach a certain age while still capable of doing a job.

Liberal Democrat Euro MP Liz Lynne has campaigned with charities such as Help the Aged for many years on the issue, both in Westminster and in the European Parliament.

Speaking from Brussels today, the West Midlands MEP said: "I am delighted the campaign has succeeded at last. This rule is a ridiculous piece of discrimination against older people that successive governments did nothing about. This is another plus for the Coalition, where party dogma has been set aside so issues can be looked at afresh.

"Abolition will end the sudden cliff edge of retirement that forces people to stop working at a certain age whether they want to or not, while maintaining an age at which people can receive a pension.

"As the Telegraph reports, it is economic madness to force experienced workers to retire before their time and stop paying taxes. It is also totally unfair to get rid of staff just because they are 65 or 66.

"The key is that the pension age will still be set by individual governments, but people will have flexibility on whether they want to keep working. The test for those who want to carry on working will be whether they are capable of doing their job, not how old they are."

Liz Lynne has campaigned against compulsory retirement ages in the UK and European Parliament for many years, most recently co-sponsoring a European Parliament Declaration on the issue.

She added: "It makes sense to move quickly when there are so many pressures on the budget and on pensions. It seems the Chancellor has realised the economic value of encouraging the option of part time working, which people might choose to do for a few years in the run up to full retirement.

"Labour's approach to this issue was very different. In the so-called Heyday case when Age Concern and Help the Aged sought judicial review, backed by the European Commission, Labour ministers fought tooth and nail to keep the rule in the High Court, even when the issue was reconsidered last July.

"Labour were reactionary while the Coalition is being progressive."

ENDS

Note: Liz Lynne MEP was Shadow Rapporteur for the 2000 Employment Directive which outlawed discrimination on grounds of age in employment.