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Businesses struggle to adapt to new retirement legislation

Businesses in the UK are failing to adjust to new legislation for employees looking to work beyond 65, creating a culture of ageism in the workplace.

According to business support consultancy ELAS, older workers training needs are performance management is being neglected, while less than half of those over the age of 65 receive any sort of formal appraisal each year. More than half have had no training or guidance in the past three years.

Employment law expert, Peter Mooney from ELAS, said: “We are finding that most businesses are still expecting their employees to retire at the age of 65 and are treating them accordingly.

“Asking an employee about when they intend to retire or assuming that a member of staff over the age of 65 has no training ambitions or performance management needs are sure fire ways to end up in an employment tribunal accused of ageism.

“Businesses need to be more aware of what the new legislation means, and take proactive measures to ensure that all their staff are treated exactly the same - whether they are 18 or 80 years old.”

Since the default retirement age was abolished a year ago, employers have been unable to give notice of retirement to employees. However, many still do not understand the legislation and implications, so are leaving themselves open to accusations of ageism.

Many SMEs are unaware of the implications of the new working practices, and those providing healthcare benefits did not realise that the cost of providing these would probably soar for those aged over 65.

And 54 per cent said they would no longer honour those staff benefits if costs rose, leaving staff reaching 65 having to accept potentially worse pay and conditions in order to stay in work.

Mr Mooney added: “Most businesses we speak to are now aware that they cannot force staff to retire due to age alone, but it seems many aren’t expecting employees to stay on after the age of 65 and are treating them accordingly.

“Lazy management of older members of staff paves the way for discrimination claims if there is a dispute over capability.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .