DEFAULT RETIREMENT AGE SHOULD BE SCRAPPED SAYS FSB

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is supporting the Government’s proposal to bring forward the review on the default retirement age saying its members think that it should be scrapped.

New research by the FSB shows that 60 per cent of small businesses do not think the Government should set a default retirement age. However, the FSB is urging for a provision in the law to protect employers that need to retire staff because of ill health, threatening their levels of performance.

In a recent survey by the FSB, 60 per cent of respondents employed staff over 50 years old and a quarter employ staff who are over 65, showing that small firms are flexible employers.  Nearly 80 per cent of small firms responding said they do not use the default retirement age for their staff and 76 per cent believe that retirement should be based on a mutual decision between the employee and employer. Two thirds said they did not think the Government should set a default retirement age and 90 per cent of small businesses would consider an employee going into part time or flexible working, rather than retiring.

Ken Moon, Chairman of the Wessex Region of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Small businesses understand the valuable contribution and skills that older workers bring to the business and owners have no intention of putting in place a blanket policy to retire their staff at 65. What is imperative is that businesses need to be able to make decisions about their workforce without the threat of expensive tribunals from employees who are unable to work because of age-related issues. The ability to let someone go because of ill-health should be made sacrosanct for those employers.”

http://www.fsb.org.uk.

Tagged as: RETIREMENT AGE, The Federation of Small Businesses