UK retirement age found not to breach EU rules

The UK’s default retirement age of 65 does not breach EU rules, the European Court of Justice ruled today, defeating campaigns for an end to the ‘ageist rules’ faced by millions of older workers.

Campaigners for the government to change its stance on the default retirement age claim the culture of early retirement is becoming increasingly problematic given the recession and people’s increasing longevity.

The case will now return to the High Court, raising concerns that any government reversal would take too long as the government has already agreed to review the default retirement age in 2011.

Charity Age Concern accused the government of double standards as it scrapped mandatory retirement ages for civil servants in October‚ but failed to do the same for other UK employees. It says that one in eight MPs would be out of a job immediately if they were subjected to the same rules, including 66 year old housing minister Margaret Beckett and shadow business secretary Kenneth Clarke‚ who is 68.

Commenting on today’s decision, Catharine Pusey, director of the Employers Forum on Age, was not surprised by the decision. ‘This further proves that both the ECJ and Government regulations are completely behind the times.

‘Many employers are expecting the number of requests to work beyond 65 to keep rising.  In an ageing society and as recession begins to bite, we can no longer afford a culture of early retirement.  

The judicial review against the national default retirement age was brought by the National Council on Ageing‚ a charity which operates under the name Age Concern. It argues that the UK Government has improperly implemented the EU directive upon which the Age Regulations were based‚ both by allowing forced retirement and by giving employers too much scope for age-based rules in the workplace.