Katja Hall, Director of Employment Policy at the CBI, has called for the retention of a default retirement age (DRA), saying that businesses are exercised by misinformed calls to scrap a retirement age completely.

In an interview with Personnel Today, she said, in her experience of meeting businesses throughout the UK, that employers valued the skills and experiences of older members of the workforce but that people still wanted and needed to retire, whatever the retirement age.  Businesses still needed framework for retirement whenever it happened. That meant a conversation between employer and employees, and a hook to hang that discussion on.

She commented: “Ours is a very practical argument: the DRA is an essential part of employment practice, enabling businesses to plan and develop their workforces. In its absence, employers would find it increasingly difficult to make necessary changes.  Succession planning, staff development and business innovation would all become harder.

“And, though it might not be a popular thing to say, the reality is that some occupations are simply not suited to older workers.  A rise in competency-based dismissals, before and after 65, is an inevitable part of getting rid of the retirement age.”

She argued that the retirement age we have is not mandatory, but a default and said the current right to request to work on was working well.  Their latest surveys indicated that 81 per cent of request to work beyond 65 were granted with the vast majoirty of employers (71 per cent) offering full-time employment opportunities and a further 66 per cent making part-time work available. 

She added that arguments for retaining the DRA were often given a bad press. 

Hall called for a national debate about how people retire, as distinct from when they retire, and about what the correct legislative stucture should be to smooth this.