Somehow it hasn’t seemed like a week to blog about age and employment issues, with all the news about the Haiti earthquake and the terrible suffering of the Haitian people. The work of the international aid organisations and the Disasters Emergency Committee of UK charities, of which Age UK is a member, demands our support. 

At times like this one’s heart goes out to those tearing at the rubble of fallen buildings or carrying drips for those clinging to life. Not been born near an earthquake fault line was a lucky break here in the UK and a sad cast of the dice for the Haitians, and others who inhabit these slumbering dangers.

What is it that makes us think we could do any good though? Aid and disaster relief requires people who know what they are doing. Actually, there are some great charities out there that draw on experience and make it their job to get people to where they are needed when the call comes.

Red R is one of my favourites. They train engineers and people with practical skills (like logistics) so that they can not only apply their professional skills and experience but also know what they must do to look after themselves. One of the biggest dangers to aid workers apparently is traffic accidents. Amazing isn’t it?

Volunteering in one’s later years is now something many people think of. Some plan for it and hope that they can pack in some of the modern craze for back packing which their generation missed out on.

I know a couple, one an excellent teacher, the other a qualified engineer, both now in their 70s I would guess. They volunteered some years ago in their 60s but VSO would not take them as they were “too old.” All credit to them; they packed their bags and journeyed out to Vietnam where they found useful work independently.

Last time I spoke to them they had just returned from another stint, full of the inspiration and sense of worth that their experiences had provided. A great tribute to their own resilience and determination and one in the eye I guess for those who turned them down in the first instance.

A timely opportunity I guess for me to make the point that while the Age Regulations have provided rights against age discrimination to those in work or seeking work, they say nothing about volunteers or those who wish to do voluntary work. They should!

The Equality Bill has been going through the House of Lords this week and will continue in its journey next week too. It will consolidate most of the existing equality legislation and will provide some new rights relating to the provision of goods, facilities and services.  But it says nothing about the rights of volunteers.

Nor does it address the issue of the default retirement age (DRA), even though Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, whose team is steering the Bill through Parliament, has come out in unambiguous support of its abolition.

We agreed with her, of course, but meanwhile we are working on our evidence for the review of the DRA.  The deadline for submission of evidence is 1 February. Organisations or individuals who have something to say about whether the DRA helps, should throw in their pennies worth without delay (Email your evidence to draevidence@bis.gov.uk).

Lord Lester has meanwhile put down amendment to the Bill which would repeal the DRA without more fuss and ado. We have prepared a briefing.

One thing which is so often overlooked, is that repealing the DRA would not put an end to employers having their own mandatory retirement ages, providing they can show they meet the necessary criteria for justification.

Of course, without a default retirement age, employers adopting mandatory retirement ages might sometimes be called on to defend it. But surely this would only happen once in any particular organisation and once the principle had been tested, the organisation and its employees would know where they were.

Most likely, a body of case law would quickly establish the circumstances, hopefully rare, in which mandatory retirement would be justified as a blanket provision. The outcome would probably be that most organisations would overcome their need for the aforementioned, as a security blanket.

Most older workers would have the right to decide when to retire and employment lawyers would be made to work harder, and doubtless earn a little more. “A price well worth paying,” as the Lord Chancellor Lord ‘Derry’ Irving commented some years ago, gazing on the handmade William Morris wall paper covering the walls of his refurbished apartments!