§ Lord Lester of Herne Hillasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to introduce legislation to replace compulsory retirement ages with more flexible arrangements; and, if not, why not. [HL4308]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury of Turville)The UK has no national mandatory retirement age. Like other terms and conditions of employment, when an employee retires is a matter for agreement between an individual and his or her employer, provided the employer does not discriminate unlawfully.
The Government are currently working on implementing the European Employment Directive (2000/78), which includes provisions to combat discrimination on the new grounds of age. These provisions must be implemented by December 2006 and it is too soon to say what the legislation on age will say. We have already undertaken widespread initial consultation in the consultation document Towards Equality and Diversity and we will be consulting on specific proposals on age in early 2003 in the light of the responses to that document.