§ Mr. WrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what discussions he has had with interested groups on plans to make the retirement age for men and women equal. [87364]
§ Mr. McCartneyThe UK has a fixed age for eligibility to State Pension (currently 60 for women and 65 for men, although to be equalised at 65 for both sexes as from 2020). We do not have a national mandatory retirement age. Sex discrimination legislation prohibits employers from setting different retirement ages for men and women.
A variety of representations have been received from a range of organisations and individuals about the equalisation of State Pension Age, the bulk of which would have been dealt with at the time of the previous administration. A discussion document "Options for Equality in State Pension Age" was published in December 1991. A White Paper "Equality in State Pension Age" followed in December 1993.
Plans to equalise the State Pension age progressively over the period 2010 to 2020, were enacted by the 1995 Pensions Act.
We are also committed to implementing the age strand of the European Employment Directive by 2006, when domestic legislation will come into force outlawing age discrimination in employment and training. Under the Directive, employers' compulsory retirement ages are likely to be unlawful unless they are objectively justified.