Schedule 9

Part of Equality Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 6:30 pm on 23 June 2009.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of David Drew David Drew Labour, Stroud 6:30, 23 June 2009

I unashamedly have taken the amendment on from my hon. Friend the Member for Gateshead, East and Washington, West (Mrs. Hodgson). I am firmly of the opinion that she entered the Government’s Whips Office as a result of her tabling the amendment, so I look forward to my own preferment in due course as a result of bravely treading where she has left off.

This is an important issue, and I hope not to delay the Committee for too long with a proper debate about the lovingly called national default retirement age. The amendment, which was tabled with the support of the Liberal Democrats, would remove the NDRA, and I will happily look at the implications of that. I recall a gentleman coming to see me at my constituency surgery around six years ago begging me to intervene in his case. He had achieved his ultimate ambition of getting a job with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at the age of 63. The job was that of an animal control officer, which is not necessarily my idea of a nice job, but it was what he wanted to do, and he wanted to continue to do it. At 63 years of age, he was told by his employers that he could expect a very short time in the job. He was upset because he had hoped that he could continue for some time, not least because it was the first job he had ever had that paid a pension. That says something of what life is like even in the 21st century. I managed to get an extension of his working life to 67 but in due course he was asked to retire. Even that short time ago, that seemed to be the norm. Amendment 184 tries to remove the notion of compulsory retirement and amendment 185 would require notice to be given to someone that they will be compulsorily retired at least six months before they are 65. I hope that the amendments might become irrelevant because of an ongoing court case. My hon. and learned Friend the Minister may be able to say some things about that.

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 ensured that people could not be discriminated against on the basis of their age in employment and occupation unless it could be objectively justified. Regulation 30 introduced the idea of a national default retirement age as an exception to the general rule of non-discrimination on grounds of age. That allows employers to operate a mandatory retirement age of 65 or over, allowing them to terminate the employment of a member of staff on the grounds of age. Employers can also refuse to recruit people over the age of 65, and that has been laid out in schedule 9 of the Bill. Before the law came into forces, a number of organisations, principally Age Concern, took a view. I declare an interest as a trustee of Stroud Age Concern. One has to play one’s cards close to one’s chest as we are not all that far away from the dreaded age of 65. I also think it is interesting that we can force our employees in the Houses to retire, when MPs do not face a similar prospect. Only the electorate can do that to them.