Charity blasts Whitehall retirement policies

Retirement policies within government departments show "a shocking level of hypocrisy", it has been claimed.

Research released by Age Concern on Tuesday revealed that civil servants could be forced to leave work before they want to, contrary to recent legislation aimed at outlawing ageism in the workplace.

In a series of parliamentary questions, Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock discovered that the majority of government departments have a compulsory retirement age of 65.

They included the Privy Council Office, Home Office, Cabinet Office, Treasury and departments of health, trade and industry (DTI), constitutional affairs, transport, international development and culture, media and sport.

Although some departments said they would consider requests to work beyond 65, Age Concern believes that is in fact a legal requirement.

The charity's director general Gordon Lishman said: "Ageism is wrong, and the government acknowledges it is wrong.

"Yet the government's own departments are forcing people over 65 to stop working.

"Not only is it unfair, it shows a shocking level of hypocrisy within the government in terms of its attitude to ageism.

"This prejudice means that people who want or need to work for whatever reason are denied that right."

A DTI spokesman said: "We use the age of 65 for business planning purposes but anyone who wants to work over the age of 65 has the right to request to work longer.

"It is not long since the regulations were introduced and so we have only had one request so far, which has been agreed.

"In 2008, the DTI as an employer will review whether it still needs this workforce planning assumption ahead of the government review of the policy on the default retirement age three years later."

Meanwhile, the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has published a report estimating that 6.5 million people could use their skills more fully if they were offered more flexible ways of working.

It also found that half of adults want to work flexibly, revealing a "massive" waste of talent which was undermining attempts to create a highly skilled workforce.

EOC chairman Jenny Watson said: "Work just isn't working for many people any longer. Far too many people burn out, trade down or drop out altogether.

"Failing to rethink the way we've traditionally organised work is a chronic waste of talent and investment in education, at a time when Britain needs to invest heavily in skills to maintain its competitiveness globally."