MORE than 100,000 people were forced out of their jobs last year because they reached state pension age, it was claimed yesterday.
The figure emerged from a survey of almost 1,000 people aged between 60 and 70, suggesting that employers were using forced retirement as a “cheap alternative” to redundancy.
Latest figures show a record 1.4 million workers have reached the state pension age: 60 for women and 65 for men. Companies currently do not have to retain staff who want to carrying on working.
Michelle Mitchell, of Age Concern and Help the Aged, which conducted the survey, said: “The use of forced retirement has spiralled out of control. The default retirement age has stamped an expiry date on hundreds of thousands of older workers.”
Dot Gibson, of the National Pensioners’ Convention, said: “The majority of older workers need to carry on working because their pension is just not enough to live on.” Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman has said the Government wants to give people the legal right to work on and has announced a review of the retirement age.
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