Forties People

Efforts to enable people aged 50-plus to stay in their jobs for as long as they want to have been backed by a charity.

The Equality Bill, which contains measures to clamp down on discrimination in the workplace, is currently being scrutinised in the House of Lords.

Speaking to Personnel Today, Liberal Democrat peer Lord Lester revealed he has proposed one significant amendment - scrapping the default retirement age.

Charity group Age UK has hailed this development, as it believes the policy is fundamentally discriminatory.

Head of public policy Andrew Harrop said he believes the government missed the opportunity to reverse the rule when it drew up the initial Equality Bill.

He commented: "We hope any amendment will be supported by the Lords and increase pressure on the government to allow people to carry on working as long as they want to or need to."

The Federation of Small Businesses recently said it is opposed to the existence of a default retirement age.