Forties People

Forthcoming changes to employment legislation have reportedly led to a surge in the number of people retiring from their 50-plus jobs.

Research commissioned by risk management and reinsurance firm Aon Consulting revealed that there was a 22 per cent rise in the number of people retiring in January 2010, compared to September 2009.

It claimed that more people could be retiring from their 50-plus jobs as a result of the change in the minimum retirement age from 50 to 55, which comes into effect from April 6th 2010.

According to Colin Hamilton, the commercial director at Aon, this growth is likely to continue until the new employment legislation takes effect.

Consequently, he called on people in 50 plus jobs to familiarise themselves with the changes, especially "those aged between 50 and 54 who had been planning to retire this year".

Age Concern and Help the Aged recently called on politicians to end support for the default retirement age.

The charity said employers were using the legislation as a cheap and easy alternative to redundancy.

Posted by Daniel Frost