Government calls for people to work longer falls on deaf ears for employers

At a time when the UK Government is calling on people to work longer in order to avoid a pensions time bomb, UK businesses are reluctant to employ older people.

A survey by Spring Personnel reveals that 63% of UK companies are not planning to actively recruit from the over 50 age group.

Calling on British industry to reconsider, Spring Group CEO, Richard Barfield, said: ìHow is the UK Government going to reach its goal of keeping people in employment until they are 70 when the majority of companies are not planning to employ people over 50? Unless employers can be persuaded of the benefits of using older people in the workforce then the pensions black hole of 57bn is going to get bigger.î

And he highlighted that EU legislation due to come into force in 2006 will make it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of age.

ìBusinesses might as well get used to the fact that very soon they will not be able to turn people down on the grounds of age. It is better that they wake up to this situation now rather than wait for expensive law suits as seen in the U.S,ì he warned.

Barfield also pointed out that employing older people could also help in industries facing a skills crisis. According to recent research 80% of people working in the IT industry are under 45. This is at a time when the number of under-25s entering the industry has halved since 1995.

ìUnless companies start realising what older people have to offer in terms of skills, experience, loyalty and mentoring and do their best to retain or recruit from the over 50s, then many industries like the IT sector will be facing a skills crisis,î said Barfield.