Old win political clout as Britain tackles ageism

LONDON, Oct 31: At the age of 73, Charlie Maden is happy to keep working as a ''lollipop man'', stopping cars to allow children to cross the road safely to their school in Scotland, ''until I go to my box!'' ''I want to work as long as I can. I feel capable of doing it and my wife is pleased too -- it gets me out of the house,'' said the Scot who retired aged 65 as a water board engineer but was bored cooling his heels at home.

''I think if you are keen and employers know your ability, then they should let you work on,'' he said. ''A lot of supermarkets like to take older people on as they can depend on them.'' People like Maden should have more opportunities to work since Britain introduced new laws on age discrimination which have been hailed as the biggest shake-up in UK employment law for 30 years.

From October 1, it became illegal for bosses to discriminate on the basis of age for recruitment, promotion or training.

It is now illegal to force people to retire below the age of 65 and staff will have the right to ask to work beyond the normal retirement age of 65.

Employers fear the legislation will tie them up in extra red tape and lawyers have warned of the danger of expensive law suits. But charities who have been campaigning for decades believe the mindset is finally changing -- pensioners now have political clout.

In many industrialised countries, populations are ageing, and people are living longer -- demographic shifts that pose global social and economic challenges.

''Discrimination against you just because you are older has no place in a modern society,'' said Britain's Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling, introducing the new legislation IN September. ''Ignoring a whole generation makes no sense.''

LIVING LONGER, WORKING LONGER

Andrew Harrop, policy manager for the pressure group Age Concern, estimated one million people over the state pension age were now working in Britain -- mostly because they wanted to.

But there are still another one million people over the age of 50 who are out of a job and wish to get back to work.

''Attitudes to ageing are beginning to shift but it is pretty slow,'' he said.

Life expectancy has risen sharply in Britain. On average a man aged 65 could expect to live for another 12 years in 1950.

This is expected to rise to another 21.7 years by the middle of the century, according to government figures. Life expectancy is higher for women but is increasing at a slower pace.

The question of how to manage an ageing society has become deeply political.

''Politicians are very aware of the grey vote. There are now 20 million people over the age of 50 and they are more likely to vote than young adults,'' Harrop said. ''By the year 2020 we expect to have one third of the work force over the age of 50.'' That compares well to southern Europe, France and Germany but badly to the United States, he said.

''The United States have had discrimination laws since the 1960s and on average people retire a couple of years later.'' A survey in September found the number of older Americans in the workforce hit a record high in August, with working Americans aged 55 or over numbering 24.6 million -- a jump of more than one million full- or part-time older workers from a year earlier. One of the biggest increases was workers over age 65.

GETTING A JOB

But how in practice will the new British laws help older workers who want to stay on the job? Darling said a deep-sea diving company could refuse to employ an 80-year-old man because he was unsuitable for the rigours of the job. But a clothes store targeting young shoppers could not refuse to a hire a 50-year-old shop assistant because it felt he had the wrong age profile.

Despite such explanations, surveys show the new laws contain legal grey areas which confuse many bosses.

''The recruitment process could become a breeding ground for potential claims,'' said Audrey Williams, an employment law specialist at the law firm Eversheds.

Its survey showed four out of 10 managers fear their existing procedures might break the new rules.

One sector that could potentially face a wave of lawsuits is the investment banking industry.

The City of London's ruthless hire-and-fire culture and its punishing work schedules have long been seen as favouring younger workers.

Before the new law came in, any unfair dismissal claim had a compensation cap of 58,400 pounds (0,000) but now, as with sex and race discrimination claims, there is no limit.

Employers will also have to cut down on ''ageist'' banter in the workplace as they already do with racist and homophobic comments. So no more cries of ''dinosaur'' and ''You can't teach an old dog new tricks'' round the water cooler.

But it is not just a question of being nice to the golden oldies. Working longer has become an economic necessity.

Like many European countries, Britain faces a pensions time bomb -- as people live longer, birth rates fall and populations age, fewer people are working to support an increasing number of pensioners.

Concerns about meagre savings have prompted the government to propose sweeping legislation, including automatically enrolling staff into a national savings system and raising the age people can collect a state pension.

With company pensions falling into the red, some firms have shut down retirement plans to new staff and cut existing benefits.

''We are all going to live longer and, to maintain economic prosperity and save for our own retirement, people need to work longer,'' said Harrop.

REUTERS