- guardian.co.uk, Sunday May 12 2002 01.18 BST
Proposals to be put before the Government at a summit of European Ministers and the United Nations in Berlin in the autumn will say retirement ages should be scrapped across the Continent.
It will be the first time in nearly a century that an automatic ceiling to the length of time people work will be removed. A retirement age, originally of 70 but later reduced to 65, was introduced in Britain under the 1908 Pensions Act, when average life expectancy was around 50.
A draft of the agreement seen by The Observer makes it clear that compulsory retirement ages are increasingly unsustainable as people live longer and the state pension falls behind average earnings.
The agreement is part of an 'Action on Ageing' drive to extend equality across Europe.
Supporters of scrapping the mandatory retirement age, which is enforced by thousands of employers, say it discriminates against older people who want to carry on working.
If passed, it will open the labour market to hundreds of thousands more people. The Confederation of British Industry has said it is against changes in the law that will reduce employers' ability to 'refresh' staff numbers.
The draft says all countries should 'reinforce efforts to increase opportunities for a continued presence of older people in the labour market, e.g. through flexible and gradual retirement programmes in order to progressively increase the average age of effective retirement'.
It says people should not be 'encouraged to take up early retirement' or be penalised for staying in the labour market beyond 65. It sees 'gradual retirement' as a better option to an automatic date.
The document is being considered by the Department of Work and Pensions. Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State, has already ordered a review of retirement ages and has agreed that men and women should be allowed to retire at the same age of 65, effectively increasing the age at which women retire by five years. Darling will consult on further changes to the retirement age in the autumn.
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, which supports scrapping retirement ages, said it was time to 'revolutionise' the country's attitude to old-age working.
'There is no point being constrained by old-fashioned notions of fixed retirement ages,' he said. 'There are critical vacancies in key industries and fewer people entering the labour market.
'A significant number of older workers want to continue working past mandatory retirement ages imposed by employers.
'With a falling birth rate and increasing life expectancy, society must be able to offer its population greater choice and flexibility about when they stop work and more opportunity to provide a decent income for their later life.'
Last week, new figures revealed that life expectancy was increasing rapidly throughout the West. In 1901, male life expectancy in Britain was 48. It was up to 75 by 2000. For women it rose from 49 to 80.
The report, in the journal Science, said that by 2007, average female life expectancy in the United States could be 101, far exceeding official estimates of 84 years.
The research said a baby girl born this year in France or Japan, the two countries with the highest life expectancy, had a 50/50 chance of living until 100.
Britain has one of the lowest participation rates of older people in the labour market in the industrialised world. Only 5.2 per cent of over-65s are in paid employment, compared with 12.4 per cent in the US, 10.2 per cent in Sweden and 22.1 per cent in Japan.
