Career path - Spotlight on... age.

(From Post Magazine)

Byline: Robert Charles is associate director of Joslin Rowe's insurance

There are around 19 million people aged 50 and over in the UK - a massive 40% of the adult population. By 2020, experts predict that the number of people who fall into the 50-plus age group will have increased by a further three million.

According to Age Positive, the advisory group set up by the Department for Work and Pensions, the employment rate of older people has risen faster than that of the working age population as a whole during the past seven years. More than six million people aged between 50 and state pension age are in employment - an employment rate of 69%. The employment rate for men aged 50-64 is 71% and for women aged 50-59 it is 66%.

The new age regulations will come into force on 1 October 2006 and will govern all aspects of the employment relationship, including initial recruitment, promotion, development and termination, as well as access to perks and pay. Importantly, the regulations will cover people of all ages, both old and young, although the biggest changes could occur within the older age ranges.

The upper-age limits for unfair dismissal and redundancy will be removed and a national default retirement age of 65 will be introduced, making compulsory retirement below 65 unlawful (unless objectively justified). This will be reviewed in 2011.

Finally, all employees will have the right to request to work beyond the default retirement age of 65 or any other retirement age set by the company. And all employers will have a duty to consider requests from employees to work beyond 65 - see www.agepositive.gov.uk for more information.