The CBI is calling on the Government to reassure employers who are worried about the changes which outlaw staff being forced into retirement at 65 from April 6. Employers must be able to ask their staff when they plan to retire as part of routine succession planning without the threat of being accused of ageism,…

A senior Catholic police officer is to take a case against the PSNI alleging religious and age discrimination. Superintendent Gerry Murray’s case is listed to go before a fair employment tribunal next month. He decided to take the case after he failed to get a job in the Professional Standards department two years ago. The…

While Miriam O’Reilly successfully sued the BBC for ageism after she was replaced by a younger woman on Countryfile, her colleague Juliet Morris, who lost her job at the same time, says she has “no beef” with the corporation. “I’ve never felt discriminated against,” Morris tells Mandrake at the launch of Get Me a Celebrity! by…

Mr Walsh worked in a leisure centre for Tewkesbury Borough Council (“the Council”). If Mr Walsh’s employment continued beyond December 2009 (when he would be 50 years old), he was to become entitled to take early retirement with an annual pension of £11,456.56 and a lump sum of £31,095.02. If his employment terminated before this…

For Linda Sturdy, the news is only just starting to sink in. Last year, a tribunal upheld her claims of age discrimination against the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and just 24 hours ago the final piece of a complicated jigsaw fell in to place when the case was closed and Linda was awarded a…

The Deputy Prime Minister yesterday launched a flagship “youth contract” programme to help 18 to 24 year-olds into work, as he said unemployment is having a “scarring effect” on young people. Under the scheme, the taxpayer will give companies such as Morrisons and Barclays more than £2,200 for every new young person they employ. However,…

The state pension age for men is to be raised to 66 as early as 2016, and the government is to consider bringing forward a rise to age 68 to “be fair to the next generation of taxpayers”. The move would represent a eight-year cut in the time frame for raising the state pension age:…

Proposed changes to pensions and retirement rules will make it more difficult for smaller firms to create jobs, according to a trade body. The Forum of Private Business claims the UK government’s decision forcing companies to provide pensions for employees and force them to work longer before retirement will deal a double blow to smaller…

A 64-year-old ground worker is seeking compensation for age discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal after complaining a Kidderminster building and civil engineering firm wanted to “get rid of him” by stopping his transport to work. R O Donaghey Building and Civil Engineering Co Ltd, of Oldington Trading Estate, Kidderminster, opposed the compensation claims at Birmingham…

The life expectancy gap between rich and poor people in England is widening, despite years of government and NHS action, a hard-hitting National Audit Office report reveals today. Extensive efforts have failed to reduce the wide differential, which can still be 10 years or more depending on socio-economic background, says the public spending watchdog. While…