For the employer, it maintains the wealth of experience that staff who reach that age have. It also enables their skills to be retained for longer. It can also provide continuity within the organisation, that history and narrative can be very important in understanding an organisation and why past decisions were made.
For the employee, it provides an alternative to that somewhat artificial arbitrary moment in time when work needs to cease. In our Trust many staff have been afforded the opportunity to work part time or perhaps in a less pressurised role. Staff have welcomed these opportunities; the continued social contacts, the opportunity for continued financial benefit and the structure and value that work affords.
However with youth unemployment at 1 in 5 of people between 16 and 25, it does seem concerning that young people are embarking on their working lives with gloomy prospects of securing employment. The change in the default retirement age clearly exacerbates this and reduces the opportunities that are available to the young people. Not only does it affect them directly, our service users also miss out. Many of our older people enjoy their contact with younger people. They bring something different, energetic and fresh. But also they are the staff of the future. We need to encourage the very best of them to make a career of social care. Thus the implementation of this new policy will create a challenge to organisations like ours.
Hilary Rowland
Chief Executive
A service user celebrated 100 years of age
