Earier this week, I was interviewed on the BBC Three Counties Radio’s Morning: MK show about the impact of the Government’s confirmation that the default retirement age of 65 will be scrapped from October 2011. During the interview we discussed the likely uncertainty in the near term for employers who wish to retain their own standard retirement ages as to whether (and how) they will be able to objectively justify that requirement. I explained the need for employers to have a genuine business need for a standard retirement age. I also explained that businesses wil need to have properly considered the impact of a standard age on their employees, thought about alternative ways to meet their business needs and balanced the benefits to their business agains any detriment to employees. We also discussed the potential ramifications for businesses if they have no default retirement age.
This was my third interview on Morning:MK, having previously spoken to them about absenteeism during the last Football World Cup and the fact that there is no statutory right to paid time off during next year’s Royal Wedding. This week they let me pick the next song to be played in their daily “guilty pleasures” slot. I had to pick my guilty pleasure from the 1993 chart and went for “Two Princes” by The Spin Doctors.