In today’s climate many individuals are having to re-think their retirement plans, as their current nest egg may not be enough to see them through in the life that they have become accustomed. This will mean that many will have to work longer than they had originally planned. However, the big question is will they be allowed to?

It was the charities Age Concern and Help the Aged who took up the fight to allow workers to continue on after the mandatory retirement age on the grounds that the current position breaches the EU’s Equal Treatment at Work Directive. They suggested that employers had too much control over this issue which they felt justified a direct form of discrimination based on age.

After a three-year court case, the latest outcome of the high court hearing was that employers would still be allowed to force their workers into retirement once they hit 65. The judge effectively turned down campaigners’ battle to scrap the retirement age. This will certainly hit elderly workers hard who are banking on being able to maintain their employment after the age of 65. However, one saving grace was the judge’s comment that his decision may have been different had the government not recently announced the commencement of a review on the current retirement age.

The ruling puts the power to adopt a retirement age in the organisations hands and not  the individual. Public sector and private companies will be able to set an age where employees must retire, which does not necessarily have to be 65. It is thought many employers stick to the current retirement age of 65, which impacts around 25,000 employees annually across the UK.

So, in the current scenario you may be able and willing to work, but your employer may not let you.