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Number of over 50s working or available to work will grow by one million by 2025 30 August 2018 The Women and Equalities Committee recently published a report concluding that the talents of more than a million people aged over 50 who are out of work but are willing to work, are being wasted because of discrimination, bias and outdated employment practices. Government policy The key Government policy on older workers is set out in its Fuller Working Lives strategy published in February 2017. The document was accompanied by an evidence base praised by witnesses to the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry as “an excellent addition to the sources of information available on this topic.” This strategy builds on the work undertaken by Baroness Ros Altmann’s review ‘A New Vision for Older Workers’, published in March 2015, and its recommendations for Government, business and individuals to: • Recruit; • Retain; and • Retrain’ older workers. The Inquiry The Women and Equalities Committee’s predecessor launched an inquiry into older people and employment in March 2017 however due to the General Election the inquiry was closed before the deadline for written evidence. The Committee in the new Parliament decided to reopen the inquiry. The inquiry asked whether the Government’s Fuller Working Lives strategy is sufficient, whether the approach taken by the Government is working and what more needs to be done. The Committee examined how questions of age diversity factor into the discussions on ‘quality’ of work being taken forward in the Taylor Review of modern working practices, and whether or not the Government’s approach addresses the different needs of women, carers, people with long-term health conditions and disabilities and black and minority ethnic (BME) groups among the older workforce. Fuller Working Lives is structured around these ‘3 Rs’, and a key feature is that it is “employer-led”.
Written evidence was received from a range of organisations and individuals and feedback was received from an outreach event from older jobseekers with an array of occupational backgrounds and family circumstances.
In brief, the evidence from the Committee shows that, for older workers, there are three key issues that need significant attention: • tackling age bias and discrimination, particularly in recruitment; • making workplaces and working practices more flexible and adaptable to the changing needs of older workers in all their diversity; and • access to skills development, career advice and support throughout people’s lives.
Central to each of these is a recognition that the traditional notion of a nine-to-five job within a linear career with distinct start and end points is no longer the norm.
Recommendations The Women and Equalities Committee made a large number of recommendations to government; the full details of which can be found in their ‘Older people and Employment’ report - to follow are just some of the key ones:
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