Green Paper: In 2003, the British Secretary of State for Work and Pensions issued a Green Paper^I, which is essentially the government’s strategic approach to the related issues of an aging population, mature-age employment and pensions.

The Work-life Balance Program: offers financial support to employers who adopt flexible working patterns.

Age Positive Campaign ^II: Launched in 1999 by the government, this social marketing campaign aimed to tackle age discrimination and raise awareness of the benefits of age- positive practices, especially among recruitment professionals and human resources personnel, through the use of media award schemes and intensive media relations.

New Deal 50 Plus^III: Introduced in 2000, this program provides practical assistance and support to unemployed older workers who have been claiming benefits for at least six months. Personal advisers counsel on help with job search skills, costs for traveling to interviews and work-based learning. The program also makes available training grants, employment credits that can be applied to setting up a business and a credit paid to employers (as an addition to a person’s wage) when a mature worker is hired on a full- or part-time basis.

Evaluation: The European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, among others, consider New Deal 50 Plus a success regarding sustainability of employment. But a significant minority of clients felt demeaned by low pay and unskilled work. Other findings: ^IV

• The employment credit is viewed as the most attractive feature of the program.
• The training grants were regarded as ineffective and difficult to understand.
• The average age of clients was clustered at the lower end of the eligibility scale (55).
• Clients took lower paying jobs than they would otherwise have because of the employment credit.
• Clients with long periods of employment had less success with the program.
• There were more men than women in the program, but the success rate was higher for women.
• In total, in the period April 2000–October 2002, over 86,000 people aged 50 and over returned to work and claimed the credit.
• A working tax credit was introduced in 2003 to replace the employment credit.

JobCentre Plus is a government website where older workers can access the programs available under New Deal 50 Plus and employers can connect with older workers. (It also details programs for other groups of workers as well.)

Code of Practice on Age Diversity ^V: The government implemented a Code of Practice in 1999 which sets the standards for non-ageist approaches to recruitment, training and development, promotion, redundancy, and retirement.

Evaluation: Though the Code has apparently had less impact than originally anticipated, the proportion of employers using age as an employment criterion has fallen significantly, from 27% to 13%. ^VI

Employment Equality Age regulations implemented in 2006:

• Ban age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training
• Ban unjustified retirement ages of below 65
• Remove the current age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, giving older workers the same rights to claim unfair dismissal or receive a redundancy payment as younger workers, unless there is a genuine retirement;
• Introduce a right for employees to request working beyond retirement age and a duty on employers to consider that request.
• Require employers to give at least six months notice to employees about their intended retirement date so that individuals can plan better for retirement, and be confident that "retirement" is not being used as cover for unfair dismissal
• Allow pay and non-pay benefits to continue which depend on length of service requirements of five years or less or which recognize and reward loyalty and experience and motivate staff
• Remove the age limits for statutory sick, maternity, paternity and adoption pay so that the legislation for all four statutory payments applies in exactly the same way to all
• Remove the lower and upper age limits in the statutory redundancy scheme, but leave the current age-banded system in place and provide exemptions for many age-based rules in occupational pension schemes ^VII.

Directgov Over 50s Web Portal ^VIII houses material targeting the over-50s. It aims to provide comprehensive information and guidance on a range of topics relevant to the diverse needs of the 50-plus, such as choices about staying longer in employment, career development, work and flexible retirement options, developing new skills, saving for retirement, staying fit and healthy, options about continuing to work after state retirement age, employment rights, deferral of pension, information about private and occupational pensions, options for taking up work to boost retirement income and the benefits of improving skills and lifelong learning.

The National Employer Training Program is a government program directed to the needs of older workers. Employer Training pilots, which tested the effectiveness of free or subsidized training to employees, wage compensation to their employers and access to information and advice, appear to have benefited older people significantly. ^IX

Further Proposed Action in the UK

• Pension credits: In the period 2010–2020 pension ages for women and men will be equalized and job search support will be made available. The age for full pension entitlement for women will rise to equal that for men, and both will then rise from 65 over the next decade to 68 by 2046. ^X
• Pension bonuses to encourage people to defer taking their state pension are proposed (note that the Green Paper rejects the suggestion that the pensionable age should be raised).
• Flexible Retirement: Changes are proposed to the occupational pension and superannuation rules to encourage flexible retirement.

• UK Government, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Simplicity, Security and Choice: Working and Saving for Retirement: Action on Occupational Pensions, 2003.
• See the AgePositive website at www.agepositive.gov.uk.
• Details at the AgePositive website at www.agepositive.gov.uk/newdeal/index.asp.
• European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EFILW), Employment and Labour Market Policies for an Aging Workforce and Initiatives in the Workplace, “National Overview Report: Great Britain, Part I and II,” 2007.
• OECD, Aging and Employment Policies/Veillissement et politiques de l’ emploi: Canada, OECD Publishing, 2005.
• Encel, S. Age Can Work: The Case for Older Australians in the Workforce, University of New South Wales, April 2003.
• Age Positive website. Ibid.
• At http://www.direct.gov.uk/Over50s/fs/en.
• EFILW, Great Britain. Ibid.
• Towers Perrin, AARP Profit from Experience: Perspectives on Employers, Workers and Policymakers in the G8 Countries on the New Demographic Realities, September 2007.