Retirement age will be decided in Spain

8:50am Wednesday 28th February 2007

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SIR - Our law states that 65 is the age at which an employer tells someone to retire unless they, the employer, has agreed otherwise. Age Concern is mounting a legal challenge to this because it effectively means the continuation of ageism and is clearly against the presumed spirit of the law which is based on equal treatment.

Whether one is in favour of Age Concern's challenge, I would have expected such an issue to be decided upon by our High Court but, of course, that is no longer possible since there is an EU Equal Treatment Directive so the case has been referred to the European Court of Justice.

Not only can we not make our own decisions but it does seem that Age Concern's case will be defeated because the court's lawyer has concluded this week that in a similar case concerning Spanish workers the employer had the power to fix the retirement age at 65 whether the worker likes it or not.

To sum up, our courts won't hear the case and whether we citizens of the UK can work after 65 is likely to be influenced significantly by Spanish labour practices.

Mark Starr, Leigh Sinton