The Government has announced plans to do away with the fixed retirement age at 65 from October next year, according plans unveiled today by ministers.

The Chancellor had announced in the buget that the retirement age would be phased out from April 2011.  According to the consultation document, the Government proposes a six month transitional phase to help employers and employees before October.

Currently, employers can force any employee to retire who has reached the age of 65 irrespective of their personal circumstances. However, the soaring health and benefits budget along with longer life expectancy, the Government wants people to stay active and be in the work force as long as possible. The Government also proposes to simplify administrative procedures by also scrapping the "right to request" working beyond 65 and the employer's obligation to provide six months notice of retirement.

With more and more people wanting to extend their working lives we should not stop them just because they have reached a particular age," said the Minister for Employment Relations, Edward Davey.

"We want to give individuals greater choice and are moving swiftly to end discrimination of this kind."

The Trade Union Congress has welcomed the government's proposals but has cautioned that older people must be given real choice including flexible working and a phased retirement process.  The TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said "‘Not everyone wants to work longer and may not be fit enough to continue. Today’s move should be about choice, not an expectation that people will work longer so don’t need decent pensions.’

The CBI has raised some concerns about the complexities of the transitional phase which could create uncertainty among both employers and employees.

‘Our research has shown that many employees wish to work past retirement for differing reasons and many employers are already benefiting from allowing such flexibility,’ argued Dinah Worman, from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development,

"It is a massive win for hundreds of thousand of employees who are at risk of being forced out of their jobs," a spokesperson from Charity Age UK said today.

The proposal were a part of both the Conservative as well as the Liberal Democrat manifestos before the general election.