Ditching retirement age moves step closer

Plans to scrap the retirement age moved a step closer today.

Work and Pensions Secretary Alan Johnson has admitted the Government is considering whether to "sweep retirement ages away entirely".

He believes a system under which workers automatically give up their jobs in their sixties is "outmoded". His comments raise the spectre of employees being forced to

work "until they drop". Any

move to scrap the mandatory retirement age of 65 could shatter the plans of millions.

However, ensuring more staff stay on into their late sixties and seventies would save the Government billions of pounds a year and help resolve the pensions crisis. Mr Johnson made the comments at an Age Concern conference in London.