Hire one million more older workers, Government tsar urges firms

British companies will today be urged by a Government tsar to employ an extra one million older staff by 2022 to help tackle the growing skills gap and age bias in the country’s workforce.

Andy Briggs, a senior Aviva executive who was appointed the Government’s business champion for older workers last October, will call on every firm to lift by 12pc the number of staff aged between 50 and 69 that they employ over the next five years.

Such a move will boost the number of older workers in the UK from 9m to 10m, the respected insurance industry veteran will say.

Life expectancies in Britain are rising and the retirement age is being steadily pushed higher to avert a looming healthcare crisis and pensions crunch.

By 2028, the retirement age for men and women will have risen to 67 and by the middle of the 2030s it is forecast that people aged 50 or older will account for over half of the country’s adults.

However, despite the prospect of an ageing population there is an “age bias” at many companies, according to Mr Briggs, who is the chief executive of Aviva UK Life.

“Older people can be written off by their employers, but we are asking employers to consider carefully the overwhelming benefits of having a diverse and representative workforce, and then act on it,” he said.

“We live in an ageing society so it is critical that people are able to work for as long as they need and want to.”

It comes after the Department for Work and Pensions last week launched its so-called “Fuller Working Lives” strategy to encourage people to extend their careers and put off retirement.

Changing the composition of the workforce will help to solve the yawning skills gap the country faces.

In five year’s time there will be an extra 14.5m jobs in the UK but there will only be 7m more new, younger workers. Keeping older people in the workforce will help make up the difference, Mr Briggs will say.

It would also bolster the economy. UK gross domestic product would swell by over 5pc, or about £88bn, if companies succeeded in lifting the employment rate of those aged between 50 and 64 so it equalled the rate among 35 to 49-year-olds.

“I want to see more employers supporting older workers and taking full advantage of the benefits they bring to their business,” said Damian Hinds, the employment minister. “Older workers can bring decades of valuable knowledge and experience to the workplace.

“There are now more older people in employment than ever before which is great news, but we must keep up this momentum as our population ages.”