The UK government has announced that in 2006 firms will no longer be able to impose arbitrary retirement ages. The new law follows European age discrimination rules, which includes a default retirement age of 65 but allows workers to request permission to work beyond the statutory retirement age. Business leaders opposed the plan citing cost and administrative concerns.
See "Ban on forced retirement under 65. Employers will no longer be able to force workers to retire before 65, unless they can justify it.", BBC News Online, December 13, 2004