Over 50 and the Labour Market

1. Over 50and theLabour Market

2. Over 50 and the Labour Market • People are living and keeping fit for longer: Most of today’s 65 year olds will live beyond 80 & some will live beyond 110! • Older workers are increasingly looking to extend their working lives, with 50% of workers aged 55+ planning to work beyond the state pension age! • The 50+ JSA claimant count was 194,000 in July 2014 and theproportion claiming for over 12 months was 41% (79,300)

3. Over 50 and the Labour Market • The current figure of 2.9 million workless aged 50 to state pension age could be 5.4 million in 20 years time! • Nearly half (46%) of those claiming IB/ESA are 50+ (approx 1.18m out of approx. 2.58m) • Over 7.94 million 50-64 year olds are in employment (68.5% of the 50-64 population) • The proportion of the 50+ who are ESA customers has increased from 35% in May 2012 to 43% in February 2014

4. Over 50 and the Labour Market Older claimants are a diverse group and there are multiple issues that need to be addressed: • Workplace Retention – Most people who stop work before state pension age do not do so through choice and this group are significantly less likely to be re-employed • People with health conditions and disabled people – around 1.1 million people aged 50 to state pension age are not working because of a health condition or disability. Older people in lower paid or physical jobs are at a higher risk of health related work exit • Carers– the likelihood of caring for a sick, disabled or elderly person increases significantly with age and can lead to early labour market exit • Financial security and incentives – finances are an important factor for people in deciding whether to leave the labour market • Back to work support – lack of confidence or motivation, inadequate or out of date skills or qualifications, not knowing how to search and apply for jobs and apprehension about job interviews all impact on older workers. A focus on skills and back to work support is crucial to mitigate this • External issues – age discrimination (direct & indirect), recession, changing job market and lack of employer flexibility

5. Work & Employers • Small medium-sized (SMEs) enterprises need to do more to adapt to a changing age diverse workforce! • The majority of small businesses surveyed (60%) have never recruited mature workers over the age of 65. This may explain why only 5% of workers in UK SMEs falls into the 65+ age bracket, despite the abolition of the default retirement age back in 2011! • Focusing specifically on mature employees, ⅓ of SMEs surveyed do not offer any support for the extension of working life whatsoever, while over ⅓ don’t have any health or wellbeing provisions in place. • Currently less than ⅓ of small businesses provide the option of flexible working to all their employees, only ¼ offer it to support childcare and only a fifth for the caring of elderly dependents – an issue which will be even more significant in the future! • Large employers are much more tuned into the needs of older workers; only a fifth surveyed in late 2013 said they did nothing to support the extension of working life.

6. Recruitment - Do’s & Don’ts • Do monitor the ages of applicants, short-listed candidates and successful recruits to identify and address any unintended age bias • Do consider offering apprenticeships and work experience opportunities to people of any age: younger and older • Do focus on the type of skills and experience needed to do the job!

7. Recruitment - Do’s & Don’ts • Do not specify numbers of years experience (unless this is a legislated occupational requirement) • Do not use language that could suggest age bias – ‘mature’ ‘young’ & ‘energetic’ • Do not specify qualifications as selection criteria where they’re not essential for the job. This could exclude older candidates who might have the right skills and experience but didn’t have the opportunity to take the qualifications specified • Do not specify or indicate an age group (unless this is a legislated occupational requirement) • Do not ask for date of birth in the main application, only in an equality monitoring section

8. Younger Vs. Older Workers • The employment of older workers should not be seen as a ‘younger versus older’ battle for jobs. Some people mistakenly believe that productive older workers should make way for younger workers and ‘free up the job market’ but the facts show this can create further problems for both the business and the wider labour market. • Employers report that removing older workers to make way for younger workers: can be damaging to productivity, can create dips in efficiency and outputs and can increase staff turnover costs. • Contrary to some reports, in practice, most older workers are only interested in working an extra year or two longer and most would prefer to phase their retirement rather than stop suddenly. • Research has found no positive effect on youth employment from measures which allow older workers to retire early in order to release jobs for younger workers.

9. What the Jobcentre can do to help • New Enterprise Allowance (NEA)has proved very popular with older claimants, with 7,500 new businesses started up by people aged 50+. • Sector Based Work Academy's can last up to six weeks and has three key components:Pre-employment training -relevant to the needs of your business and sector A work experience placement - of great benefit to both the individual and a business A guaranteed job interview

10. Good News from Skegness JCP • Flexible Support Fund (FSF) aims to give support, including training, to help you start or move towards finding work. It can also be used to cover costs for goods and services that include: travel to interviews, childcare, tools, clothing and uniforms to start work. • Job Clubs are run with local training providers and aim to help jobseekers with key skills such as job searching, creating CV’s and preparing for interviews. • Work Experience JCP offer internal and external work experience placements, for people of all ages and skill level.

11. Good news story A work coach was working with a claimant aged 59 who had been a psychology teacher. After recovering from mouth cancer she was unable to continue this work as a teacher, and was writing articles for psychology journals and trying to sell them. The work coach suggested that she could get some support from NEA provision, with mentoring and a start up loan. The claimant’s business plan was approved, and she is now taking her business forward through writing articles and getting these published, both in print and online.

12. Good News from Skegness JCP 60-year-old Norman had been claiming JSA for seven months, before claiming NEA to sign off and start his own business – a café in the food court at Fantasy Island, Skegness. At the 6 weekly review stage, Norman had employed 2 members of staff for 16 hours and taken on two casuals of school age. At the 11 week check Norman had increased staff to 3 workers doing 16 hours and 3 youngsters with a fourth to be interviewed that day. Alongside this he has been able to repay a loan from a relative of £2000.00 from the profits. Norman is pleased with his own progress and says even the complex owners dine at his café! He also believes 3 of his staff were previously unemployed and on JSA. Without the NEA boost and guidance he feels he would have not made that step into self employment.