Britain's default retirement age (DRA) will be scrapped by October next year if the government gets its way after it published proposals for consultation today.

If the plan becomes law, companies will no longer be able to force staff to retire just because they've turned 65. All they have to do at the moment is discuss options at least six months before their 65th birthday.

The idea, floated in June's Budget, is to phase out the DRA from April 2011. From then on, employers will not be able to issue any notifications for compulsory retirement using the DRA procedure.

"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 Employment Relations Minister Edward Davey. "We want to give individuals greater choice and are moving swiftly to end discrimination of this kind."

Pensions Minister Steve Webb also pointed out that by spending longer in the workforce, employees can also have a better pension in old age.

The proposal won't affect everyone though. Individual employers who can objectively justify it may still be able to operate a compulsory retirement age; air traffic controllers and police officers, for instance.

Age campaigners welcomed the news. The Employers Forum on Age (EFA) called it "an incredible leap forward".

But business body, the CBI, warned that the decision to do away with the DRA left businesses with "many unresolved problems" and complained that the timetable gave them little time to prepare.

Related share prices