No retirement age for partners
Carry on until you drop, says government after ignoring pleas from profession
Regulations laid before parliament last week on age discrimination rules have
failed to provide exemptions for partnerships, potentially stifling the influx
of new talent into accounting firms.
Although the regulations allow companies to keep the retirement age of 65, no
such measures have been taken for partnerships, meaning that partners at firms
could potentially carry on working until they die.
Heavy lobbying has been taking place from representatives of several
professions over the last few months, but the pleading seems to have fallen on
deaf ears.
Richard Turner, head of partnerships at law firm Allen & Overy, said the
omission opened a ‘Pandora’s box’ of problems for firms.
‘If you have old codgers refusing to go under the threat of huge claims, they
will have to be kept on, you won’t be able to free up equity for the younger
people,’ he said.
Getting changes into the regulations, will now prove much more difficult,
according to Turner, but he fervently hopes something can still be done.