Britain’s over-50s are paying the highest price for Labour’s workers’ rights reform: the number of older jobseekers unable to find work has risen by 22 percent since 2023, according to the latest figures.
Almost a million workers aged 50 and over are currently excluded from the labor market, the latest labor force survey data shows, with this age group consistently recording the highest layoff rates across the workforce.
Around 917,000 people aged 50 to 66 cannot find a job. If you include those aged 66 to 70, there are 996,743, many of whom want to continue working despite being entitled to a state pension.
Industry leaders clearly blame the Employment Rights Act and the Chancellor’s increase in employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs), arguing that the combined costs have made companies significantly more cautious about hiring new staff, particularly those who are more experienced and therefore more expensive.
“Older workers, who are likely to earn higher salaries than their Generation Z counterparts, are bearing the brunt of companies rethinking their hiring strategies,” said Kevin Fitzgerald, UK managing director of jobs platform Employment Hero.
Alex Hall-Chen from the Institute of Directors echoed these concerns, pointing to the Employment Rights Act, the rise in employer NICs and the gradual increase in the minimum wage as a triple whammy that has dampened employers’ appetite for risk.
Although the law’s provisions apply to workers of all ages, in practice some measures disproportionately affect older workers. It is widely expected that removing the cap on payouts for successful unfair dismissal claims will prove more costly in cases involving over-50s, who tend to command higher salaries and whose awards are typically calculated as multiples of salary.
The law’s expanded right to request changes to work hours or location, particularly when employees are juggling health issues or caring responsibilities, is also likely to be used more frequently by workers in their 50s and 60s, many of whom are supporting aging parents or dealing with their own long-term issues.
The picture is exacerbated by structural changes beyond Westminster’s control. The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence across all white-collar roles and the ongoing after-effects of the labor market contraction following the coronavirus crisis have led to the erosion of mid- to senior-level positions that older workers have traditionally relied on.
Lyndsey Simpson, founder of career coaching platform 55/Redefined, said the consequences of losing a senior or well-paid position at 50 can be devastating and long-lasting.
“That’s why people check their resumes based on age. They remove dates, hide early roles and downplay seniority because they know age can negatively impact them before they even get an interview,” she said.
Dr. Andrea Barry, from the Center for Aging Better, warned that the scale of the crisis among older workers was now comparable to the much-discussed plight of young people who are not in education, jobs or training (Neets), but receive only a fraction of the attention.
“The Government is right to invest in solutions to the current youth employment crisis, but the labor market is in crisis at both ends of the age bracket and to a similar extent,” she said.
For SME employers already struggling with rising wage costs, intensifying litigation and the specter of further regulation, the temptation to play it safe in the recruitment phase is proving difficult to resist, and it is the UK’s most experienced workers who are bearing the costs.
