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A REVIEW of the difficulties faced by older people in the workplace is to be announced today by Ian Lang, the President of the Board of Trade. 
Ministers believe cutting them out of the workforce is a waste of talent and harmful to the economy. The Government will also give £7.5 million for research into arthritis and short-sightedness in an attempt to find ways of keeping older people in employment. 

Ministers are considering a proposal to raise the age at which people receive a pension to remove the incentive to give up work at 65. Companies may be banned from including clauses on retirement age in employees' contracts and from running pension schemes that make people give up work at a certain age. 

The Government is concerned that as the population gets older, the number of people of traditional working age is decreasing - there are now a million fewer 16- to 19-year-olds in the population than 10 years ago. 
The move will be interpreted by some as an attempt to capitalise on the powerful "grey vote", with Mr Lang today emphasising the Government's commitment to the older sector. 

"While people are living longer I am concerned that the quality of their lives is not improving as quickly as it might," he will tell the Social Market Foundation. 

"This is a dreadful waste of talent. As we move into an era of low unemployment and skills shortages it is essential we remove the barriers which separate older people who want to work from the jobs they could do." 

Age Concern welcomed the plans. "We believe the experience and skills of old people can be undervalued by employers," said a spokesman.