The Humber LEP in partnership with DWP and Chapter3 is hosting a discussion event aimed at recruiters and HR professionals on how to tackle a serious issue facing to the Humber labour market.

After discussion on the Department for Work and Pension’s Fuller Working Lives Framework at the Humber LEP’s Employment and Skills Board and a conversation with the LEP’s Recruiters Forum it was decided to host an event that would look at addressing the gaps in employment for older people.

The event on November 20, starting at 8am, at the Mercure Hotel, in Willerby, will be opened by Humber LEP Chair Lord Haskins, include a message from Minister of State for Pensions Baroness Ros Altmann and speakers from DWP and Chapter3, a not for profit organisation set up specifically to support the needs of people over 50. This will be followed by a half-hour problem solving table exercise on the recruitment, retention and retraining of older workers.

The changes in demographic highlighted by the DWP means that there are a greater number of older people in employment than before. And in the next 10 years there will be 7,000 fewer people age 16-49 but 3.7m more aged 50-state pension age.

This change means employers need to embrace this growing segment of the labour force. Some of the issues linked to this that need to be addressed include people coming out of work before the state retirement age through early retirement, sickness or disability, caring for someone or redundancy, which accounts for 2.9m people out of work nationally.

For employers this means the loss of skilled and experienced workers and for the individuals and economy it means there is an effect on pension pots shrinking and spread over much longer retirement, sees £7bn paid in on out of work benefits and sees the GDP £18bn worse off than if the employment gap between people in their 40s and those aged 50 plus were closed.
In the Humber this trend is mirrored which will see 2 per cent fewer 15-49 year olds but 7 per cent more 50-64 year olds. In the 50-64 age range 36 per cent of people are unemployed in the Humber.

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