report on the
Characteristics of Older Workers for the Department for Education and Employment suggests that the age
of 50 is a suitable point at which to refer to workers as “older”. Furthermore, the Cabinet Office’s (2000)
report “Winning the Generation Game” focused on people aged between 50 and state pensionable age and
Loretto, Vickerstaff and White’s (2005) report on “Older workers and options for flexible work” for the
Equal Opportunities Commission defined an older worker or older person as being aged 50 and above. In
addition, the OECD’s series of reviews on ageing and employment policies in OECD countries, defined
older workers as all workers aged 50 and above whilst acknowledging that “the age of 50 is not meant to
be a watershed in and of itself in terms of defining who is old and who is not” (OECD, 2004, p.3).