Just 12% of employers believe their organisation has fully has fully complied with legislation abolishing the default retirement age (DRA), since it came into effect in 2011, according to research by Jelf Employee Benefits.
Its study of 248 employers also found that 34% of respondents felt they need to improve all aspects of compliance.
Around a third (32%) of respondents also expressed concern about their employee communications about the DRA.
Other areas for in which respondents felt their organisation could improve were: understanding and reviewing insurer terms and conditions (18%), contractual promises (4%).
Steve Herbert, head of benefits strategy at Jelf Employee Benefits, said: “This is quite alarming and, from a benefits perspective, we are really quite concerned that employers may not have fully understood the options for providing cover to the over 65s in their workforce.
“Regardless of which benefit option is selected for older employees, the onus is on the employer to ensure that communication of such choices is clear and unambiguous.
“Failure to do so could well leave the employee without valuable benefit cover, or the employer effectively self-insuring major benefit risks.”
