Mike Priestley: Who's Counting?

There appears to be some confused thinking here from the Government's Performance and Innovation Unit. The proposal is being presented as a good thing which will allow the talents of older people to be maximised and prevent them being thrown on the employment scrapheap.

In fact all it will do is discourage people in their early 50s from taking voluntary early retirement. It will do nothing to deter employers from "persuading" middle-aged workers to retire early, or to discourage them from putting their job application into the bin the moment they see the information written on the form against "Age".

What we will end up with is early-retired people who are harder up than they would previously have been. At least, that's the way I read it.

Meanwhile, in another part of the plan, unemployed men aged between 60 and 65 won't automatically be able to claim Jobseeker's Allowance without actually seeking jobs, as they can now. They'll have to apply for work and go for interviews.

In principle, there's nothing wrong with that. Men aren't entitled to a State pension until they're 65 (and women won't be either, when their pension age is increased in a few years). So maybe it isn't right that the Jobseeker's Allowance should be treated as a sort of pre-pension payment to tide them over.

The question, though, is: how many times should someone be forced to subject themselves to the humiliation of applying for a job only to be turned down because they're considered too old? People shouldn't be obliged to apply if they don't stand an equal chance of at least being fairly considered.

Given that there are not enough jobs to go around for all those people who want one, how can older jobseekers be guaranteed that they won't be discriminated against purely on age grounds when their application is looked at among dozens, scores or perhaps even hundreds of others?

The answer to that, unfortunately, is legislation - something the report recommends should the voluntary code of conduct, introduced last year, fail to change employers' practices.

Maybe it's time for that legislation now, instead of beating the under-65 seniors with so many sticks when they haven't got an escape route.

Members of the older generation with a few bob are reportedly considered by the Government to be selfishly enjoying themselves rather than involving themselves in voluntary work.

What an insult! It's largely the over-50s who keep the voluntary sector ticking over. It's the grandparents who often take on daily child-care duties while their children work.

Apparently a third of the people in the age group 45-59 do voluntary work, and a quarter of those aged between 60 and 69. Those figures, I reckon, aren't bad at all. I wonder how they compare with the figures for younger age groups?

Besides, if the Government gets its way and there is a flood of retired men and women doing jobs which people might otherwise have to be paid to do, what will happen to all those paid jobs that the 50-55s are supposed to hang on to until they can retire early and that 60-65s are supposed to keep applying for if they want their Jobseekers' Allowance to continue?

Somehow, it doesn't all join up, does it?

I Don't Believe It!

Why do organisations advertise special deals, give you a number to ring up to inquire about it, then not employ enough people to man the phones?

That was a question which Beryl Riley asked when she responded to a newspaper advert for a Senior Railcard special offer.

The deal for over-60s was: buy one at £18 and get another for nothing. All you needed to do was phone 08705 125 241 with your details (including proof of age - but how do you do that over the telephone?) and your debit card or credit card number.

So Beryl rang on behalf of her husband and his friend - keen walkers who like to travel to the starting point by train. The number was engaged. So she rang again, and again, and again, conscious of the fact that the offer only lasted until May 5.

But all she got was an engaged tone - except for one occasion when a young man answered the phone and told her that he was taking names and telephone numbers and would ring her back within the hour.

When Beryl rang Mike Priestley a week later with this tale to pass on to me, she was still waiting. And she was still ringing 08705 125 241, and still getting an engaged tone. Apparently whatever human resources (as they say nowadays) had been put in place to deal with the inquiries, it wasn't enough.

So I thought I'd try to come to the rescue. The advert had one of those website numbers on it, so I asked Mike to help. He's only recently learned how to get on to the internet on his computer at work, so it seemed a good idea to give him something useful to do with it.

He found his way on to the Senior Railcard website. And do you know what it advised him to do? To phone 08705 125 241. Which he did. And got an engaged tone.

So we're no further forward. Sorry about that, Beryl. What a barmy world, eh?

I've been in terrible trouble with Mrs Mildew this week. You might remember that a couple of weeks ago I wrote about "radio presenters' stooges" - the people whose job is to sit in the studio and make supportive noises while the star of the show chunters on. And I mentioned a man called Pauly who is featured on Wogan's breakfast show on Radio 2.

Well apparently one of you sent a cutting to the great Wogan, who read it out on the air and then took to calling Mr Pauly "Stooge" for the rest of the show.

Mrs Mildew was conscience-stricken on my behalf. She said I ought to have more concern for people's feelings and got that set face of hers on until I asked Mike Priestley to send an e-mail on my behalf to apologise for any offence caused and to add that as presenters' stooges go, Mr Pauly is in the Premiership.

You know what Priestley's response to that was? He said "Well just this once, but it's a bit much on top of tracking down websites for you. I'm not your stooge, you know!"

If you have a gripe about anything, drop a line to me, Hector Mildew, c/o Newsroom, T&A, Hall Ings, Bradford BD1 1JR, email me or leave any messages for me with Mike Priestley on (44) 0 1274 729511. If you've already sent in a grumble and it hasn't appeared yet, don't worry - it will do.

Yours Expectantly,

Hector Mildew

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