DIGITAL PRINTER
Andy Ruddle, sales and marketing director, Real Digital International
"Age is not a question we consider when taking a decision to employ or retain staff. It is about the ability of an individual to do the task that they are employed to do and what suits one person for one role, may not apply to another. We have a number of staff who are close to, or over, retirement age, each of whom contributes fantastic experience to our business. While it is true to say that digital technologies have revolutionised conventional printing, it is amazing how often a problem or situation arises that has been previously experienced. This type of expertise isn't always in the training manual, but it certainly benefits us and our clients."

COMMERCIAL PRINTER
David Jackson, director, Your Print Solution
"It is a difficult one because being 65 years old does not mean that you automatically become inactive in life or work. I only have to look at my father, who is 70, to know that is not the case. While I agree that people should be able to work beyond the age of 65, I do think there needs to be a limit in place. However, if an employee is still good at the job they do, then there is absolutely no reason to let them go. Some people slow down at 60, some people 65 and some at the age of 70, so it really needs to be considered on a case-by-case basis."

COMMERCIAL PRINTER
Colin Roberts, managing director, Business Forms Express
"While this is an issue that affects my business, it is the effect on young people that I believe is more important. I have three children and if we allow people to go on working into very old age, where are they and other young people going to work? We don’t take on a large number of young people, but without the need to replace when people retire we will employ even fewer. I think the government thinks everybody is working in an office or in Tesco. You can’t have 85-year-old people in a pressroom; a couple of years over 65 maybe, but it would get dangerous if you let people go on much longer than that in this industry."

DISPLAY PRINTER
David Danforth, chief executive, ImageData Group
"I think the proposals to extend the default retirement age could create a very complicated situation. There are 65-year-olds that are young and then there are 65-year-olds that are ready to retire, so these plans could make keeping people on far more difficult.With that legislation in place, you could potentially have a situation where you have two groups, those that want to stay on because they are still very much capable of carrying out their role and there are those that may be forced into staying for financial reasons. And it is because of this that these proposals could make life difficult come October 2011."