How should work be made safe for older staff?

A care worker whose knees hurt after every transfer needs a safer handling plan. A warehouse picker struggling on nights needs a health assessment. Neither needs a manager telling them they are getting too old. Your employer must deal with the risk, not use your birthday as an excuse to push you out.

If work is hurting you, start here

1. Name the task. Write down what is causing pain or putting you at risk, when it happens and who you have told. Keep copies somewhere you can access outside work.
2. Ask for a risk review. Suggest a concrete change, such as a hoist for transfers, better lighting at the packing bench or a review of the night rota. Ask what will keep you safe while the employer considers it.
3. Get health advice where needed. Describe the work to your GP or occupational health service. Ask what restrictions or changes they recommend. Night workers have a right to a free health assessment.
4. Bring in your union rep. A rep can help you put the request in writing and challenge a refusal. Get advice promptly if your employer cuts shifts, mentions retirement or starts a capability process.

The rule is the person, not the age

HSE guidance is explicit. “A separate risk assessment is not required specifically for older workers.” Employers should review the assessment when something significant changes. A birthday alone does not tell them whether you can do the job safely.

The duties protecting a 63-year-old carer, warehouse picker or cleaner also protect a 23-year-old. Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 requires employers to protect employees’ health, safety and welfare so far as reasonably practicable. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 requires a suitable and sufficient assessment of risks to employees and others affected by the work. Employers with five or more employees must record the significant findings and groups especially at risk.

Regulation 13 requires employers to take account of employees’ health and safety capabilities when assigning tasks. For a cleaner pulling heavy bins or a food-factory worker lifting trays, that means considering the demands of the work and the person’s ability to do it safely. It does not mean assuming everyone over 60 has the same limitations.

What your employer must actually do

The right request depends on the problem. These are legal duties, not optional staff benefits.

A team lift or task rotation is not automatically safe. The assessment must establish whether it controls the risk. Your employer must consider the request, but need not agree to every change you propose.

Working time rights do not shrink with age. The usual adult entitlements include an average 48-hour week, normally assessed over 17 weeks, 11 hours’ daily rest, 24 hours’ weekly rest, a 20-minute break when working more than six hours, and 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave. A voluntary opt-out can change the weekly hours limit; exceptions affect some jobs and rest arrangements. See working time, rest and leave. An opt-out does not remove the employer’s safety duties.

Can your employer make you retire?

There is no default retirement age. The old age of 65 was abolished in 2011. Reaching State Pension age does not mean you must stop work. GOV.UK explains that you can usually keep working for as long as you want.

An employer can sometimes operate a compulsory retirement age, but it must objectively justify it. Under the Equality Act, that means showing the age rule is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim. “Our staff usually retire at 65” is not enough.

Capability is different. An employer may fairly dismiss an employee who genuinely cannot do the job, but it must investigate, consider medical evidence and support, meet any adjustment duties and follow a fair process. Do not resign or agree to retirement under pressure without advice.

The age justification test also matters in recruitment and rotas. It is not permission to rely on stereotypes about strength or stamina. See age discrimination at work.

Adjustments you can ask for today

Describe the barrier and the change you need. For example, a care assistant could write: “The floor round causes knee swelling after prolonged standing. Please review the handling plan, staffing for transfers and opportunities to sit between tasks.” Ask for a written response and a review date.

Safety duties apply even if you are not disabled. Under the Equality Act, a disability is a physical or mental impairment with a substantial, long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities. Substantial means more than minor or trivial. Long-term generally means at least 12 months, including effects likely to last that long. Arthritis, a back condition or menopause symptoms can qualify, but the diagnosis alone does not decide it.

The reasonable adjustment duty generally requires the employer to know, or reasonably be expected to know, about the disability and likely disadvantage. Explain the effects on you. See reasonable adjustments and menopause at work.

You could ask for lighter cages, an adjusted till or prep bench, better lighting, seated work where safe or changed start times. Check pay and contracted hours before agreeing to a move. Asking for safer work is not offering to accept lower wages.

Employees also have a day-one right to request flexible working. You can make two statutory requests in 12 months. The employer must consult before refusing and normally decide within two months, unless you agree an extension. Refusal must rely on one or more of eight statutory business reasons. This is a right to request, not an automatic right to your preferred rota. A disability adjustment request has a different legal test. See requesting flexible working.

Night shifts and health checks

Night workers are entitled to a free health assessment before starting night work and at regular intervals afterwards. This matters whether you work in care, security, logistics or a food factory. The right is linked to night-worker status, not age. See night work and fatigue.

Under regulation 7, if a registered medical practitioner advises that a night worker has health problems connected with night work, the employer must transfer them to suitable day work wherever possible. It is not an unconditional right to a day vacancy that does not exist.

Ask your GP or occupational health service to explain the connection between nights and the health problem. Send the advice with your request for day work and ask what suitable work is available. If the employer refuses, ask for its reasons in writing and take them to your rep or an adviser.

Sick pay: what changed in April 2026

From 6 April 2026, Statutory Sick Pay starts on the first full qualifying day of sickness, with no lower earnings limit. For 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027, it pays the lower of 80% of average weekly earnings and £123.25 a week, for up to 28 weeks. Your contract may provide more.

Qualifying days are usually your normal working days, not every calendar day of illness. Other eligibility and notification rules still apply. You can normally self-certify for the first seven calendar days. See our sick pay guide for eligibility and refusals.

If they refuse or push you out

Keep evidence of reduced hours, worse shifts or pressure to retire, as well as any dismissal letter. Save your request, the response and rotas before and after. The reason for the treatment matters.

1. Raise a written grievance. Explain the hazard, the changes you requested and the refusal. Ask for a risk review and a written decision. Identify disability or age discrimination if relevant. Your rep can help; see raising a grievance.
2. Use the right safety regulator. Report workplace safety concerns to HSE or the relevant local authority. Shops, catering, offices and many warehouses are usually council-enforced, but allocation depends on the activity. Use HSE’s enforcing-authority guide rather than guessing.
3. Get advice on the employment claim. Acas, Citizens Advice, a law centre or your union can help. For care and NHS support work, try UNISON; for retail and distribution, Usdaw; for drivers and warehouse staff, Unite or GMB. Ask about representation and the terms of any legal assistance.
4. Protect the deadline separately. Do not wait for the grievance or a regulator’s investigation before contacting Acas about early conciliation. Those processes do not stop the tribunal clock. See bringing a tribunal claim.

For Great Britain, the government confirms the usual tribunal time limit increased from three to six months on 1 October 2026. For discrimination and unfair dismissal, that generally means six months less a day from the relevant act or effective termination date, subject to early conciliation rules. For a single discriminatory act on 15 October 2026, the ordinary limit before any conciliation adjustment is 14 April 2027. Notify Acas before that limit; notification is not the same as filing your tribunal claim.

Acas early conciliation changes the deadline calculation. Ask an adviser to work out your final filing date, especially where events span the October change or discrimination has continued over time. A tribunal can sometimes extend a discrimination deadline on a just and equitable basis, but do not rely on it.

A failure to assess risk is not, by itself, an employment tribunal claim. HSE and councils enforce safety law; tribunals deal with employment claims such as discrimination and dismissal. An injury may also raise a separate personal injury claim.

Agency, casual and self-employed work

The hirer owes safety duties to agency staff and others affected by its work. The agency and hirer need to exchange relevant risk information. Tell both if a task is unsafe.

Status affects your other rights. Employees normally have working time and discrimination protection and may qualify for SSP. Workers who are not employees generally have working time rights and may have discrimination protection, but worker status alone does not establish SSP entitlement. Agency staff can qualify under the applicable rules; ask the agency or payroll employer who must pay.

Genuinely running your own business normally means no employee sick pay or working time rights. But a “self-employed” contract does not settle your status, and some people engaged personally to work have discrimination protection. See employment status and agency worker rights.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland shares the main Great Britain framework. Its one separate reform date here is 9 November 2026, when the extended time limit for employment tribunal breach-of-contract claims takes effect.

Northern Ireland has separate safety and discrimination laws. HSENI or the relevant council enforces the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978. Age discrimination comes under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, not the Equality Act.

Use the Labour Relations Agency, not Acas, for Northern Ireland employment disputes. Get advice on its separate tribunal deadlines rather than assuming the Great Britain six-month rule applies. See employment law in Northern Ireland.

What is in force, and what is still scheduled?

Your employer must meet existing safety and disability duties now. The government’s timeline, updated on 22 October 2026, confirms these changes and plans.

1. 6 April 2026In force: sick pay changes

   The waiting period and earnings floor were removed, including in Northern Ireland.

2. 6 April 2026In force: voluntary equality action plans

   Voluntary gender equality and menopause plans and menopause guidance began.

3. 1 October 2026In force: longer GB tribunal time limit

   The usual limit increased from three to six months.

4. 1 January 2027Scheduled: shorter unfair dismissal qualifying period

   The government schedules a reduction to six months’ service for dismissals from this date. At 1 October 2026, the usual qualifying period remains two years. Discrimination claims do not require two years’ service.

Questions people ask

Can my employer make me retire?

There is no default retirement age. An age-based retirement rule needs objective justification. A genuine capability dismissal still requires fairness and compliance with disability duties.

Can you be taken off heavy work just because you are over 60?

An age-based ban is direct age discrimination unless objectively justified. Employers must assess the task and your capabilities, consider risk controls and meet any reasonable adjustment duty.

Do older workers need a separate risk assessment?

Not simply because of age. The general assessment covers you and must be reviewed when necessary. Night-worker health assessments are a separate entitlement.

Can you demand day shifts if nights affect your health?

A registered medical practitioner’s advice linking a night worker’s health problems to nights triggers a duty to transfer them to suitable day work wherever possible. It is not an unconditional right to a day job.

How long do you have to make a claim?

The usual GB limit increased on 1 October 2026. Discrimination and unfair dismissal generally have a six-month-less-a-day limit, adjusted by Acas early conciliation rules. Get your dates checked. A grievance does not stop the clock; Northern Ireland has separate rules.

Who enforces the safety duty?

HSE or the relevant council in Great Britain; HSENI or the relevant council in Northern Ireland. A safety report does not replace an employment tribunal claim.

Sources

1. Older workers: health and safety, HSE.
2. Managing risks and risk assessment, HSE.
3. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2, legislation.gov.uk.
4. Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulations 3 and 13, legislation.gov.uk.
5. Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, legislation.gov.uk.
6. Health and Safety Display Screen Equipment Regulations 1992, legislation.gov.uk.
7. Working Time Regulations 1998, including regulation 7, legislation.gov.uk.
8. Equality Act 2010, including sections 6, 13, 20 and 21 and Schedule 1, legislation.gov.uk.
9. Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions Regulations 2011, legislation.gov.uk.
10. Working after State Pension age, GOV.UK.
11. Employment Rights Act 1996, including capability dismissal and flexible working provisions, legislation.gov.uk.
12. Flexible working, GOV.UK.
13. SSP manual calculation guidance, HMRC, from 6 April 2026.
14. Employment Rights Act 2025, legislation.gov.uk, sections 10 to 13 and commencement annotations.
15. Northern Ireland SSP rate, section 153, legislation.gov.uk.
16. Employment Rights Act implementation timeline, GOV.UK, updated 22 October 2026.
17. Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain, HSE, provisional 2025/26 figures.
18. Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain, 2026, HSE, pages 4 and 13.
19. Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025, executive summary, HSE.
20. Is HSE the correct enforcing authority?, HSE.
21. Health and Safety at Work Northern Ireland Order 1978, legislation.gov.uk.
22. Employment Equality Age Regulations Northern Ireland 2006, legislation.gov.uk.
23. Statutory Sick Pay, nidirect.