The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has upheld Britain’s mandatory retirement age of 65 following a campaign to scrap the policy.

Charity Age Concern England has been campaigning against the rule, which allows employers to retire staff at age 65, even if they wish to continue working.

However, the ECJ ruled that the practice does not breach European law and is legal provided there is a public interest aim relating to employment policy, the labour market or vocational training.

The interests of employers, such as cost reduction or improving competitiveness, cannot be taken into account.

It will be up to the national court to ultimately decide whether the age limit is justified, the court said.

Mike Emmott, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) employee relations adviser, said the ruling will disappoint many older workers: “Compulsory retirement ages can leave organisations blindly waving goodbye to valuable skills and experience.

“They can lead to lazy management of workers for many years as older employees are filed by their managers under the ‘soon to retire’ category.”

However, the ruling has left campaigners optimistic about their chances for overturning the policy in the British courts.

Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: “The ECJ has said the Government must prove to a high standard why forced retirement ages are needed, and those reasons must be based on social or labour market needs, not the interests of employers.”

Paul Cann, director of policy and external relations for Help the Aged, said: “Challenging financial circumstances mean it is even more important for older workers to be able to choose to work for longer if they want to. Ageism in all its forms must be eradicated from our society once and for all.”

The High Court will now make the final decision on whether a compulsory retirement age is discriminatory.