Hey Ian,
you may be aware of, but, in case not, look how pilots in the USA are fighting against the rule of 60 for retirement
Air Line Pilots Against Age Sixty - APAAD
Got some news from the Netherlands,... same procedure as in the UK by some KLM pilots against the mandatory retirement age of 60 is running...., same answers from the Court house and the Equal Treatment Law court as in the UK,, nevertheless and FYI, some CHC pilots in the Netherlands have in their CLA secured retirement age at 65 (belonging to a small union), and the majority represented by the big Airline Pilots Union must retire at 60.
At Bristows in the NL ,a pilot (on a freelance basis) can work up to 65, and the same happens at CHC.
So, what's the difference between a 60 + as freelance and one with permanent contract: nothing but that the freelance can be kicked out any moment.
One of the arguments used by the big union in the NL, is that when a pilot continue beyond 60, it becomes a problem for the "promotion policy", in other words a copilot promotion to Captain can be delayed,
as far as I understood, by CHC in the NL, this problem was solved with a short sentence stating that when a Captain decides to continue beyond 60, he's not anymore counting for the 60/40% Captain/copilot equation, and if required a captain position is open immediatelly to be fulfilled .
cheers