Senior Self-Employment and Entrepreneurship--A PRIME Perspective

Abstract

Much of the narrative around mature self-employment and entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom has been predicated on a misunderstanding. Received wisdom is that enterprise is a last resort for those with no alternative. For whatever reason—typically ill-health, caring responsibilities, or discrimination in the workplace—mature people have been portrayed as turning to self-employment because they have no other choices and particularly no realistic prospect of staying in or returning to employment. As a charity dedicated to helping those who are over 50 and out of work to set up in business, at The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise, we are partly responsible for promoting this narrative. And there is certainly some truth in this portrayal, as was made clear in a recent report by the Department for Work and Pensions (2014): Of all the factors keeping such a significant number of people out of work, age discrimination in the workplace is widely recognized as the most pernicious: a study by KPMG (Aged 50? Congratulations: Your boss thinks you are old, Article in The Daily Telegraph) led to the conclusion that turning 50 represents a “silent tipping point,” after which employers value staff less.