The charities are accusing the Government of double standards just days before the landmark Heyday ruling is passed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The Court will judge if an enforced national retirement age of 65 will be upheld, and if the ECJ rules in favour of the Age Regulations - as the ECJ's Advocate General did in November 2008 - the case will return to the High Court in London and the UK Government will make the case of why enforced retirement is necessary.
But the charities claim 65-year-old housing minister Margaret Beckett and shadow business secretary Ken Clarke (68) would be instantly dismissed along with 87 other MPs if mandatory retirement applied to them. And the majority of MPs would be out of a job within 10 years.
Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: "Ministers must address these double standards. While the Government clearly recognises the enefits of utilising older workers and has scrapped mandatory retirement ages for civil servants, it has failed to apply the same rules to other workers who are forcibly retired, regardless of their talents and abilities, purely on the basis of age."
And Paul Cann, director of policy and external relations for Help the Aged, added: "It is a disgrace ageism is still a prejudice that is tolerated from hospital to high street. Although illegal in the workplace, mandatory retirement age and ageism in goods andservices are still perfectly legal. Ageism in any aspect of society is abhorrent and it is high time the Government delivered in its promise of equality for older people."
The ECJ will make its ruling on Thursday 5 March.
