Seems to be a difficult answer to this one, as on one hand due to the historically high levels of youth unemployment currently, and the raising of the state retirement age, I feel that the firms involved would normally be looking to the future, and be trying to ensure continuity of personnel.
This as such would make the hiring of new blood in the firm, as well as giving the firm a longer timescale of employability of the personnel, which although not helping in this case would give the firm a more stable environment in the future. However, I would feel that this inevitably leave the retired person very much in the lurch.