Healys' specialist employment law solicitors in London and Brighton take a look at the law surrounding retirement age and the proposed phasing out of Default Retirement Age.
Currently (October 2010), employers can retire employees at age 65 by giving no less than six months' notice as part of a straightforward procedure. But this is going to change.
Sixty-five is the DRA (Default Retirement Age) introduced by the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations in 2006. The Age Regulations made discrimination on grounds of age unlawful for the first time in the UK, but the DRA was a practical exception to this.
The charity Age UK challenged the DRA at the European Court of Justice. The ECJ's decision in September 2009 accepted the concept of a DRA in principle and although not happy with a default retirement age of 65, allowed this to stand largely because of the UK government's stated intention to review the DRA in 2010.
The Coalition government is continuing the Labour government's plans on this issue and proposes to abolish the DRA by October 2011.
This means that employers who want to retire employees will need to have a fair reason and to follow a fair procedure – they will have to treat "retirement" dismissals like all other dismissals. Age will no longer be a factor. (The fair reasons are: capability, conduct; redundancy, illegality, some other substantial reason).
Employers can choose to continue using a retirement age for their employees. But they will have to show that this is objectively justified (as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim) and only a minority of employers are likely to be able to do this.
Abolition of the DRA will be phased in. Under the proposals, the last opportunity for employers to retire staff using the DRA, giving the minimum six months' notice and following the statutory procedure, will be 6 April 2011.
The government has asked for feedback on its plans and published its consultation document: Phasing out the Default Retirement Age on 29 July 2010. It asks for comment from any interested parties on the likely effects of the abolition of the DRA on staff management and employer/employee relations and on insured benefits schemes and employee share schemes. Consultation closes on 21 October 2010.
The consultation document is at www.bis.gov.uk/retirement-age
Specialist legal advice on DRA and retirement
A number of problems and difficulties can arise in the workplace between employers and employees. Healys' employment law solicitors are experienced specialists in advising upon all employment law issues or concerns.
In our London office you can speak with Nicholas Evans by calling direct dial on 020 7822 4141, he can also be reached by email. Also in our London office, Julia Stirling can be contacted on 0207 822 4101 or by emailing Julia.Stirling @Healys.com
Alternatively, for employment law advice in Brighton, please call employment solicitor Victoria Regan, direct dial, on 01273 810 065 or send her an email.
