Government to amend draft retirement Regulations after confusion over transition

The Government has told XpertHR that it is amending the draft Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011 to clarify that employers are able to retire employees who reach 65 (or the employer's normal retirement age, if that is higher) at any time on or before 30 September 2011, provided that they are given notice under the statutory procedure on or before 5 April 2011. 

The draft Regulations contain transitional provisions to allow the default retirement age and the statutory retirement procedure to be phased out. The last date on which an employer can give an employee notice of retirement under the default retirement procedure is 5 April 2011. However, the current wording of the Regulations suggests that retirements that are notified to employees on or before 5 April 2011 can continue through to completion only if:

  • the statutory retirement procedure is correctly followed; and
  • the person retiring reaches 65 (or the employer's normal retirement age, if that is higher) between 6 April and 30 September 2011. 

This appears to prevent employees reaching this age before 6 April 2011 from being retired under the transitional provisions. The Government has now said that reg.5(1)(b) is being amended from "that person will attain the age limit during the period that begins with that date [6th April 2011] and ends with 30th September 2011" to "that person has attained the age limit or will attain it before 1st October 2011". 

This means that employers will be able to retire employees if they:

  • are notified on or before 5 April 2011 using the statutory retirement procedure; and
  • reach 65 (or the employer's normal retirement age, if that is higher) before 1 October 2011. 

The Goverment expects the text of the Regulations on the UK legislation website to be updated shortly. 

Also

Serious "drafting error" in Regulations repealing retirement age provisions Consultant editor Darren Newman explains why, under the current wording of the draft Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011, the transitional provisions do not protect the retirement dismissal of an employee that takes effect on or after 6 April 2011, but where the employee reached the age of 65 before this date.