The High Court has given its decision (PDF format, 206K) in the "Heyday case", the case brought by Age Concern challenging the default retirement age. The Court found that the default retirement age of 65 can be justified and is therefore lawful, but that there was a "compelling case" for raising or removing it.
To establish that the default retirement age set by reg.30 of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 was justified, the Government had to show that it was introduced to meet a legitimate social policy aim. The Court found that it met the aim of maintaining confidence in the labour market, and that it was a proportionate way of doing so. The decision points out that the default retirement age does not require employers to dismiss employees at a certain age, it only allows them to do so, and finds that it is designed to give employers and employees certainty for planning purposes.
However, employers who still use a mandatory retirement age should not assume that this is the end of the story. The Government is reviewing whether the default retirement age is still necessary, and the Judge gave a strong message to the Government that there is a "compelling case" that the default retirement age should either be raised or removed as a result of the review.
Mr Justice Blake said that, "in view of the changed economic circumstances, and the generally recognised problems that a longer living population created for the social security system" had it been introduced now, rather than in 2006, he would have found that the default retirement age was not a proportionate way of maintaining confidence in the labour market. He also indicated that the Government's pledge to bring forward the review (links to the DWP website) strongly influenced his decision not to make a ruling that the legislation should be reconsidered.
With the Judge stating in his judgment that he "cannot presently see how 65 could remain as a default retirement age after the review" the Government will presumably find it difficult to leave the status quo in place.
The High Court judgment (PDF format 206K) can be downloaded from the XpertHR website.
Answers to employers questions on retirement have been updated following the decision and can be found in the XpertHR FAQs section.
More coverage of the decision can be found on the Personnel Today website and on the BBC news website.
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