Government amends draft retirement Regulations after confusion over transition

The Government has amended the draft Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement Age Provisions) Regulations 2011 to clarify that employers are able to use the statutory procedure to retire employees who reach the age of 65 (or the employer's normal retirement age, if that is higher) on or before 30 September 2011, provided that they are notified of the retirement on or before 5 April 2011. 

The previous wording of the Regulations suggested that retirements notified on or before 5 April 2011 could continue through to completion only if the person retiring reached the age of 65 (or the employer's higher normal retirement age) between 6 April and 30 September 2011. 

New provisions have also been added to the Regulations making it clear that, under the transitional provisions, employers can still agree a maximum six-month extension of employment beyond the proposed retirement date (any longer extension would require a second notice of retirement under the statutory procedure, which the employer will not be able to issue after 5 April 2011). An employee who wishes to make a request not to retire is obliged to do so more than three months, but not more than six months, before the intended date of retirement. An employee who is given the maximum 12 months' notice of retirement on the last possible date of 5 April 2011 will have a proposed retirement date of 5 April 2012 (according to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills). The last date for a request for an extension to be made more than three months before this intended date of retirement will be 4 January 2012. A six-month extension from 5 April 2012 would take the employment up to 5 October 2012, making this the last possible date for a retirement under the statutory procedure (according to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills). 

Also

Government to amend draft retirement Regulations after confusion over transition On 1 March 2011, the Government told XpertHR that it was 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. 

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