New retirement age law means employees can stay on until 66

Kenneth Fox

Employees - previously contracted to retire before 66 - will be allowed to continue working, under a new law which takes effect on Monday.

It will allow staff to delay retirement and work until the qualifying age for the state pension, which is 66.

It also brings new legal obligations for employers, particularly around how they respond to employees who do not want to retire.

Under the new legislation, if you want to avail of this new right, you must notify your employer in writing that you do not consent to be retired.

You must:

• Give at least 3 months, but not more than one year, before your contractual retirement date.
• If your contract requires a longer notice period than 3 months, you must give either this amount or 6 months' notice, whichever is shorter.

They said the new law creates a higher legal threshold if you propose to enforce the contractual retirement age:

• You cannot require an employee to retire unless you can justify this decision;
• If you decide an employee must retire, you must;
• Reply in writing within 1 month;
• Explain the reasons for the decision to enforce the contractual retirement age.
• Objectively and reasonably justify the retirement of the employee concerned by a legitimate aim and that the means of achieving that aim is appropriate and necessary.

Guidance will be provided in the WRC Code of Practice, as well as a template policy guideline document for a business.

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