Confirmed - you can retire employees at 65 (for now)

Published: 25th September 2009

The High Court has ruled that the current UK retirement process including the default retirement age of 65, is lawful. Employers are therefore able to compulsorily retire employees aged 65 and over. If the statutory retirement procedures are complied with those employees will not be able to claim unfair dismissal or age discrimination. We understand that this is the end of the Heyday claim as it is not to be appealed. Those with current claims from employees who were retired which have been stayed by the Tribunals awaiting this decision, are likely to see the claims dismissed in the near future.

Whilst this reinforces the current rules for now, the Government have brought forward their review of the default retirement age to next year. It is possible that we will then see the ability to compulsorily retire abolished. Some of the comments in this Judgment may make it difficult for the Government not to increase the retirement age to at least 68 (or 70) and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission have today asked the Government to amend the Equality Bill (which is currently going through Parliament) to abolish the default retirement age altogether.

If you have any questions about the implications of this decision please speak to your usual contact in the Mace & Jones employment and HR team. We will also be covering this in more detail in our forthcoming employment update sessions which are being run on 6 October in Liverpool and 15 October in Manchester. Click the date you are interested in for further information.