The default retirement age (DRA) of 65 years will be abolished on 1 October 2011, with transitional arrangements beginning in April 2011.

From 6 April 2011, employers will no longer be able to rely on a DRA and will therefore have to ‘objectively justify’ any retirement based on a contractual retirement age, or will need to rely on one of the ‘fair reasons’ for dismissal laid out in employment legislation (such as conduct or capability).

This will mean that employers will be unable to issue new notifications of retirement using the DRA on or after 6 April 2011. Anyone reaching the age of 65 after 30 September 2011 cannot be compulsorily retired. The transitional arrangements make provisions for some retirements to continue to take place providing they meet all the following conditions:

• The employer must give the employee notice of the intended retirement date before 6 April 2011, and of the employee’s right to stay on. The notice must be given 6-12 months before the intended retirement date.
• The employee must have reached the age of 65 (or if there is one, the normal retirement age for the job) before 1 October 2011
• The statutory retirement procedure must be followed to the letter, including dealing with requests to stay on beyond the intended retirement date.
• The removal of the DRA not only raises practical issues for employers in managing older employees but also across the workforce more generally in areas such as succession and workforce planning, flexible working, performance management and ensuring consistency and fairness in policies and practices. 

• This legislation will be applicable to all employers and all company sizes and sectors
• Workers will retire when they are ready to, enforced retirement will only be possible if it is objectively justified
• You must avoid discriminating against all workers on the grounds of age
• These changes do not affect an employee’s state pension age and entitlements, which may well be separate from the age at which they retire.

• review any retirement notices which have already been issued and are pending, as well as those which are planned to be issued before 6 April, to determine whether or not these can continue or should be withdrawn
• review existing fixed term contracts and extensions to check whether or not the removal of the DRA is likely to pose difficulties when it comes to terminating the contracts
• review recruitment practices to ensure there are no references to retirement age in recruitment literature, short-listing processes or employment contracts
• review the relevance of any contractual terms, benefits and/or insurances that may be linked to, or withdrawn upon reaching retirement age, to ensure these remain valid
• consider the relevance and impact of any retirement related activities and how these are promoted or accessed – e.g. pre-retirement training events.