Employment: Compulsory retirement age for all civil servants to be scrapped by 2010

January 11, 2009

Last October the UK government pledged to remove the compulsory retirement age for all junior civil servants. The Cabinet Secretary has now promised to do the same for senior civil servants, making the civil service “retirement free”.

From April 2010 all civil servants who wish to continue working after 65 will be able to do so. Each government department will be responsible for implementing the change by the end of March 2010. Sir O’Donnell said that the change will end the “artificial and unnecessary cap” placed on civil servants and give those with experience the opportunity to continue working.

At present employers may require employees to retire after the default retirement age (“DRA”), currently 65. This rule recently survived a legal challenge in the recent Heyday case, but is due to be reviewed by the government in 2010 (see links in Related articles below).

Comment

This announcement comes shortly after the High Court ruling in the Heyday case and may foreshadow the government scrapping the DRA completely, or at least increasing it. Removal of the DRA will complicate retirement issues for employers and could leave them exposed to forced retirement related claims.

Employers should follow developments in this area closely.

High Court rules default retirement age of 65 is lawful

Government brings forward review of default retirement age

For further information or to discuss the issues raised, please contact Colina Greenway (colina.greenway@abbisscadres.com) on +44 (0) 203 051 5711.

This article was produced by, and re-produced with kind permission of, our correspondent firm in England & Wales, Abbiss Cadres LLP. www.abbisscadres.com

Disclaimer

Content
is for general information purposes only. The information provided is
not intended to be comprehensive and it does not constitute or contain
legal or other advice. If you require assistance in relation to any
issue, please seek specific advice relevant to your particular
circumstances.

Category:

Employment/Labor law

CELIA Alliance
CELIA Alliance members are identified here. Members of the CELIA Alliance are each independent law firms and do not practice law jointly with any other member of the CELIA Alliance. “CELIA Alliance” and “CELIA” are not trading names. For more information about the CELIA Alliance click here.

Disclaimer
Content is for general information purposes only. The information provided is not intended to be comprehensive and it does not constitute or contain legal or other advice. If you require assistance in relation to any issue please seek specific advice relevant to your particular circumstances. In particular, no responsibility shall be accepted by the authors or by Abbiss Cadres LLP for any losses occasioned by reliance on any content appearing on or accessible from this newsletter. For further legal information click here.

Copying
If you would like to copy or otherwise reproduce this article then you may do so provided that: (1) any such copy or reproduction is for your own personal use or if it is made available to any third party it is done so on a free of charge basis; and (2) the article is reproduced in full together with the contact details, disclaimer and any logos as they appear on each article.