Call for Evidence to Feed into the Government's Review of the Default Retirement Age
Synopsis
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, which came into force on 1 October 2006, provide for a default retirement age of 65 that employers can rely on if they wish. The regulations make earlier retirement ages unlawful unless employers can objectively justify them. The regulations also introduced a new statutory right for individuals to request postponement of retirement beyond the age of 65 – requests which the employer must consider.
The Government is now reviewing whether the default retirement age of 65 remains appropriate and necessary and is calling for relevant evidence. They are particularly (but not exclusively) interested in evidence concerning the following broad areas:
the operation of the default retirement age (DRA) in practice;
the reasons that businesses use mandatory retirement ages;
the impacts (positive and negative) on businesses, individuals, and the economy, of raising or removing the default retirement age;
the experience of businesses operating without a default retirement age;
how could any costs of raising or removing the DRA be mitigated and benefits realised?
As this is a call for evidence, there is no consultation paper. For full details click on 'View Consultation on Consulting Body's Web Page' below.
This consultation has now been completed. Please contact the Policy Support Unit (psu@bps.org.uk) if you have any related queries.
Consulting Body
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)