News
Retirement enforced for the over 65s at Longleat
25 November 2010
The law currently allows employers to trigger the retirement of employees working on past the Default Retirement Age (DRA) of 65 where an indefinite extension has been granted where the normal retirement age is 65 or where the employer operates no normal retirement age, provided the statutory retirement process is followed. The planned removal of the DRA in 2011 will mean this is no longer possible and some employers have been reminded by their legal advisers that they may wish to review their stance vis-a-vis this group of employees if they are uncertain they will wish to retain them once the DRA changes come into effect.
But although dismissing in this way in the short window before April 2011 may be legal (and may be cheaper than declaring redundancies), it doesn't mean it's free of other risks - notably that of bad publicity. As an example, see the coverage by the BBC and The Daily Mail of the news that management at the Longleat estate in Wiltshire has retired all of its over 65s in this way.