Repeal of Retirement Age 6

Controversy rears its head again. Debate is raging over the last date on which an employee can be compulsorily retired under the old law - I have received comments from over a dozen different people. Each possibility assumes that an employee is given twelve months' notice of intention to be retired on 5th April 2011 (the last day), and is granted a six month extension (see yesterday's bulletin, 'Repeal of Retirement Age - 4 ' for more detail).

The three possibilities for the last date for retirement are:-

• 3rd October 2012: if the employee is given 12 months' notice of intention to retire from 5th April 2011, this expires on 4th April 2012. The maximum six month extension subsequenly expires on 3rd October 2012.
  
  
• 4th October 2012: I am told a minority of professional support lawyers in City firms support the view the last possbile date is 4th October 2012, presumably on the basis that the courts should not knock a day off (ie a month after 5th being 4th) twice.
  
  
• 5th October 2012: This is the date that BIS contends is the last date for retirement. It has the support of Henry Scrope of www.emplaw.co.uk, who is fairly au fait with the DRA regulations. He points out, as have several others, that under the common law one discounts the day on which notice is given - meaning that the first day of the six month extension period would be 6th April 2012 and it would expire on 5th October 2012.

My initial view was that 3rd October 2012 was the most probably last day for retirement. But general consensus seems to favour 5th October 2012. For now, though, this debate may be a little arcane - the important deadline is to ensure employers serve notice of intention to retire on or before 5th April 2011, less than five weeks away.

I have updated the Outer Temple lecture notes on Justifying Retirement without a Compulsory Retirement Age , sent out yesterday, to incorporate this issue.