Author: Nikki Petken

When I get older, losing my hair, many years from now ……

will you still need me……

when I’m sixty-five?

The answer from businesses to Paul McCartney’s love song today will be … No.

The high court has ruled that is legal for UK employers to force workers to retire at the age of 65. In this case, the court was required to determine if forcing people to retire at 65 is against European law.

The ruling means that employers can dismiss a member of staff without a redundancy payment on their 65th birthday. This is still subject to following the correct procedure and the worker can request to work beyond that date which an employer must consider but can refuse without having to give a reason.

It is never as simple as it seems however, as the government has said they will review the retirement age in 2010 and at which point they could choose to end the default retirement age.