DRA regulations amended following concerns
The draft regulations to abolish the default retirement age
(DRA) have been amended, The Department for Business, Innovation
and Skills (BIS) has confirmed.
Following controversy and concern over the arrangements, a
section of the legislation has now been altered. It now clarifies
that employers are entitled to retire staff members who turn 65 –
or the company's normal retirement age if that is higher – at any
point on or prior to 30 September 2011.
Any employer who wants to retire employees falling into this
category will first need to follow the statutory retirement
procedure to let them know on or prior to 5 April 2011.
Previously, the regulations meant that it would not 'be safe' to
retire a staff member who turned 65 before 6 April, despite it
still being possible to push through the retirement of a staff
member who turned 65 between 6 April and 30 September 2011.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills said, “We have recognised the concerns raised about the
original draft of the regulations. We have acted quickly to address
these concerns and the regulations were corrected and re-laid on 1
March.
“The guidance ACAS provided for business is accurate in setting
out that the transitional provisions also cover people who are
already over the age of 65,” he added.