When an employee retires

Introduction

Employees may retire for a number of reasons. They may have reached the retirement age agreed in their contract of employment - if the employer uses a retirement age. They may be taking early retirement, or some may finish work for other reasons.

Whatever the reason, as an employer there are certain steps you should follow when an employee retires.

The age discrimination legislation introduced a default retirement age of 65 - you can set a retirement age above this but enforced retirements or compulsory retirement ages below 65 must be objectively justified. Under the legislation, employees have the right to request to work beyond that age and employers have a duty to consider such requests. The legislation also applies to occupational pension schemes.

This guide aims to give you an overview of what to do when an employee retires. It explains the various types of retirement and gives details of where you can get more information and advice.

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• Retirement - the process to follow
• Pensions and retirement
• Providing support for a retiring employee
• Early retirement
• Ill-health-related early retirement

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