Between the 6th April and 1st October, only people who were notified before 6th April, and whose retirement date is before 1st October can be compulsorily retired using the DRA. After 1st October, employers will not be able to use the DRA to compulsorily retire employees.

Although the Government is removing the DRA, it will still be possible for individual employers to operate a compulsory retirement age, provided that they can objectively justify it. Examples could include air traffic controllers and police officers.


The TUC’s General Secretary Brendan Barber welcomed the abolition of the DRA, saying: “This will stop employers from dismissing people on an arbitrary basis just because they have reached 65. Employees should be judged on their ability to do the job, not their age.”

However, commenting on the DRA regulations and Additional Paternity Leave which came into effect on Monday, David Frost, Director General of the British Chambers of Commerce said: “In the face of promises by the Government to listen to the needs of business and cut red tape, these two new pieces of employment regulation will hit businesses hard.

"The Budget revealed a policy to exempt start-ups and existing firms with fewer than ten employees from new domestic regulation. But this week’s changes show there is an urgent need to review and scale back policies already on the statute books.”

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