Private sector workers keen to stay on until 66 likely to be affected by legislative delay

Thousands of private sector workers due to turn 65 next year look set to be affected by a delay to legislation intended to provide them with the option of working until they reach the State pension age on their 66th birthday.

The new law would address the current situation in which many workers are obliged by their employers to retire at 65 even though they want to keep on working.

Many then have to claim social protection payments to tide them for a year while they wait to qualify for the State pension.

The Employment (Restriction of Certain Mandatory Retirement Ages) Bill 2024 was supposed to address this and the Government had given a commitment it would be enacted by the summer with an expectation that it would be in effect by January 1st, 2025.

That does not now appear to be possible and with the budget and related legislation set to take much of the Dáil’s time after the summer recess, the Bill looks set to fall if, as many expect, the Government opts for an election later this year.

“This is one of those rare pieces of legislation where there is agreement between Government, business and unions,” says Laura Bambrick, social policy officer at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. “Everybody agreed we needed to bridge that gap between having to finish work and getting to draw down the pension but it will also help those people still with substantial financial outgoings in the mid-60s for whom retirement sounds nice but isn’t really practical … Our understanding had been that this legislation would go to the Houses and be finished before the summer, but that schedule is gone now.”

The Department of Employment said the Bill has been “sent to the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for drafting. Once drafted, it is anticipated that the Bill will commence its passage through the Houses of the Oireachtas during 2024.”

Ms Bambrick believes there is a possibility the legislation could become by the middle of next year, something that would still negatively affect thousands of staff at companies with policies requiring retirement at 65. But she suggests the issue may fall to the next Government to address if the current one doesn’t remain in power until into the new year.

The Oireachtas committee on employment completed its pre-legislative scrutiny of the Bill recently and made several recommendations including that the Government, employers and unions engage on how older workers might be allowed more flexible patterns of work and that retirement ages might be made more flexible.

The majority of public service workers are entitled to work until their 70th birthday, although workers in some roles, including the Defence Forces, Fire Service and An Garda Síochána are exempt from that legislation as they would be from this.

Many employers allow staff to stay on beyond 65 and there have been cases of some with policies that provide for retirement at that age having been obliged to extend the employment of workers following claims of age discrimination.

Generally, though, where workers wish to continue working, employers are advised to assess their request in light of several policy issues and engage with them on a case-by-case basis.