We have an employee who will turn 65 in September. Our standard contract specifies a retirement age of 65 years however the employee in question only appears to have received a Letter of Offer which does not specify a retirement age. We are in the process of finalising our Employee Handbook which refers to the retirement age however this has not yet been distributed to employees. Can we terminate this individual’s employment on his birthday? He is employed as a general office porter and his position does require some physical exertion.

In the absence of a specified contractual retirement age, you should look to the company's normal retirement age, which appears to be 65 based on the information provided. (In any event, if the NRA cannot be identified the default retirement age of 65 under the Age Regulations will apply).

If you wish to retire the employee this September, you need to follow the statutory retirement procedure. In outline, the statutory procedure requires you to give the employee written notification of the date you intend to retire him - the intended retirement date (IRD) - and their right to request to continue working beyond that date, at least 6 months, but no more than 12 months before the IRD