Our pension age is 65. Can a business still maintain 65 as retirement age or not? If yes, are there any provisos?

The legislation which allowed the lawful retirement of employees who reached the default retirement age of 65 was repealed in April 2011. This doesn’t mean that employees can’t retire at 65 anymore - it just means that this has become an issue of choice for them, rather than compulsion.

While consensual retirement may well become the norm, it is still possible for employers to retire people compulsorily at 65 (or another age for retirement) where this can be ‘objectively justified’. Regardless of whichever age they settle on, legality will rest on justification of the decision with reference to a legitimate aim being pursued and showing that the means used to pursue it are proportionate.