New flexible retirement rules

bouicca21

I am approaching my contractual retirement age. I am in a final salary scheme but only have about 20 years service so the pension will not be substantial.

As I understand it the new rules mean I cannot be forced to retire despite the age specified in my employment contract. I'd be prepared to go on working for a year or two but ideally would prefer to go part time. Can I insist on part time as opposed to full time work? And if I can do part time, does my employer have to keep me on the same grade and pay me my current salary pro rata, or can he downgrade me?

And what effect would part time working have on my pension payment - both the incme and the lump sum?

Is there a plain English guide to all this somewhere?

mgdavid

It can vary from scheme to scheme; ask your HR department or Pensions people; you should have written rules on how the pension scheme works, or on company website perhaps.

SallyG

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lawyer-loses-retirement-age-appeal-7678309.html

Recent appeal against being retired involuntarily failed on the particular circumstances of the case.

bouicca21

Thanks. I work for a very small organisation in which boss and HR department are effectively the same person, so I want to be armed with informaton before I start discussions! Will look at the pension website and maybe contact them direct.

sleepless_saver

You could have a look at the Third Age Employment Network site for info about the age legislation.

You can't insist on working part time, it's up to the employer. Best tactic is to make a convincing case for reduced hours, showing the benefits for employer.

richbeth

bouicca21 wrote: »

Thanks. I work for a very small organisation in which boss and HR department are effectively the same person, so I want to be armed with informaton before I start discussions! Will look at the pension website and maybe contact them direct.

Hi,
there are 2 issues.
1) Can the company force you to retire ? the legislation is new so case law is unclear. However according to the training my company gave all managers if you are capable of doing the job they would probably struggle to justify forcing retirement. Note that some home insurance policies have legal helplines that might cover this.
2) Part-time working - I think that even if it is a small company they must have a flexible working policy. Essentially you have a legal right to request flexible working and the employer must consider this but doesn't have to grant it. It will all depend upon 'the boss' and I guess you will be best placed to judge how reasonable they are vs the impact of part-time working.

Note I'm not an expert so this is just opinion !
Good luck,
Richard