Confirmed - you can retire employees at 65 (for now)
The High Court has recently ruled that the current UK retirement process, including the default retirement age of 65, is lawful.
 
Employers are therefore able to retire compulsorily employees aged 65 and over as long as the statutory retirement procedures are complied with. Failure to comply with the statutory retirement procedures could result in a claim for unfair dismissal. 

Whilst this reinforces the current rules for now, the Government have brought forward their review of the default retirement age to next year.  It is possible that the right to retire compulsorily will then be abolished. 

The right to request time off to train

The Government’s proposals regarding apprenticeships and training have received Royal Assent in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009. One of the Act’s provisions is the right of employees to request time off for training.

This new right will be introduced in April 2010. The Government has recently announced that small businesses (any firm with fewer than 250 employees) will have a one year exemption. As with flexible work requests, the new right is a right to request time to train, not a right to insist on time off.

Fathers are to have longer paternity leave rights from 2011

The Government has now published details of its plans for transferring maternity leave to fathers.

The proposal is that the regulations will come in to force next April, enabling mothers of children due on or after 3 April 2011 to transfer up to six months of their maternity leave to the father when they return to work. Similar provision will apply to adoptive parents.