The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations were implemented in October 2006.

This legislation outlaws unjustified discrimination on the grounds of age in all aspects of employment and vocational training.

The regulations introduced a national default retirement age of 65, to be reviewed in 2011. Employees will have a right to request to work past that age and employers must give serious consideration to such a request. If an employer wishes to set a lower retirement age, they must justify this and show that is “appropriate and necessary” to do so.