Why HR needs to address '65 or State Pension age'

When the default retirement age became no more in October 2011 there was an exemption – the Group Risk industry made it possible for businesses to terminate an employee’s entitlement to the benefit when they reached ’65 or State Pension age’.

Paul Avis, Group Marketing Director at Canada Life, explains this to HR Grapevine: “Specifically there was a fear that a Group Income Protection claimant may have to be paid until they died as the contract of employment could not be ceased without going through a formal capability dismissal.

“That could lead to the costs of allowing people into schemes increasing dramatically as age is the biggest determinant in setting Group Risk prices.”

But this comes with a caveat. Avis tells us that “the exemption is only guaranteed if the organisation has insurance in place”.