The Employment (Contractual Retirement Ages) Bill 2025 sets out that that an employer may not enforce a contractual retirement age which is below the State Pension Age if the employee does not consent to retire.

Publishing the bill last week, enterprise, tourism and employment minister Peter Burke said: “This Bill will effectively create a new employment right specifically for employees who are subject to a retirement age in their employment contract which is set below the State Pension Age of 66.

“One of the main objectives of the bill is to bridge the income gap experienced by a person who is required to retire at an age which is lower than the age at which they can access the State Pension.

“The publication of this bill, together with the wider package of pension reforms being rolled out by government, is a significant step in improving the predictability of retirement income for employees and helping to protect workers when they are approaching retirement.

“Workers may still retire at 65 as per their contract if they so wish, but there are a cohort of people who are happy to continue to work for an extra year and this change in employment law will allow for this.”

Alan Dillon, minister of state for small business and retail, added: “I am very pleased with the publication of this bill which will implement a recommendation from the Pensions Commission and a key government commitment relating to contractual retirement ages.

“The legislation reaffirms our long-standing policy to encourage and support longer and fuller working lives, where older people are facilitated in continuing in employment, if they wish to, until the age at which they can first access the State Pension.”