Hello madam It is UCL's policy that staff normally retire at the age of 65. The retirement date for staff in post prior to January 2006 is either the 31st July or 30th September following their 65 th birthday depending on their staff group. For all new appointees from January 2006 the planned retirement date is 31st July following their 65 th birthday. Information on UCL's pension schemes can be found at
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/hr/docs/pensions_retire.php and staff are encouraged to plan for their retirement by contacting the Pensions Team within the HR Division for information on the benefits options open to them. 2 Staff who retire from UCL will be offered membership of the UCL Alumni Association which entitles them to an email address, regular newsletters, and access to the Library, the Language Centre, UCL Collections, and discounts at the Bloomsbury Theatre, Bloomsbury Fitness and the UCL Union. 3 The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, effective from 1 st October 2006 give staff a right to be reminded of the opportunity to request to work beyond their employers' retirement age and employers a duty to consider any such request within a statutory procedure. This document outlines the process that UCL will operate in response to such requests and the issues that will be considered prior to response. 4 UCL aims for international excellence in all its activities and seeks to contribute to the resolution of problems of global significance through its research. In a rapidly changing and highly dynamic marketplace a healthy level of turnover is required to introduce new skills and approaches. As rates of turnover, particularly amongst academic staff have traditionally been low there is a UCL wide need to retain the planned retirement date, other than in exceptional circumstances. In addition to the UCL context, consideration of any requests to work beyond the planned retirement date will take place in light of departmental plans and circumstances. 5 From October 2006 UCL will consider and respond in writing to all requests to work beyond UCL's retirement age of 65. The procedure (set out in Appendix A) for considering requests to work beyond the planned retirement date will be administered by the HR Division and must be followed, as failure to follow this procedure could result in a retirement being deemed to be unfair. 6 Where a request to continue working beyond 65 is received, the HoD will only approve the request if s/he considers it to be in the best interests of the department taking into account issues such as the strategic direction and operational needs of the department the current departmental research strategy the skills mix required by the department for the foreseeable future the teaching, administrative and support needs of the department succession and workforce planning space allocation priorities 7 Where, exceptionally, a request is agreed it will be for a fixed period of time, normally with the minimum being one year and the maximum being three years. Where an extension beyond the planned retirement date is agreed, the new date will become the new planned retirement date, six months prior to which the process set out above will need to be repeated. 8 The number and profile of staff taking advantage of the right to request to work beyond 65 will be monitored by the HR Policy Committee. Regards, Hanuma