My boss wants me to retire. How can I request to stay on?

The request must generally be made between three and six months before the intended date of retirement. You must comply with the following rules when making a request. Your application must:

• be made in writing, in either paper or electronic form, stating that it is being made under the statutory right to request not to retire;
• state that your employment should continue indefinitely, for a stated period or until a stated date.

You should note that you may only make one request in relation to any one intended retirement date, even where that date was subsequently amended by agreement or extended by the employer. Where the employer has notified you late or only verbally, you may still make a request to stay on at any stage from six months before up until the intended date of retirement.

Your employer has a duty to consider your request, and unless your request is granted in full, your employer must:

• arrange a meeting with you within a reasonable period of receiving the application to discuss the request;
• notify you in writing of their decision as soon as reasonably practicable after the date of the meeting. This notification will either: accept the request and state that your employment will continue indefinitely or for a further specified period; or confirm that your employer wishes to retire you and the date on which your dismissal will take place.

If you decide to appeal, you must give notice saying why you wish to appeal as soon as reasonably practicable after the date of the employer’s notification to you. Your employer must then:

• arrange to hear your appeal within a reasonable period after the date of your appeal notice;
• notify you in writing of their decision on the appeal as soon as reasonably practicable after the date of the meeting. This notification will either: uphold the appeal and state that your employment will continue indefinitely or for a further specified period; or refuse the appeal and confirm that your employer wishes to retire you and the date on which your dismissal will take place.

You should also note that if your employer has received your request to carry on working within the time limits, but has delayed giving you a decision, your dismissal would be regarded as ineffective.

You have the right to be accompanied at meetings or appeal meetings to discuss your request by a companion of your choice. This companion must be a fellow worker employed by the same employer as you. You will only have the right to choose a union representative as your companion if they work for the same employer. This will include situations where the union representative works at another site or establishment, but the overall employer is the same. Your companion is permitted to address the meeting (but not to answer questions on your behalf), and may also confer with you during the meeting. Your contract of employment or employer’s collective agreement with your union may give wider rights of representation at meetings, and you should check your rights on this carefully. The employer may also be prepared to allow a union official or other expert not employed by the organisation to participate in meetings if you wish them to do so.

If your employer fails or threatens to fail to comply with your rights to be accompanied at meetings or appeal meetings you have a separate right to complain to an employment tribunal. This complaint must in general be made within 3 months of the failure, or threat of failure, to comply. The tribunal will only extend this time limit if it is satisfied that it was not reasonably practicable for the complaint to have been brought within that period (and then only for such further period as it considers reasonable). If you succeed in this claim, you are entitled to an award of compensation of up to 2 weeks’ pay. The upper limit on a weeks’ pay for this purpose is £380 (from October 2009).

Your employer must allow your companion, whether a union representative or not, a reasonable amount of paid time off work during working hours to accompany you to a meeting or appeal meeting.