Consultation on Judicial Mandatory Retirement Age

This consultation invites views on proposals to raise the mandatory retirement age (MRA) for judicial office holders, including judges in courts in England and Wales, the Unified Tribunals and some other tribunals, magistrates in England and Wales and coroners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Current legislation sets the MRA for most judicial office holders at the age of 70. The Lord Chancellor has a constitutional duty to provide resources for the effective operation of courts and tribunals. This includes reviewing policies which may impact on the appointment and retention of sufficient judicial office holders to operate the justice system. We are therefore consulting on whether the mandatory retirement age should be raised and if so, to either the age of 72 or 75. We also seek views on related matters including permitting judges’ and magistrates’ appointments to be extended after the mandatory age if it is in the public interest.

The Consultation Document, Equality Statement, Impact Assessment and a Welsh translation of the Executive Summary are available on this page.

This consultation has been developed in coordination with ongoing work on judicial pensions. The Government is concurrently consulting on amendments to the Fee-Paid Judicial Pension Scheme, the Government response to the McCloud judgment, and a reformed pension scheme. Respondents may find it useful to consider these consultations when providing a response.