8 March 2021
Lord Chancellor announcement on Judicial Mandatory Retirement Age
The Lord Chancellor has today announced the Government response to its consultation on the Judicial Mandatory Retirement Age (MRA) and its intention to raise the MRA to 75.
The Government response addresses the impact on candidates applying for judicial office, who are required to be able to provide a reasonable length of service (which varies between different offices) from the date of being recommended for appointment until retirement.
To ensure that candidates who would be otherwise eligible are not unfairly excluded, it is the Lord Chancellor’s policy that the JAC should, for selection exercises commencing from 8 March, consider applications from candidates who can offer a reasonable length of service before reaching the retirement age of 75 (rather than 70) following recommendation.
The current MRA of 70 will continue to apply until the change is implemented through legislation; and therefore until that point all candidates will still need to be under 70 in order to be recommended for appointment.
Full details of the eligibility requirements for each selection exercise can be found on the relevant information page on the JAC website.