Govt. issues circular raising State sector retirement age to 65

The Ministry of Public Administration yesterday issued a circular giving effect to the decision by the Government to increase the retirement age in the public sector to 65 years. The new retirement age is effective from 1 January  this year.

 The Circular was sent to secretaries of all ministries and state ministries, Chief secretaries of Provincial councils and heads of departments by the Secretary to the Ministry of Public Administration J.J.Ratnasiri.

The decision to raise  the age of retirement in the public sector was announced by  Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa in last November’s Budget.

He said with the  average life expectancy on the increase , the current age of retirement at 60  is not in keeping with this trend.

The circular applies to all civil servants excluding those whose retirement age is specified through the Constitution or other laws.

Accordingly, if an officer has already obtained pre-retirement leave and intends to continue working under the new circular, his or her request for retirement should be cancelled by the Head of the Department. Following which an individual can report to work and notify the Director General of Pensions in writing of the cancellation.

The circular states that the minimum service period for pension entitlement will be extended from five to 10 years. The age of retirement in the private sector was extended from 55 to 60 years recently.