Policy background Sitting in retirement
Sitting in retirement (SIR) permits a salaried judge to retire from their salaried office, draw their pension in relation to that office, and continue to sit as a fee-paid judge if there is a business need to do so.
	While salaried judges can apply to sit in retirement, this option was not equally available to fee-paid judges under previous legislation. To remove this differential treatment and provide a policy which applies consistently across salaried and fee-paid offices, the Act provides for a suite of new judicial offices to which both salaried and fee paid office holders in scope can apply on retirement.
	While it is hoped that, in time, the changes to judicial pension and the higher MRA will lead to improvements in recruitment and retention of judicial office holders that will reduce the business need for judges to sit in retirement, drawing upon retired judicial office holders remains an important flexibility to help the judiciary meet immediate demands where there may be temporary shortages. Extending powers for judges to be appointed to sit in retirement to a wider range of judicial offices, including relevant fee-paid offices, is designed to enhance this flexibility.