Age discrimination

These regulations will ban discrimination in the workplace on the basis of a person's age.

Key measures

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 outlaw age discrimination in the areas of recruitment, employment and vocational training.

Key measures imposed by the legislation include:

• The setting of a default retirement age of 65, with a ban on compulsory retirement for employees below this age (except where it can be objectively justified)
• A removal of the upper age limits for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights
• An obligation on employers to consider an employee's request to continue working beyond retirement age, and to give written notification to employees of their intended retirement date, at least six months in advance.

The regulations cover both direct and indirect discrimination, and include harassment and victimisation.

The laws also apply to workers of all ages, not just more senior employees, so it is important to ensure that your policies do not discriminate against any members of staff.

Avoiding age discrimination

You should take particular care in the areas of recruitment and selection, training and promotion, employee benefits, redundancy, pensions and retirement.

When recruiting employees, make sure that your recruitment and selection procedures focus objectively on the skills and abilities needed to perform the job, and not on a candidate's age. You should avoid inappropriate references to age in job advertisements, for example referring to 'mature, experienced' or 'young, energetic workers', or references to modern qualifications, such as GCSEs, which could be seen as discriminatory; 'GCSE or equivalent' is preferable.

When it comes to training and benefits, you should give all employees equal access to training opportunities and employee benefits, such as flexitime.

Any promotions given to staff should reward their performance, regardless of age, and you should also make sure that any decisions regarding redundancy are based objectively on the needs of the business.

You should always seek professional legal advice if you are in any doubt regarding your employment policies.