A new study concludes that there has been little change in most employers’ age-related policies and practices since the Age Regulations came into effect in October 2006.  

It examines all those areas of the employment relationship where age may come into play, from recruitment through to retirement.  It finds that those most likely to suffer age discrimination in employment continues to be young and older workers.

There are some areas where the situation appears to have changed, however. These include a reduction in age-related criteria being used in redundancy selection and pay enhancements and a slight decline in the use of compulsory retirement.  There has also been a growth in the number of employers’ equal opportunity policies which explicity  cover ‘age’ and the use of formal performance appraisals, both of which might help guard against age discrimination.

Less encouragingly, the percentage of establishments monitoring the age profile of their workforce has fallen from 32 per cent to 22 per cent since 2006.

The use of compulsory retirement ages by some employers reinforces the lack of opportunities for their employees as they approach retirement, the study finds.  It also impacts their recruitment policies, making it more likely that they would have maximium recruitment ages and that candidate selection would be affected by their time to retirement.

The study estimates that abolishing the Default Retirement Age will have a limited impact, affecting a maximum of 20 per cent of establishments, covering 24 per cent of the workforce.

There is still work needed to raise awareness of the age discrimination regulations.  Those that should be targeted the authors suggest should include: small organisations; the private sector; employers in manufacturing, construction, hotels and restaurants, wholesale and retail trade, transport, storage and communications and small owner-managed organisations.

Second survey of employers’ policies, practices and preferences relating to age, 2010 by Hilary Metcalf and Pamela Meadows for the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills and the Department for Work and Pensions: Employment relations research series No: 110