"Older workers pass on vital skills and give practical support to new employees. This has helped us improve
training by involving experienced workers in the company's apprenticeship scheme."
Spokesperson, South Wales Forgemasters
Employees of all ages benefit from training. This may mean updating existing skills or gaining new skills. This can help businesses grow and become more efficient. At any age, an investment in training shows real results including:
Training opportunities encourage staff to stay with the company, saving businesses the cost of additional recruitment and potential disruption. Staff are not always aware of the opportunities that are open to them and all employees should be made aware that training and developmentare available, without minimum or maximum age restrictions.
It is unlawful to rule out anyone for promotion on the grounds of age. When making decisions on promotion it is important that these should be based on merit and not on any age criteria - no one is too old or too young to be considered for promotion. Experience may be relevant to deciding who is suitable but this may not be related to a set or minimum number of years.
Some government-funded training programmes do have age limits. For example, Modern Apprenticeships generally restrict funding to 16-24 year olds. Other Apprenticeship opportunities are available for everyone else.
For a free employers pack on Apprenticeships, telephone 0800 015 04 00.Train to Gain provides training advice and information to all businesses. Telephone 0800 015 55 45.