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Related Information
Guidance
Acas is nominated by government to provide advice to employers and individuals about the age regulations.
Acas Helpline 08457 474747.
Website: www.acas.org.uk
Acas has published guidance for employers on the age regulations:
Age and the workplace (PDF - 564KB)
See the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory reform (BERR) website for full details on Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
Exemptions to the age regulations
In practice, these are extremely rare but there are a limited number of occasions when it is legal to set an age limit:
- The job cannot legally be done by a person under a certain age (for example, serving alcohol or handling dangerous machinery).
- There is a 'genuine occupational requirement'. In practice this is unusual apart from acting in certain roles in the theatre or other media.
- The applicant is over, or within six months of the employer's retirement age provided this is over 65 or has been objectively justified if it is below 65. This means that the employer would have to show that the reason is necessary and is the right way to meet a genuine aim of the business.
Age legislation
It is unlawful to discriminate against employees, job seekers and trainees on the grounds of age.
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 cover workers of all ages and all employment and vocational training.
The regulations include access to help and guidance, recruitment, promotion, development, redundancy, perks and pay.
Employers need to be aware of their duties and review how they recruit and retain staff. They should check that current policies, practices and routines in all aspects of employment are compliant with the age regulations. Information to help employers understand requirements is contained in the Good Practice pages.
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
The Regulations prohibit unjustified direct and indirect age discrimination, and all harassment and victimisation on grounds of age, of people of any age, young or old.
The regulations:
- ban age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training.
- ban unjustified retirement ages of below 65.
- remove the current age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights.
The regulations introduce:
- a right for employees to request working beyond retirement age and a duty on employers to consider that request.
- a new requirement for employers to give at least six months notice to employees about their intended retirement date so that individuals can plan better for retirement, and be confident that "retirement" is not being used as cover for unfair dismissal.
The regulations do not affect the age at which people can claim their state pension.
The regulations:
- remove the upper age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, giving older workers the same rights to claim unfair dismissal or receive a redundancy payment as younger workers, unless there is a genuine retirement
- allow pay and non-pay benefits to continue which depend on length of service requirements of 5 years or less or which recognise and reward loyalty and experience and motivate staff
- remove the age limits for Statutory Sick Pay, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay, so that the legislation for all four statutory payments applies in exactly the same way to all
- remove the lower and upper age limits in the statutory redundancy scheme, but leave the current age-banded system in place.
- provide exemptions for many age-based rules in occupational pension schemes.