The overall general position is that direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of age will be unlawful in the employment field (including vocational training) as from 1st October 2006, unless objectively justified. Appropriate new rules to implement this are required throughout the EU by the EC Equal Treatment Framework Directive 2000/78/EC of 27th November 2000. The final date for implementation of the age discrimination part of the directive is 2nd December 2006 (see generally Discrimination/new EC directives ).

In Britain, following a DTI consultation document of 14th July 2005, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/1031 are in force from 1st October 2006.

To go to the full text of the 2006 regulations in these notes click here on Age discrimination/2006 regulations/an index and text .

In outline the proposals are:-

1. no change to current State Pension age (60F, 65M - see notes at Social Security/Employment related benefits/retirement pension );
   
2. to make all retirement ages under 65 illegal unless objectively justified.
   
3. to make direct and indirect age discrimination illegal in terms of recruitment (including advertising), promotion and training;
   
4. to remove the current upper age limit for unfair dismissal rights (there is no lower age limit) and the upper and lower age limits for statutory redundancy pay (see notes at Unfair dismissal/age limits and/or Redundancy/age limits ). The current age band differentials in calculation of statutory redundancy pay will be retained (as to which see Redundancy/calculation of statutory redundancy pay/basic calculation ).
   
5. to require employers to give proper consideration to an employee's request to continue working beyond retirement; and
   
6. rather patronisingly, to require employers to give written notice to employees at least 6 months in advance of their intended retirement date.

The DTI consultation document contains practical advice for employers, from which the immediately following suggestions are extracted:

• start a review of employment practices and procedures now;
  
• check employment contracts, staff handbooks and benefits packages and arrangements to ensure that any service or age related benefits comply with the regulations;
  
• identify where changes need to be made to comply with the Age Regulations, and where necessary enter into discussions with employees and/or trade unions to ensure that required changes are in place by 1st October 2006.
  
• check recruitment and application procedures:
  • ensure that job agencies are not asked to act unlawfully;
    
  • check job advertisements are not age-discriminatory;
    
  • ensure that those who conduct interviews and make decisions on job offers do not have any prejudices in relation to age.
• check retirement procedures especially if there is a normal retiring age.

The DTI consultation document suggests that it is good practice to collect information on the age profile of your workforce "since this will make it easier for you to check whether age discrimination is occurring". However no doubt this should be very carefully handled as it might itself be used as evidence to suggest ageist policies in the event of a dispute. The consultation document recommends that care is taken to follow the Information Commissioner's Code of Practice on data protection in employment.

The DTI Age Legislation team can be contacted on 0207 215 6278 or by e-mail at age.consultation@dti.gsi.gov.uk. Also, the ACAS Age and the Workplace "Guide for Employers" booklet may be helpful.

For notes on the background go to Age discrimination/2006 regulations/background .