The Regulations apply to individuals of all ages in work, seeking work or looking to access vocational training.
All employers and all providers of training and vocational guidance, including further and higher educational institutions, are bound by this legislation. The Regulations can be viewed on the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills website.
Supporting employers
At NHS Employers, our work on age diversity in the workforce concentrates on the strategic workforce implications by providing briefings, support materials and information so that healthcare organisations can develop age-friendly policies and practices. This will ensure that employers are complying with the legislation, as well as taking steps locally to enhance their employment practices to meet future requirements.
Guidance and tools
The following pages provide information on how to promote age equality. There are a number of downloadable tools to help you, including:
* To view the speaker notes on the powerpoint presentation, you will need to save the presentation to your computer.
There are also links to other sites that host research, statistics and other publications that identify the sources of age discrimination and ageism, not only in the health and social care fields, but in other areas of every day life.
Context
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations are set in the context of a maturing UK population and proportionally fewer school leavers in the available labour market. By 2025, half of the adult population will be aged 50 or over. This change in the demographic makeup of our society is also taking place in other countries and the implications need to be addressed now.