Report shows age discrimination widespread in workplace - Lynne

4.40.17pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 24th Oct 2005

A report released by the Chartered Management Institute and the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development shows that Britain's workforce is still being discriminated against on the grounds of age.

Liz Lynne MEP, who was responsible for making sure that discrimination on the grounds of age was kept in the 2000 EU Employment Directive, said today,

"This report is clear proof that age discrimination is still taking place in Britain. It is disgraceful that younger people and older people alike are being discriminated against in the workplace. The Government has not adequately supported business in bringing an end to age discrimination.

"The Government had the opportunity to implement age discrimination legislation by December 2003 but asked for an extension. It has continued to drag its feet over the issue and we are now left with the unfortunate results of this report.

"There is no excuse for the disgraceful way that the Government has handled this issue - their unwillingness to seriously address age discrimination in the past is totally unacceptable. They must make sure that they quickly take this report on board."

ENDS.

Note to Editors:

Age anti-discrimination legislation is being introduced as a direct result of the European Employment Directive 2000. Under this directive, discrimination in the employment field on the grounds of a person's disability, age, sexual orientation or religion must be outlawed in all EU countries. As ALDE group Shadow Rapporteur for this directive, Liz Lynne successfully argued that Age should be included within the scope of the directive. The deadline for introducing this directive into UK law is December 2003. However, EU countries may request a further extension of 3 years to introduce legislation outlawing discrimination on the grounds of disability and age. The UK government requested a delay of 12 months to introduce legislation to outlaw disability discrimination, and 3 years to outlaw age discrimination.

The report stated that 59 per cent of those asked claim that they have been personally disadvantaged because of their age. The same group also said that 22 per cent of the time, when they were making recruitment decisions, age was a factor.

Almost half - 48 per cent - had been victims of age discrimination in job applications and 39 per cent believed it had hindered their chances of promotion.