For intermediaries - The Age Regulations

The new Age Discrimination Regulations place important new responsibilities upon such key labour market intermediaries as recruitment agencies, job brokers (including Jobcentre Plus), training and career information, advice and guidance providers.

These new responsibilities apply to these intermediaries both in their roles as employers in their own right and also in terms of the services and provision they offer.

Whether as suppliers of permanent, temporary or contract workers, recruitment agencies and job brokers play a key role in the labour market – matching up jobseekers with employers’ vacancies.

The job descriptions, person specifications and job advertisements they devise and use along with their registration, interview and candidate selection procedures, the information they supply to employers about candidates - all fall squarely within the scope of the regulations. In order to comply with them, agencies and brokers will have to ensure that they adopt an ‘age neutral’ approach to these matters in future, even if they have not done so in the past.

The requirement to adopt an ‘age neutral’ approach also applies to other intermediaries such as training and career information, advice and guidance providers.

However, once again there are certain exemptions which may apply in certain situations as far as intermediaries are concerned.

(click here for details of the exemptions which may apply)