Have you been the victim of age discrimination? Contact Age Concern for advice

On October 1st 2006 new legislation - The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 - came into force in the UK. This new law will provide protection against age discrimination in employment, training and adult education for people of all ages.

The new law will not cover discrimination in goods and services. Insurance companies and health care providers will still be able to discriminate on the grounds of age,

Unpaid volunteers will also not be covered the legislation. But unpaid volunteering which is part of a training course - such as unpaid teaching work as part of a teacher training course - will be covered.

The current state pension age - 60 for women and 65 for men - will not be affected. You do not , however, have to retire once you are able to start drawing your pension. But if your company has a retirement age of 65 or older it will usually be lawful for them to force you to retire provided they follow the correct procedure.

What kinds of discrimination will be unlawful?

Direct discrimination - you cannot be treated less favourably because of your age, or because of the age you appear to be.

Indirect discrimination - a company cannot have a policy or practice which puts people of a certain age at a disadvantage compared with other people.

Harassment - this covers any unwanted conduct on the grounds of age which has either the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, or creating an intimidating, humiliating or offensive environment for that person

Victimisation - this means being treated unfairly as a result of making a complaint of age discrimination or giving evidence when some has made a complaint.

Areas covered by the legislation which may affect you

Retirement under the age of 65 - this law introduces a new default retirement age of 65 for both men and women. If your employer tries to force you to retire under the age of 65 you can claim for age discrimination and unfair dismissal.

The retirement will be unlawful unless the employer can justify it - but this will only happen under exceptional circumstances.

Voluntary retirement will not be affected. It will still be possible for you to choose to retire under age 65 if you want to.

Retirement over 65 - Employees will have a new right to request to continue working after the date when the employer wants them to retire.

Your employer must give you a minimum of six months and a maximum of 12 months notice of the intended date of your retirement. They must also tell you that you have the right to request to continue working. This requirement is intended to prevent employers using retirement as a 'cover up' for another reason for dismissing an employee - such as redundancy, or the employees conduct or performance.

If less than 6 months notice is given you can be awarded up to eight weeks pay - up to a maximum of £290 a week - by the Employment Tribunal. And if less than 2 weeks notice and/or the right to make a request not to retire, the retirement will be an unfair dismissal. If your employer fails to give at least 6 months notice there is still an ongoing duty for them to inform you of your right to request to continue working

Duty to consider procedure - If you make a request not to retire your employer has a duty to consider this request. The procedure they must follow is called the 'duty to consider procedure'.

Your request should be in writing and should clearly state whether you want to continue working indefinitely, for a certain period or until a certain date. Your employer must hold a meeting discuss your request with you within a reasonable period of time. And they must notify you of their decision as soon as it's reasonably possible.

You have the right to appeal meeting if you are not happy with the decision and you have the right to be accompanied to the meetings by a colleague. But the new right is only a request to stay on. Your employer can refuse the request without giving reasons for their decision. It will only be possible to challenge their decision if they have not followed the correct procedure

Unfair dismissal - The new law gets rids of the upper age limit for claiming unfair dismissal . Employees over 65 will now have the right to challenge an employers decision to dismiss them.

But the introduction the new default retirement age of 65 creates a limit to this new right if the employer says the reason for dismissal is retirement - provided they have followed the correct procedures as detailed above.

Redundancy - The upper age limit for redundancy has also been removed. All employees - including those over 65 - will be entitled to statutory redundancy pay if the reason for their dismissal is redundancy.

Age and length of service will still be used as a factor in calculating statutory redundancy pay - and compensation for unfair dismissal. You will be entitled to 1.5 weeks pay - up to a maximum of £290 per week - for each year of service aged 41, and one weeks pay for each year under 41 up to a maximum 20 years service. This will actually benefit older over younger people - a form of age discrimination - but the government believes this difference in treatment is justified.

It will also be unlawful for employers to use age as a factor when considering who to select for redundancy.

Statutory sick pay - The upper age limit for statutory sick pay has been removed. People who are still working after age 65 will be entitled to SSP for up to 28 weeks - just like other workers.

Adult learning - It is now unlawful for education and training course providers to discriminate against people on the grounds of their age. All adult learning courses - including university courses - will be covered, whether they are work related or not. Training provided by other organisations will also be covered.

As with employment, both direct and indirect discrimination will be unlawful - unless the course provider can justify the discrimination. Victimisation and harassment on the grounds of age will also be unlawful.

A course provider will have to provide courses to people of all ages on the same terms - again unless the is can be justified or is covered by an exemption.

Can an employer or training provider ever justify discrimination?

Under the new law both direct and indirect discrimination will be unlawful unless they can justify the discrimination or an exemption applies.

To justify discrimination they must show that it Is a 'proportionate' - appropriate and necessary - way of achieving a 'legitimate' aim. An employer could, for example, argue that it was appropriate and necessary to refuse to recruit people over 60 if there is a long and expensive training period before starting the job. And the legitimate aim would be the need for a person to be in a job for a reasonable time before they retire. But they would also have to show that there was no less discriminatory way of achieving the aim

There are also a number of exemptions set out in the new law which mean that - in certain circumstances - employers will be able to discriminate on the grounds of age without having to justify it.

Some of these exceptions - such as 'length of service benefits' and 'positive action' - can actually work in the older age group's favour. One that might not is the 'genuine occupational requirement' exemption, which allows an employer to set an age requirement for a job if there is a genuine need for a person to have a characteristic related to a certain age. But examples of where this might be relevant are few and far between.

What to do if you think you have been the victim of age discrimination

If you think you have a case it is important that you seek expert legal advice. Your local Age Concern - call free on 0800 00 99 66 - or Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to help, or you could contact a solicitor.

These organisations may also be able to provide useful support and information:

ACAS - will provide guidance on the new Regulations. They run a helpline on 08457 47 47 47 or visit their website at www.acas.org.uk.

The Employers Forum on Age - this website has a lot of information for employers. Visit www.efa.org.uk.

The Third Age Employment Network - this campaigning organisation works for better opportunities for older people to continue working and learning. Telephone 020 7843 1590 or visit www.taen.org.uk.

Age Positive - a government campaign promoting age diversity in employment. Website address is www.agepositive.gov.uk

Information obtained from Age Concern Information Sheet IS/17 'How will the new law on age discrimination affect you?' March 2006.www.ageconcern.org.uk