Chris Ball, chief executive of The Age and Employment Network (TAEN), wants age audits to be become a mandatory part of annual reports, to encourage employers to think more seriously about age issues. The Equality Bill, will enable the government to force employers to report their gender pay gaps from 2013 if they have not voluntarily done so already, but no such provision exists regarding the age of employees. Ball added that this provision should start with the FTSE 100 companies.

Recent results of a survey of 400 over-50s jobseekers. It found the number who believed employers viewed them as too old for a vacancy had risen from 63% in 2008 to 72%. The number of over-50s reporting that they felt they had experienced age discrimination in the workplace or in seeking employment also rose by 5% to 55%.

Don’t forget that ageism doesn’t only apply to the older employee, we should be careful that discrimination doesn’t occur for younger members of staff. In fact, a substantial number of age discrimination tribunal claims are from the younger population.