FOI request (FOIR-311951326)

Discrimination of Workers Aged Over 50

Requested Mon 01 March 2021
Responded  Tue 13 April 2021

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information.

Please provide anonymised information from 01/01/2016 to 31/12/2020 about the following:

Do you have any specific age friendly practices to support the recruitment of older workers aged over 50? Yes or no. If yes, please outline your policy briefly.

Are job descriptions for posts advertised externally assessed for ageist language that could exclude older workers? Yes or no. If yes, please state which online word checkers you have used.

How many any age discrimination claims by workers aged over 50 have been made against your organisation in courts or tribunals in the last 5 years? For each case, please supply court/tribunal reference.

Response

Hastings Borough Council has a number of policies covering Equalities and Recruitment, all of which refer to protecting those with protected characteristics. Our Fair Employment Policy states: "the recruitment of staff will support the council's commitment to ensuring a diverse workforce by proactively seeking to attract groups who are underrepresented in the council".

Latest information available on our workforce profile shows that 40.5% of our workforce is over 50 so this group is not underrepresented and therefore we have no specific practices currently in place for recruitment. HBC Job Descriptions and advertisements placed externally (and internally) are checked for ageist language by trained HR Managers but online checkers are not used currently. We have had no age discrimination claims by workers aged over 50 in the last 5 years.