Equality legislation means that you are no longer encouraged to put your age on an application form. Potential employers are just not supposed to consider the age of a candidate when deciding who to interview or offer jobs to.
But the Government is worried about the number of people aged between 18 and 24 who are finding it difficult to get their first job, so have introduced the Youth Contract.
Championed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg the Youth Contract provides employers who give an unemployed person who is aged between 18 and 24 a job a grant of £2,200.
So if you were the first of your group of friends to celebrate your 25th birthday you could find all of your younger mates getting more interviews and ultimately a job before you.
You might be right in thinking that this is a case of systematic age discrimination and Camilla Parker a specialist age discrimination lawyer would agree with you, she told the Daily Telegraph that older workers “may well have a good case against the Government or employers”.
Whilst the Government is promoting the Youth Contract it has also advised employers to seek their own legal advice before participating in the scheme, and has said that older workers could potentially sue the Department of Work and Pensions.
So maybe this is just politics. The Government creates a scheme to solve a problem, but in doing so breaks the law. Few employers will take advantage of it, and those that do, like many who got involved in the work experience scheme that was subject to so much criticism for creating slave labour jobs, will live to regret their involvement.
Before you all run off to the no-win-no-fee law firms it is worth remembering what Joseph Shelston an employment law expert pointed out to the Daily Telegraph, if someone who was over 25 years of age did bring a discrimination case a tribunal could decide that the Youth Contract was justified as a matter of public policy.