Age Discrimination Policy (incorporating retirement policy)
- 1. Introduction and statement of intent
- 2. Age discrimination and other equality policies
- 3. Retirement
- 4. Advertising
- 5. Recruitment and Selection
- 6. Benefits
- 7. Absence management
- 8. Performance management
- 9. Training and promotion
- 10. Redundancy selection and payments
- 11. Monitoring
- 12. Implementation and responsibilities
- 13. Contacts
1. Introduction and statement of intent
1.1 The University of Glasgow is committed to ensuring that all staff are treated fairly irrespective of their age and has taken measures to ensure that it fully meets the requirements of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.
1.2 Age will not be a factor in any decisions made concerning recruitment & selection, access to employee benefits, opportunities for promotion or training, performance management, application of discipline or capability procedures or selection for redundancy.
2. Age discrimination and other equality policies
2.1 The University of Glasgow demonstrates through its Equality and Diversity policy its commitment to ensure that all staff are treated fairly. The implementation of this policy will support and strengthen this commitment.
3. Retirement
3.1 The normal retirement age for all support staff at the University of Glasgow is 65. For academic staff, the normal arrangements are that retirement can take place up to the 30th September immediately following their 65th birthday. This is in order to ensure that coursework, marking and other academic duties are completed. The actual retirement date can be varied by mutual consent.
3.2 It is recognised that many staff may seek, by mutual consent, to retire at an earlier age.
3.3 Staff who do not wish to be retired at the normal retirement age have the right to request to remain in employment beyond this age and the University will consider any request made. At least six months prior to the planned retirement date, but not more than one year, the University will write to staff informing them of their projected normal retirement date and the process to be followed should they wish to request to continue working. Any request to remain in employment beyond the normal retirement date must be submitted to the Line Manager or Head of Department / Division, copied to the relevant Territorial HR Manager, no later than three months before the normal retirement date.
3.4 If the University agrees to the request to continue working, any extension of employment will normally be for a fixed period of one year. Staff who wish to work on beyond that fixed period will again have the right to request to remain in employment and the same process of consideration, as outlined above, will be followed with any further extensions normally being for a fixed period of one year. This process will be repeated until actual retirement takes place
3.5 The University will consider all requests from staff to work on beyond the normal retirement age and any decision reached will take into consideration a number of factors such as workforce planning requirements, recruitment needs and training & development needs.
3.6 Staff who are retained beyond the normal retirement date will still be subject to normal rules regarding Performance & Development Review, Competency, Conduct and Occupational Health.
3.7 Staff who have their request to work on refused will be entitled to appeal if they disagree with the decision. Any appeal will normally be heard by the next level of management who will be advised by the Human Resources Manager / Director of Human Resources.
4. Advertising
4.1 There will be no direct or indirect references to age in any recruitment adverts unless the requirement can be objectively justified. The Recruitment Section in HR will monitor and ensure compliance.
5. Recruitment and Selection
5.1 The recruitment & selection process will be based on the skills and ability of the individual applicant and not their age. All staff involved in recruitment & selection will receive training to ensure compliance. The recruitment and selection policy will reflect the need to ensure age does not form part of the recruitment & selection process.
6. Benefits
6.1 The University of Glasgow recognises that incremental pay progression and other service-based rewards are an acknowledgement of the increasing experience and loyalty of staff. Any such rewards will be in line with the requirements of the Age Discrimination Regulations.
7. Absence management
7.1 The absence management process will be applied to all staff regardless of age. Monitoring of absence trends in age groups will take place to ensure that the absence management process is being fairly applied across all age groups.
8. Performance management
8.1 There is a recognition that age (young or old) can impact on performance. Issues such as inexperience or difficulty in quickly grasping new technologies can be as a result of age therefore performance management procedures will be monitored to ensure that disproportionate action is not being taken against any particular age group.
9. Training and promotion
9.1 Training and promotion opportunities will be available to all staff and in selecting individuals for training or promotion, the criteria used will be robust enough to ensure that individuals cannot be excluded as a result of being too young or too old. Direct or indirect references to age in Performance & Development Reviews will not be used.
10. Redundancy selection and payments
10.1 Any redundancy selection policy used will be based on objective criteria.
11. Monitoring
11.1 The University will monitor recruitment & selection, access to promotion & training and the use of procedures such as the disciplinary procedure to ensure that no particular age group is being unfairly treated on the grounds of their age.
12. Implementation and responsibilities
12.1 The University has identified a senior University manager as its Age Discrimination Champion to ensure that the University's strategic agenda reflects issues of age. The current champion's details are listed at the end of this policy.
12.2 All academic and support staff line managers are responsible for familiarising themselves with this policy, ensuring that it is applied and for making their staff aware of it. Individual members of staff are also responsible for familiarising themselves with this policy.
13. Contacts
University Age Discrimination Champion:
Professor John Coggins
J.Coggins@admin.gla.ac.uk
