New analysis by specialist employment legislation agency Littler, primarily based on 2024-25 knowledge from HM Income & Customs, suggests there was a 12 p.c rise within the variety of individuals working previous retirement age over the previous 5 years up from 1.39 million within the yr to March 31 2020-21 to 1.56 million within the yr to March 31 2024-25. The agency claims that, with the variety of older individuals within the office rising, employers should be extra proactive to keep away from age discrimination and stop conflicts from growing between staff of very completely different generations. Though these conflicts are sometimes seen as simply office ‘banter’ they’ll cross the road to the purpose an worker feels they’ve been unlawfully discriminated towards. As an example, the place office ‘jokes’ have a repeated ageist aspect or stereotypes about younger or previous individuals stray into being seen as illegal harassment.
The variety of age discrimination instances filed on the UK’s employment tribunals has elevated by 50 p.c within the final yr, up from 372 instances within the quarter ending 30 September 2024 to 561 in the identical quarter of 2025.
Littler senior affiliate Dónall Breen claims that age discrimination is likely one of the few types of discrimination that’s seen as, indirectly, socially acceptable with phrases comparable to “snowflake” and “OK boomer” having entered on a regular basis speech. In contrast to the US (for instance), younger individuals may also be discriminated towards on the idea of age. Nevertheless, in apply, age discrimination claims in employment tribunal instances is far more incessantly introduced by older staff.
Breen warned: “Demographic developments assist the concept the workforce will get extra numerous from an age perspective. Nevertheless, there are undercurrents, just like the “tradition wars”, which might be making this integration tougher.
Many employers are alert to the potential of claims regarding intercourse, political perception or race, however for a lot of corporations age discrimination claims pose a hidden danger that solely turns into obvious when it’s too late.”
“A variety of age discrimination instances can come up out of initially innocent or jovial conditions, which get out of hand resulting from lack of intervention by administration when it turned clear traces had been being crossed. “
An employer will probably be accountable for the age discrimination by certainly one of their staff until they’ll present they took affordable steps to stop the discrimination.
He added that one other space of authorized danger for employers is the place they search to ease older staff out of the workforce as a part of their succession planning technique. This will stray right into a discrimination and a tribunal declare if that’s not course of is just not correctly dealt with and proven to be a “proportionate technique of reaching a authentic” enterprise goal.
