Is this legal?

PS Just checked the form again, and as well as that info up there, they do actually ask for your date of birth

Me again!

Just found this on Gov.UK

You shouldn’t ask someone for their date of birth on an application form. People selecting candidates for interview or interviewing shouldn’t be influenced by someone’s age.

You can include a question on date of birth as part of an equality monitoring form if you use one.

I can't answer the question of legality, but do you not have your d.o.b. on your C.V. anyway?

I know DD and DS do.

phoenix I am certain that it is illegal and I agree, it will not endear you to the firm if you inform them before you apply for the job.

The problem is that by looking at the date you attained educational qualifications, they will have a very good idea of how old you are. It is very much catch 22.

You could try putting "over 21" and either missing out the date on the ducation bit or putting "from age 12 to age 18" or some such thing. If you get to an interview and they bring it up, show them the bit from GovUK. I don't know whether that would endear you to them though. Could you ask them at the job centre?

I have emailed this to our DD, she is an HR executive and employment law is her expertise.

Here is her answer :-

"Yes they shouldn't ask for anything that denotes dob but would anyone really annoy a potential employer by pointing it out!"

But is it actually illegal to ask for d.o.b. or are there only 'guidelines'?

I'll check

I have always thought that the idea of not having to put your date of birth was nonsense as this can be deduced from the dates of your educational qualifications. But I do think those dates need to be there as the standards of qualifications have changed and employers need to be able to attribute the correct weight to what they read.

I am sorry you are still having to be out there in the job market phoenix - I do hope that you hit the jackpot soon.

Answer to legal or guidline :-

"It's direct age discrimination but employment law is only enforceable by complaining to a tribunal by someone who has actually been disadvantaged by the discrimination. There isn't anyone to report the form to other than complain to the company whose form it is but I wouldn't annoy them! I would fill it out and not put the dates on"

This web site is fairly clear. It is the discrimination that is illegal, not asking the question, you would have to prove discrimination.

www.safeworkers.co.uk/age-discrimination-work.html

Hmm...so it does indeed seem like a Catch 22 situation!

When I was recruiting staff we didn't ask their age. As Pompa says, it is the discrimination on grounds of age that is illegal. Obviously, if we chose to do so, we could have roughly worked out age from education and previous employment dates.

Sorry to have been so long in getting back on GN, & thank you all for the replies and pompa for asking his DD !

nina no, my DOB is not on my CV! I was advised by several people (including JobCentre staff) that there is no need to put it in.

Mishap you are right re working out age from educational info, which was the point that I was trying to make in the OP

It really does seem to be very much "catch 22" !

I think I might phone the person who emailed the form to me tomorrow, hopefully I might be able to talk to her about it.

Providing you go about it the right way, I do not think, querying the form need be disadvantageous.

Way back in my early career when an employer could legally advertise for 'male graduates', a major company did just that for 'male graduates' for a management scheme. I wrote to them and asked them why they were restricting the scheme to men and that I was a female graduate who met their job requirements and was interested in the scheme.

They sent me a form, I made it onto the interview list, and was short listed for the final selection process. At which point I withdrew as I had been offered a preferable position by another company. It was clear from the interview that my willingness to challenge the company on its gender restriction had been an immediate plus point.

Morning all.

I really do not like this form at all! It also asks for details of your salary in your last 3 employments

The very first section, even before name address etc is "post applied for" followed by "pay scale sought". It's ridiculous, they know what pay they are offering!

All I can say is "Good luck"!

phoenix I am well aware that jobs are scarce in your neck of the woods but I am not sure if I would want to work for that company. Pay scale sought is fine if they do not mention figures but I think it is wrong asking what you were paid during your last 3 jobs- maybe it is to employ people paying the lowest amount that they can get away with. I am aware that I am a cynical old bat. One would think that you were applying for Managing Director's post. Oops, maybe you are.

Charley I don't think application forms are personalised as such so are not really a reflection of the company's ethos or attitude to staff.

Many forms are a total pain, with unnecessary questions, and mission statements, etc., but you're just going to have to 'suck it up' Phoenix.

They will realise your age range immediately.

I'm reminded of an incident that became public recently, can't remember the organisation, where an email detailing what should go into a job advert, said something like

"We welcome applications from all sections of the community, blah, blah and all that crap"

But if you don't apply you won't be in with any chance!

Just a reminder Phoenix last year my 55-year old sister was recruited for a good well-paid admin job in a big organisation. It's a high profile place so would have attracted many applicants, no doubt many much younger.

I'm still trying to decide which way to approach this!

I could phone the person and talk about it, or email my concerns, or fill in some parts of the form and leave some questions unanswered, perhaps put "please see attached CV" next to some questions, or "private information" against the salary ones.

Riverwalk you say your sister was recruited, do you mean that they approached her, or that she saw the job advertised and applied?

She applied to an advert and had to fill in a pesky and intrusive application form that took days to complete!

I would caution against phoning - to be honest, they can ask what they like really regarding salaries and previous employment. I don't think it's uncommon.

Just to add, I have emailed the form to one of the advisers at the Jobcentre. Even though I'm not currently "signing on" I think from my previous experience of the staff there (who were always very supportive) they will probably be able to at least give some advice.

I thought you were working now phoenix I don't always keep up.
One problem I see is if they ask for references could they ask previous employers how much they paid you or would that also be illegal?
You have difficult decisions to make here but the questions do seem intrusive.