Redundancy schemes "may prove illegal"

The Cabinet Office is to review civil servants’ redundancy arrangements, following claims that they will fail to comply with the new regulations banning age discrimination.

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, which were approved by Parliament last month and will come into force in October, amend the system for entitlement to statutory redundancy payments.

And redundancy schemes that offer enhanced versions of the statutory scheme – by using different age bands and multipliers for the calculation of redundancy payments, as the civil service scheme does – will be unlawful unless they can be objectively justified.

Although the Department of Trade and Industry has denied that the civil service scheme will be illegal, the Cabinet Office has confirmed that it will review the scheme taking the new law into account.

The PCS public services union says it will review the situation with the Cabinet Office over the coming months, but has warned that the new regulations should not be used by the government to water down civil servants’ terms and conditions.

Many employers base their redundancy schemes on the civil service model, so will be affected by any decision to amend the scheme in order to comply with the new law.

The conciliation service ACAS has issued new guidance on tackling age discrimination and putting the regulations into practice. As well as redundancy, Age and the workplace covers recruitment, retention, promotion and benefits.

The guide can be downloaded from www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/s/3/Age_and_the_Workplace.pdf