Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, whether he has made an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of the evidence by the Federation of Small Businesses to the National Minimum Wage Low Pay Commission Report Spring 2016, page 244, on age discrimination in recruitment.

There have been age-related rates in the minimum wage structure since its introduction in 1999. Setting different minimum wage rates according to the age of the worker helps to protect the employment prospects of younger workers.

The provisions in the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 mean that employers are able to pay different rates to workers of different ages in line with the NMW Regulations 2015. The Equality Act 2010 has a specific exemption which ensures that employers are not vulnerable to age discrimination claims where they have paid their workers the NMW age-related rates.

Leaving aside the NMW rates, any decisions on pay more generally, employment or other terms and conditions taken on the basis of age will need to be objectively justified by the employer.