Age Discrimination – the statistics

The Ministry of Justice has published statistics this month for the year ending 31 March 2011 for claims handled by Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunals. These are the courts that deal with claims for workplace discrimination.

The statistics show that, although the overall number of claims fell from the previous year, some types were up including claims for age discrimination (up 32%). There had also been a similar increase for age in the previous year.

It’s also interesting to note the level of compensation awarded by the Tribunals in age discrimination cases. The average (mean) is £30, 289 in age claims compared to £14,137 (disability discrimination), £13,911 (sex discrimination) and £12,108 (race discrimination) for example. In fact it’s the highest of all areas covered by the Tribunals.