Civil Service Apprenticeships and postive action re younger workers

In a recent recruitment campaign the UK Civil Service cite the equality act in justifying age restrictions for apprenticeships, due to the fact that younger workers are significantly under-represented at present: “Therefore applications are welcome from young people aged  18 – 21, in line with section 158 of the Equality Act 2010; this means that  positive action is being taken as this age group is currently under-represented  in the civil service workforce.”  It is not clear whether other groups that might be underrepresented are also being targeted by similarly targeted recruitment.

At the same time, Graduate Fog have highlighted a memo by the conservative party which appears to be suggesting that ‘intern’ posts should be renamed ‘campaign volunteers’ to avoid any suggestion that these are paid positions.  It is suggested that no mention should be made of work, expectations, tasks or roles and that the discourse of volunteer should be deployed instead.