Case study

Bridgend County Borough Council

Age Positive Champion

The county borough lies at the geographical heart of south Wales, on the Bristol Channel coastline and with a mix of urban and rural communities.

We are delighted to be the first local authority in Wales to receive Age Positive Champion status. The council works hard to promote equal opportunities and the benefits of a mixed age workforce. We hope that we can inspire other organisations to follow our lead.

Neil Lodwick, Assistant Director for Human Resources

OUR AGE POSITIVE GOOD PRACTICE:

Following a 5-month review of the Council’s policies covering recruitment, selection and promotion, we established the following practices:

• Eliminating completely the use of age limits and age ranges in job advertisements
• Sharing our policy on employment and age with our recruitment agency and Jobcentre plus
• focusing on skills and abilities and not age when shortlisting candidiates for vacancies or promotion
• We undertook an age review of all employees
• We committed to an age positive approach with statements about age in our Equal Opportunities policy
• We have made age diversity part of the Council’s business agenda with our Workplace Age Diversity document
• Our Age Policy sets out to integrate equality and age diversification at both ends of the spectrum - older and younger employees.

Flexible retirement age

We recently relaxed the policy of retirement at the age of sixty-five and we now have a number of employees older than 65. Our Workplace Age Diversity document confirms that the Council’s retirement policy is to incorporate a flexible approach. This does not mean forcing people to work longer. It means allowing staff the choice to work as long as they are able to do so, based on mutual agreement.

- "I don’t feel any difference in working after passing retirement age. I am pleased to have the opportunity. In fact, I’m still learning about some of the finer details in this responsible job." - Personal Assistant to Director

- "I still have lots to offer. I’m very happy in my work and it’s very rewarding. I’m not ready to lie down yet !" - Social Services Officer

- "I’m 74 and run fitness classes. I think people are encouraged by my positive attitude and philosophy of keeping fit. Age is not an issue as far as I’m concerned, and as long as my supervisor is happy I want to continue working." - Leisure Services Fitness Coach

We intend to build on and strengthen our flexible retirement policy and review it in line with the government’s forthcoming changes to rules on occupational pensions.

We are further developing extending our pre-retirement programmes for employees who intend to retire, in conjunction with our mentoring scheme where retiring employees coach younger employees so that skill and knowledge are transferred.

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Pay and benefits

We have embarked on a systematic and comprehensive exercise of job evaluation which includes a principle of pay linked to objectivity, not subjectivity. This means that pay determination is not linked to age and gender but relates to roles and tasks of postholders.

In addition, we are reviewing our long-service awards and annual leave entitlements to eliminate any issues related to discrimination on the basis of age.

Young people – our commitment

Our age policies relate to both old and young people. We have a Young People’s Partnership Strategy and established a Youth Council which represents the views of young people. The annually elected Youth Mayor is inaugurated alongside the Borough Council Mayor and the Youth Council holds its meetings in the Council Chamber. The demographics of Bridgend Borough mean we have an ageing population. The Council recognises the benefits of having a balance of ages in the workforce and will be enhancing its strategy to raise awareness in schools and colleges of employment opportunities for all within local government.

Teenager elected as new Youth Mayor for Bridgend council

Terry Jones has been elected as the new Youth Mayor of Bridgend County Council’s Youth Council, which is made up of 14-25 year olds from the Bridgend area. The role will see Terry taking responsibility for Youth Council decisions.

Terry says of his position as the new Youth Mayor: "It doesn’t matter how old you are – it's about what you’ve got to offer."

Bridgend Council will work closely with Terry and the rest of the Youth Council on the issue of homelessness, which is a big problem in the area. Terry is 18 and has experienced homelessness himself. He plans to make improving housing for young people one of his main priorities.

Terry took up the voluntary post of youth mayor for Bridgend after spending time as a member of the youth council. He is also involved in Youth Theatre work and helping young people at Ysgol Bryncastell, a school for children with behavioural problems.

Neil Lodwick, Assistant Director of Bridgend Council, said: "The Council invited young people from schools, youth clubs and other youth organisations to form a Youth Council and suggested the election of a Youth Mayor to mirror the Council structure. The first Youth Major for Bridgend was elected in 1999 and funded to work full time developing the Youth Council. The Youth Council has a basic constitution and roles as well as the development of a strategy for extending the involvement of young people through a system of area forums and special internal groups."

Terry's inauguration, which was undertaken by members of the Youth Council, is an example of Bridgend County Council's commitment towards Age Positive practices – which are based not on age, but on skills and abilities.

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Minister praises Welsh council's anti-ageism drive

Pensions Minister Malcolm Wicks has today praised Bridgend County Borough Council for employing people of all ages. Mr Wicks met some of the Council’s employees and presented Chief Executive Keri Lewis and his team with a Certificate in recognition of Bridgend Council's achievements.

Bridgend County Borough Council recently won the prestigious Age Positive Outstanding Achievement Award for its work in helping to promote age diversity in the workplace.

Malcolm Wicks said: "I am very pleased to be able to see at first hand the great work that Bridgend Council is doing to tackle age discrimination. The Government is committed to working with employers to provide opportunities and give individuals more choice about work and retirement."

Neil Lodwick, Assistant Director of Human Resources at Bridgend County Council says:

"We are delighted that the Pensions Minister is able to see first hand the dedicated work we have been doing to promote age diversity here. We were the first local authority in Wales to receive Age Positive Employer Champion status – an achievement of which we are very proud. We hope we can inspire other employers across the UK to follow our lead."

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