Forties People

Spencer Jacobs, MD at Forties People, picked up the London Region Individual Award at the Age Positive Awards 2006 at Whitehall’s Banqueting House - and immediately pledged to carry on fighting against ageism in the workplace.

He said: “The award endorses my agency’s long-running campaign to end age discrimination at work. The new Act is a welcome step forward but the campaign must go on to ensure the law is properly policed.

At Forties People we have witnessed at first hand the hard evidence of discrimination.

Over recent years large numbers of mature workers have been consigned to the scrapheap by ageist employers who said they only wanted younger people on board. ”

He added: “My mother founded this agency after being made redundant herself at 50. Although highly qualified she couldn’t find another job and launched Forties People to help other victims of ageism. Just before she retired five years ago she won a similar Age Positive award – I’m proud to follow in her foot steps”.

“We will continue to bang the age diversity drum at both our London and Watford branches for as long as it takes for all companies to adhere to both the letter and the spirit of the new regulations. Age is irrelevant. It has to be about skill sets – and we are championing a change in both culture and attitude towards ageism”

A spokesperson from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) said: “Recruitment agencies are frequently given discriminatory instructions by clients but Forties People consistently proves that by challenging this discrimination and encouraging employers to consider candidates on their merits they get better workers.”