West Midlands Police      Freedom 
of 
Information 
Request reference: 2469/09 
 
Could you please tell me if West Midlands Police has a policy statement 
regarding employment of civilian personnel that addresses the issue of the age 
of applicants? If you have such a policy document, then I would like a copy of 
it. It can be provided in any standard digital format. 
 
Please find attached separately our Age Equality Policy 
(2469_age_equality_policy.pdf) 
 
You may also like to see our Equal Opportunity Policy, which is available on our 
website here: 
 
http://intranet2/hq_departments/personnel/policy_guide_a-
z/equal_opportunity_policy.aspx 
 
I would also like to know if you have an upper age limit beyond which you will 
not consider employing the person. 
 
There is no upper age limit within West Midlands Police where the employment of a 
police staff member will not be considered. 
 
I would also like to know if you have a normal retirement age for civilian 
employees. 
 
West Midlands Police has a general policy that a police staff employee will retire on 
their 65th birthday.  Police staff employee’s have the right to request to work beyond 
their 65th birthday in accordance with The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 
2006. West Midlands Police will consider requests from police staff employees who 
request to work beyond the retirement age of 65 years. 
 
I would also like to know if the person making the decision on who to shortlist 
for interview or who to hire is able to see information revealing the age or date 
of birth of the applicant. 
 
A person within West Midlands Police who is making a decision on who to shortlist 
for interview or who to hire is able to see the information revealing the date of birth of 
the applicant. This information is required to be kept on application forms for vetting 
purposes of preferred candidates and the monitoring of Equal Opportunities within 
the force. 
 
I would also like to know how many civilian employees you have who are aged 
over 65. 
 
West Midlands Police have 45 police staff that are between the ages of 66 and 76. 
 
 
West Midlands Police in complying with their statutory duty under sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information 
Act 2000 to release the enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. However, 
the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed information will continue to be protected by law.  Applications for the 
copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of the attached information should be addressed to The 
Force Solicitor, West Midlands Police Headquarters, Lloyd House, Colmore Circus Queensway, Birmingham, B4 
6NQ. 
21/07/09  
 
Ref: 
2649_ans_01 

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