Now the Age Discrimination Act has reached its one year anniversary I predict that age discrimination claims will pick up pace during the next 12 months.

All new legislation always has a bedding in period and it is only a matter of time before employees begin to use the anti-ageism law to bring claims against their bosses.

According to figures recently released by the Tribunals Service, age discrimination claims made up 972 of the 137,000 employment claims in 2006-07 - a drop in the ocean compared to claims for other forms of discrimination.

I suspect that age discrimination cases are not yet hitting the headlines because many employers are still trying to resolve these types of disputes internally after a member of staff raises a grievance. I believe that many cases have simply had insufficient time to reach the tribunal hearing stage.

When the legislation was first introduced our biggest concern was that employers would fall foul of the new law when dealing with the retirement issues of older workers.

However it has been reported that staff recruitment is resulting in most age discrimination claims, which is surprising. Saying that however, only last week I walked past a shop in Cheltenham with a notice in its window seeking ‘mature’ shop assistants, so the age discrimination message is clearly not being heeded by some businesses.

Although my team have not been approached by an employer facing an age discrimination claim, I'd urge businesses to use the one year anniversary of the Act to audit relevant policies and procedures so they don’t fall foul of the law.

It is never too late to ensure that you are compliant with the Age Discrimination Act and to remember that, as an employer, the legislation applies equally to young and old workers.