A Government campaign to stop employers regarding people aged over 50 as "over the hill" has been stepped up.

Ministers have warned age discrimination was costing business up to £31 billion a year and want to see it stopped.

Legislation against ageism in employment is due in 2006.

Pensions minister Ian McCartney said almost two out of five workers would be over the age of 45 by 2010, while 16 to 24-year-olds would only make up 17 per cent of the labour force.

The new B&Q Warehouse at The Hythe in Colchester opened last month.

Alan Jones, general manager at the store, said when looking for staff the firm was operating a policy of actively recruiting people over 50.

He said: "From our perspective they (the over-50s) have done DIY around the home, so they can talk with experience.

"It (the policy) also gives us a greater stability in the stores and most customers interact better with people who have more experience."

"The majority of over-50s are semi-retired or taking early voluntary redundancy, who want to come into the workplace and interact with people," he said.

A survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD) recently showed the UK had the fourth highest employment rate of over-50s in Europe. It was placed behind Portugal, Denmark and Sweden.

But why do some companies still see employing older staff as a disadvantage?

Chairman of the Essex branch of the IoD Geoff Slyfield said the IoD had found "no evidence" of age discrimination, but problems could arise over job suitability.

Paul Harding, of the district marketing team at Clacton Jobcentre, said many bosses wrongly believed older people were not computer literate.

He stressed this was not the case, thanks to courses offered by the Jobcentre and other agencies.

Cliff Hall, who runs the New Deal 50-plus scheme in Clacton, said a lot of companies were now tending to take older people as opposed to younger.

Published Tuesday December 18, 2001