An employer cannot justify a provision that is otherwise
indirectly discriminatory on the basis of cost alone. In
Heskett v The Secretary of State for Justice the EAT had
to consider whether a policy that was introduced primarily in
response to costs constraints could be justified.
The claimant worked as a Probation Officer. As a result of
public sector pay constraint, changes were made to the
employer's pay progression policy, so that it took
significantly longer to progress to the top of scale than had
previously been the case. This put younger employees at a
particular disadvantage and the claimant brought a claim of
indirect age discrimination. This failed because the tribunal
accepted that the new pay progression policy was a proportionate
means of achieving a legitimate aim.
