Asking date of birth on application form?

[MrsFionaCharming]

Hi, I'm hoping there might be a wise recruiter on here who can tell me what to do in this situation!

I'm filling out an application form for a really great sounding job. It's with quite a large charity (one most people have probably heard of).

Right at the top of the form, after name/address details, it asks for my date of birth. Am I right in thinking this is illegal?

I can't decide whether to put it down. On one hand, I'm quite young, and I don't want them seeing my d.o.b at the top, and disregarding the rest of the application. And a small part of me worries it's a trick question, so they see if anyone understands employment law!

But I'm equally nervous about leaving it blank!

Thanks in advance for an advice!

It's not specifically unlawful to ask DoB, no, although it's not good practice. Obviously discriminating on the basis of age is unlawful, but asking DoB doesn't mean they are going to discriminate necessarily.

Also, as it will be easy to work out how old you are from dates of qualifications and work experience, I wouldn't worry that giving the specific date you were born is going to cause you problems.

It won't be a trick question, even if your job does require an understanding of employment law. It will be because they haven't updated their application form in a while and moved date of birth to the tear off monitoring section, which they should do.

That's great, thank you!