Are they allowed to ask this?

[therealmrsclooney]

I'm trying to return to work and have just had a list of 26 questions sent to me by an employment agency which ask (among other things): my religion, date of birth, marital status, number of children, whether I have a disability, gender...

I recently went for an interview - not related to the above agency. It went well, but I was surprised to receive an email from them afterwards saying they'd like to see me again but in the meantime wanted to know my marital status, the number of children I had, and what I would do with them while I was at work.

Are potential employers/agencies allowed to ask these questions?

No! That's illegal. www.gov.uk/employer-preventing-discrimination/recruitment

Thank you for the link. It’s pretty clear. I’m no feminist, but I wonder whether men get asked about their children during the recruitment process.

They can ask but they must make it clear that you don't HAVE to answer, they can't force you to disclose the information and they cant make decisions influenced on that information. Obviously it's a risk that they do and just phrase it politically

You say that like being a feminist is a bad thing OP. Feminism is the reason you have the right not to be discriminated against because you’re a woman or have children.

They can ask but only if they ask everyone the same questions. You don't have to answer

You could reply and say the children’s father is organising childcare, so it’s really not any of their concern. (It would probably backfire though )

They can ask leading questions i.e. Tell me about yourself. In this case, remain strictly professional : I've worked since I was 16 and am an impeccable professional.

Thanks for all your replies.

Of course, you have to answer all the questions or you won't get anywhere. I haven't worked 'properly' since my first child was born 18 years ago and I thought the world had moved on. A friend suggested that if I don't get offered a job after answering all these bollocksy questions I should go back to the agency/company and suggest that they had discriminated against me!

I’m quite shocked about it as things have improved a bit generally (mainly due to the threat of complaints rather than because they want to improve I suspect) - I’m wondering if there’s some body or other you can anonymously report this to.

Ok. So I've checked with dh (recruiter) they can't ask about children or marital status. They can ask date of birth, religion, gender and disability etc but there has to be a 'prefer not to say' option - apart from disability. I stand corrected

You say that like being a feminist is a bad thing OP. Feminism is the reason you have the right not to be discriminated against because you’re a woman or have children.

This. What is it you don't like about being a feminist OP if its not having the right to not be discriminated against for having children?

The reason they think they can still ask questions is because of people such as yourselves who speak of feminism with disdain.