Firms in Sussex are turning their backs on older workers.

An agency - started in Brighton and Hove earlier this year - found a number of firms had a cut off age of 35 or younger when recruiting.

Craig Anderson and Alain van Gils started Thinkwell to offer employers xperienced staff in a range of professions.

Mr Anderson said the firm had been surprised by the response from some employers.

He said: "Some pay lip service to the idea of taking on older staff and others are quite blatant in their discrimination. It should never happen.

"Even though jobs are being lost and more people are out of work, there is still a skills gap and the people with the skills are often the older workers. Yet some employers are prepared to discount this group and have a policy of under-35s only."

Mr van Gils said he was surprised some firms were so hostile to the idea of older workers.

When he contacted them about employing people over 45 they said they had no vacancies, even though they had been advertising for some weeks before and continued to advertise after the approach.

"They are missing out on some good people by having such a policy," he said.

Retraining and retaining older workers is seen as a solution to the skills shortage.

One in five employers in Sussex say they are finding it difficult to recruit staff, particularly in new technology-based industries.

The Employers Forum on Age (EFA) said the problem affected most regions, especially the South-East with its concentration of technology and electronics businesses.

The forum, which has carried out a study across the European Union, said too many skills were being lost to industry as people retired. Firms that rejected older experience workers were turning their backs on a valuable source of staff.

The Sussex Learning and Skills Council, based in Brighton, said there was no excuse for discrimination of any sort in the workplace.

A spokeswoman said: "We will work to ensure in developing and delivering our plans we avoid disadvantaging individuals in terms of their gender, ethnic origin, disability, age or sexual orientation.

"We also want to actively promote equality and will seek parity of participation and achievement on all programmes."

Within five years, 36 per cent of the labour force will be over 45 and by 2010 the figure will have grown to 40 per cent.

The annual cost of unem-ployment among over-50s is £26 billion.