For example, at specific jobs in the government you get extra holidays if you're above a certain age. Why they think older people deserve more holiday is beyond me. It has nothing to do with how long you've worked there since a 29 year old that has worked there in 10 years wouldn't get as much vacation as a 40-year old that recently was hired. It has nothing to do with experience. Just age.

I can say as a young developer, I have felt this age thing several times at companies. They just don't give you the same salary or take you as serious because of the age. It doesn't matter how skilled you are or how much value you provide to the company.

Always be cautious when people are talking about how much value they themselves provide to the company. It's rarely in line with what the employers see. I've worked with a number of developers who've only a few years experience and think they're hot shots, but they leave such a mess behind them that others have to clean up.

Another thing is that older employees tend to be more reliable, and experience also counts. Yes, we all know the superstar workaholic at 25 and the no-hoper 50-year-old, but I'm talking general demographics. The older a person, the less likely they are to job-hop as well.

I mean seriously, how many 29-year-old developers are there in 2016 that have worked in the same place for 10 years?

Now, everyone gets the same amount of holidays, i.e. younger employees get as much as the older ones, not the other way around.

Just like there are many 20-something that have children and a full schedule and maybe even health issues.

But I really think that it is a good thing that it is not dependent on working within a single company as I have feeling that different kind of loyalty programs are approaching the serfdom in the longer run, as people are afraid to leave as they would not receive the level of compensation from somewhere else.

PS. I do not think that it is fair that some childless 40-year old are free riding on top of the society.

It is hard for me to say if this is justified. Perhaps you could talk with more people about this (in neutral manner) and see why is it actually like this?

Yes, that's usually how that works. Note also the salary aspect the OP already pointed out: they can get away with paying a younger person less, because this discrimination is industry wide and extremely entrenched.

My main problem with gov.uk is this fault to make clear the position of its advice in respect of the law, IMO it should link the appropriate legislation/caselaw as citations to prove the position it contends.