I guess the key here is whether MAPS scheme amounts to an offer of employment
Nope... indirect discrimination covers training for employment too - especially when an offer of a contract is dependant upon participation in a specific training scheme.
General guidelines can be seen here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/Employment/...9&chk=q3aE%2B4
Stop unjustified age discrimination in employment and work-related training
Employers will have to make sure that any redundancy policies don’t directly discriminate against older workers. They should also not discriminate indirectly – for example, by selecting only part-time workers for redundancy, when a large number of these may be older workers. The only exceptions will be where an age requirement can be objectively justified.
LD Max