‘Widespread' and ‘culturally embedded' ageism requires stronger
legal protections against age discrimination and a new
cross-Government strategy to address the challenges and
opportunities posed by the UK's ageing population, a new report
by the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC) has warned.
It recommended the UK Government assess the experience in Wales,
which has a well-established Commissioner for Older People and a
comprehensive network of local authority Older People's Champions
helping to deliver a national strategy, with a view to
replicating a similar framework in England.
Existing age discrimination law and the Public Sector Equality
Duty (PSED) are ‘failing older people' as their protections are
inadequate and rarely enforced, WEC's report on the rights of
older people found, as it called on the Government to commission
and fund a wholesale review by the Equality and Human Rights
Commission (EHRC).
MPs found clear evidence that ageist stereotyping, including
portrayals of older people as frail, helpless or incompetent, or
conversely as wealth-hoarding "boomers", is highly prevalent
across the UK media and is a significant contributory factor to
the normalisation of ageist attitudes.
Ageism, the report concluded, causes harm both to older
individuals, including when self-limiting stereotypes are
internalised, and at societal level, pitting generations against
each other and breeding unnecessary and unhelpful division.
Despite the continuing rise in older age groups across the UK -
with 11 million people in England and Wales aged 65 or older and
over half a million people aged over 90 – the UK's equalities
framework omits a focus on demographic change and ageing, WEC
found.
It called on the Cabinet Office to establish a unit of data and
policy analysts within the Office of Equality and Opportunity
(OEO) to build an evidence base on the key cross-departmental
challenges, including intersectional issues, facing older people
now and in the coming decades.
The report called on the Government to commission and fund the
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to review the
effectiveness of protections against age discrimination,
including consideration of the impacts of allowing objective
justification of direct age discrimination; the adequacy of the
Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) and the case for more specific
positive duties in England; the case for a strengthened
“reasonable steps” duty on employers to prevent age
discrimination; and options to better reflect in the Equality Act
the intersectional nature of age discrimination, including but
not limited to commencement of section 14 on dual
characteristics.
On digital exclusion from essential services, it warned some
older people are at high risk, including in aspects of
healthcare, local authority services, benefits and banking,
adding it is a ‘considerable failure of government' that the UK's
digital inclusion strategy has not been updated in over a decade.
WEC urged the Government to prioritise the development of a new
digital inclusion strategy that includes a detailed focus on the
needs of older people, including a plan for locally delivered
digital skills provision and promotion of best practice in
maintaining offline alternatives to digital for as long as needs
remain.
It also called on the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the
broadcast media regulator Ofcom and the Independent Press
Standards Organisation (IPSO) to take steps to strengthen their
respective regulatory codes to better protect individuals and
society from the harms of pervasive ageism.
Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee and Labour MP said: “The Committee's report
shows clearly that age discrimination is widespread in the UK and
often minimised compared to other forms of discrimination. A
comprehensive review of age discrimination law is a necessary
step in tackling the UK's pervasively ageist culture.
“The UK's growing and increasingly diverse ageing population
presents significant cross-departmental challenges and
opportunities, so the lack of a Government strategy on how to
respond to these issues is concerning. The UK Government should
look to the experience in Wales, which has a dedicated
Commissioner for Older People and a national strategy, and
consider how to give older people a much stronger voice in policy
making in England.
“Technology has become the default for many public services,
meaning a refreshed Digital Inclusion Strategy is more important
than ever. It is a considerable failure of government that the
Digital Inclusion Strategy has not been updated, nor progress
tracked, for a decade.
“Ultimately much more must be done to tackle ageist attitudes and
discrimination across society, including in access to healthcare,
local services, banking and transport.”
