Ageism widespread and culturally embedded in UK, MPs warn
There are 11 million people in England and Wales aged 65 or older, including more than half a million who are aged over 90.
Ageism is “widespread and culturally embedded” in the UK and discrimination laws are currently “failing” older people, MPs have said.
The Women and Equalities Committee concluded that the UK has a “pervasively ageist culture” which is seen as less serious and harmful than other kinds of discrimination.
There are currently 11 million people in England and Wales aged 65 or older, including more than half a million who are aged over 90 and the committee warned these proportions are expected to increase in the coming decades.
This ageing population “presents a range of significant cross-departmental challenges and opportunities” for Government, MPs said, warning that not enough is being done in England to address issues faced by older people.
The report has been welcomed by charities representing older people, with Age UK saying it “rightly calls out the ageism that is ‘in with the bricks’ in our culture”.
Comparing the situation with Wales, which has an Older People’s Commissioner, the MPs said older people in England “lack both a minister with responsibility for the range of challenges they face and a strong independent voice to advocate for them in policy making and help protect and enforce their rights”.
The MPs warned of the high risk of digital exclusion for many older people as many services from healthcare to banking move online, and branded it a “considerable failure of government that the UK’s digital inclusion strategy has not been updated in over a decade”.
They said the current Government must prioritise the development of a new strategy that includes locally delivered digital skills provision and ensures there are offline alternatives for people “for as long as needs remain”.
When it comes to legal protections against age discrimination, the MPs said discrimination law and the Public Sector Equality Duty – which requires public authorities in England, Scotland and Wales to have due regard to certain equality considerations when making decisions – “are failing older people”.
They added: “Their protections are inadequate and rarely enforced.”
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”, suggesting a strengthened “reasonable steps” duty on employers to prevent age discrimination.
The MPs said: “Ageism is widespread and culturally embedded in the UK. This is in part driven by age discriminatory language and imagery in the media and advertising.”
They urged the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), 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”.
Committee chairwoman Sarah Owen 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.”
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: “Ageism is so normalised that many of us may not even recognise it, but older people themselves often do and feel belittled as a result.
“It also leads to policy decisions that unfairly exclude older people, such as the drive towards ‘digital by default’, without anyone taking the trouble to understand the impact on older people who aren’t online, and develop supportive strategies.
“Or indeed to thoroughly capable older workers not being recruited because they are stereotyped as being ‘past it’.”
Dr Carole Easton, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “Tackling age-based prejudice will allow millions more people, now and in the future, to fully realise their potential as they get older, to the benefit of themselves as well as employers and the economy more widely.”
She added: “The breadth of this report in highlighting ageist stereotypes in the media and advertising, digital exclusion, inadequate and rarely enforced age discrimination protections and an insufficient government focus on ageing just shows how embedded ageism is within our society and why we need urgent action to help everyone to age without the limits of ageism.”
A Government spokesperson said: “The Equality Act contains strong protections for older people in a variety of settings, including work and the provision of services.
“We recognise the importance of older people and the challenges they face. That is why we are putting more money into pensioners’ pockets through our commitment to the triple lock – which is set to increase the state pension by up to £1,900 this Parliament.”
