Age Discrimination & Age Equality

Age Discrimination & Age Equality Hounslow REC AGM – 5th Nov 2009 Claire Ball – Development Manager, Equalities and Human Rights Age Concern and Help the Aged

Outline of presentation • Prevalence of age discrimination – health & social care & financial services; • Definitions • Attitudes to ageing & older people • Stereotyping and prejudice • Tackling age discrimination.. • Promoting age equality.......

Age discrimination * Ageism is the most commonly experienced form of discrimination (cf. gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and disability); • 28% respondents reported having experienced ageism in the past year; • Towards end of working life (55-64), increased reports of age-based discrimination – may reflect treatment in the workplace.

Age discrimination • Exists and is more commonly experienced across all age ranges than other forms of discrimination; • Ageism often ‘benevolent prejudice’ – older people stereotyped as friendly, moral and admirable, but less capable and less intelligent; • Little perceived threat to way of life posed by older people – reinforces view of older people as warm but incompetent;

Age discrimination • ‘Benevolent’ prejudice likely to be hidden in comparison to ‘hostile’ prejudice; perpetrator and the victim can both be unaware of it; • Behaviour intended to protect older people can inadvertently become patronising and result in disadvantages to them – eg - restricting access to the workplace; failing to offer choices in health & social care; assuming that it is ‘natural’ for older people to have lower expectations, reduced choice & control and less account taken of their views;

Age Discrimination – health & social care ‘My mother saw her GP for years complaining of back pain. He never examined her and told her it was ‘old age’. When she moved to Hampshire the new GP sent her for a scan and found that she had a tumour the size of a football in her back which could have killed her!’

Age Discrimination – health & social care Age Concern and Help the Aged’s ‘One Voice’ report (2009) found that: • 60% of people aged 65+ believe that age discrimination exists in the everyday lives of older people; • 64% of older people think that health and social care staff don’t always treat older people with dignity;

Age Discrimination – health & social care Health & social care regulators undertook a review in 10 communities reporting in 2006 – they concluded: • ‘Explicit age discrimination in access to services has been addressed by most health and social care services.... although the exception to this decline (in explicit discrimination) is in mental health services; • Despite these changes there is still evidence of ageism across all services..... We also found that awareness of diversity issues was at an early stage of development’

National Review of Age Discrimination – Health & Social Care Announced in April 2009; reported October 2009 – Recommendations on: • Timetable for implementation of the ban on age discrimination in H&SC services; • Where it is objectively justifiable to retain age-based differentiation in services; • How to support the H&SC system to implement the public sector equality duty in respect of all age groups; • Key actions for H&SC bodies to take to make demonstrable progress as quickly as possible.

Financial exclusion and older people • A diverse group – 1 in 5 of UK population is over SPA (12m people); • BME groups under-represented among 60+ but some catching up • Low income - 2 million live below the poverty line (18%) • 6% of people aged 85+ have no bank account, • 37% of people in Great Britain aged 65-74 and 48% of those aged 75+ have a limiting longstanding illness • Only 36% of people aged 65+ have ever used the internet • Attitudes – people may be ‘pushed out’ by market as they age

Age discrimination – financial services Travel insurance • 1 in 5 aged 75+ turned down or had restrictions imposed - half felt this was due to an increased health risk; the rest said ‘age-related’ • Those aged 80+ had trouble finding cover at all and, when they did, quotations varied wildly and excesses were extremely high Motor insurance • 1 in 10 mystery shoppers aged 75+ were turned down

Age discrimination – financial services ‘An older man who is a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, and who flies aeroplanes every week, tried to hire a car at Edinburgh Airport. Because of his age (70), he had to agree to pay the first £ 500.00 of any claim – including theft’.....

Age discrimination – financial services ‘A woman called Age Concern to say that her mother was making a purchase at a leading Department store to the value of £ 150. She was asked if she would like to apply for a charge card to benefit from a 10% discount on the purchase. She was then asked her age. When she said she was 65, they said that they were sorry, but they could not give her the charge card because she was too old’.

Age discrimination in financial services – why is this important Travel insurance • 13% of mystery shoppers 80+ put off travelling by insurance difficulties • ‘Packaged’ accounts may offer free insurance – below an age limit • Multiple barriers for older travellers to some countries Motor insurance • Lack of access increases costs and isolation • Problems with car hire and courtesy cars • Problems with volunteering (can they drive the mini-bus?)

Age discrimination - definitions Direct discrimination – • Less favourable treatment because of someone’s age: • Unlawful (in employment) on grounds of age to: • Decide not to employ someone • Dismiss them • Refuse to provide them with training • Deny promotion • Give adverse terms & conditions • Retire an employee before the employer’s usual retirement age (if there is one) or retire an employee before the default retirement age of 65 without an objective justification

Age discrimination - definitions Indirect discrimination – means selection criteria, policies, benefits, employment rules or any other practices which, although applied to all employees, have the effect of disadvantaging people of a particular age, unless the practice can be justified. Indirect discrimination is unlawful whether it is intentional or not.

Age discrimination - definitions Lawful discrimination – Limited circumstances where it is lawful to treat people differently because of their age. It is not unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of age if: • There is an objective justificationfor treating people differently – eg. fixing a maximum age for recruitment or promotion of employees • There is a genuine occupational requirement (GOR) that a person must be of a certain age – for example, if you are producing a play which has parts for older or younger characters.

Age discrimination - definitions Harassment – • Includes behaviour which is offensive, frightening or in any way distressing. • may be intentional bullying which is obvious or violent, but can also be unintentional, subtle and insidious. • may involve nicknames, teasing, name calling or other behaviour - not with malicious intent but which is upsetting. • may be about a person’s age or about the age of those with whom s/he associates. It may not be targeted at an individual(s) but consist of a general culture which, for instance, tolerates the telling of ageist jokes.

Attitudes to ageing and older people • People in mid-life age group (45-64) least satisfied with their own age group; • ‘Younger’ (16-44) and ‘older’ (65+) people show most positive sense of belonging, identity and happiness with their age group; • Dissatisfaction of 45-64 age group could be an effect of ‘birth cohort’ (‘baby-boomers’), or a response to negative attitudes about growing older & way of coping with/avoiding ageism?

Attitudes to ageing and older people Stereotypes and benevolent prejudice – • Older people are stereotyped as ‘warm’ and ‘not competent’ • Younger people are stereotyped as ‘cold’ and ‘competent’ • Specific traits assigned to older people more than younger people are: moral, friendly, pitiable and admirable; • Older people are as prone to having these age stereotypes as the rest of the population.

Attitudes - stereotyping • Groups in society tend to be stereotyped in terms of two primary qualities – competence & abilities; and warmth or affability; • Lower status groups more likely to be stereotyped as ‘warm’ but not ‘competent’; • Higher status groups more likely to be stereotyped as ‘competent’ but not necessarily ‘warm’;

Prejudice - values * Values are key to people’s reactions to others & attitudes towards prejudice & discrimination - • Equal opportunities in favour of older people were about right; • Equal access to health care for older people much more favoured than equal access to education; • Older people showed greater orientation to work ethic than the rest of the population;

Prejudice & intergroup threat * Competition between groups, especially ethnic groups, known to be key element in prejudice (eg. seen as a threat to access to jobs); • Other perceived threats include to cultural norms, customs, traditions and way of life; • No significant perceived threat to customs, traditions etc. posed by older people; but there was evidence of threat to standards of living, health & access to jobs and education; • However, 56% respondents also thought older people had put more in to the economy than they were taking out – contribution vs. perceived threat;

Tackling age discrimination – • Older people are as prone to age-based prejudice against their own age group as rest of society; • Strongly suggests that initiatives to tackle ageism need to involve older people as active participants, rather than passive ‘victims’;

Tackling age discrimination..... • Positive contact between older people and other age groups is key to tackling age-based prejudice and discrimination; • Reduced stereotyping of older people as incompetent by those who have friends aged over 70; • Policies that segregate older people – in healthcare, social care or housing – need to be carefully considered in light of their potential effects on ageism in wider society; • Equally, intergenerational initiatives should be encouraged and evaluated from the point of view of reducing ageism;

Promoting age equality...... Equality Bill (2009) provisions to outlaw age discrimination in goods, facilities and services (GFS); • Differentiation is not automatically discrimination – different treatment by age will be allowed, as long as it is ‘objectively justifiable’ and a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’ (eg. flu vaccinations) • For age only, the ban on age discrimination does not apply to the treatment of under-18s;

Promoting age equality...... • Public authorities will have a duty to promote age equality in all areas of their work, including good relations between different age groups; • Legal mechanism to drive the reform of public services, from policy-making to service delivery; • A positive duty will require PA s to build age equality into their business planning; • Implementation in all sectors – including Health & Social Care – by 2012;

Promoting age equality...... • Public Authorities will have to ‘age-proof’ all their activities & functions, aiming to achieve equality and fairness for people of all ages, taking into account the future needs of an ageing population; • UN Principles for Older Persons – can provide a useful framework – Independence, Participation, Care, Self-Fulfilment & Dignity; • Linked to Human Rights principles – Fairness, Respect, Equality, Dignity & Autonomy (FREDA)

Thank you for listening..... Contact details: Claire Ball, Development Manager, Equalities & Human Rights Age Concern and Help the Aged T: 020 8765 7718 (or: 01865 432 657) E: claire.ball@ace.org.uk

Age Discrimination & Age Equality