Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to support and promote Age Without Limits Day across government departments, and whether they plan to develop a strategy to address ageism in society.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
We acknowledge the commitment of the organisers of the Age Without Limits Day and will follow it with interest. Ageism has no place in our society where we want to see and build inclusion, not exclusion.
The Equality Act 2010 has strong protections that enable people to challenge age discrimination across a range of fields, including recruitment processes. These protections make it unlawful for an employer, service provider or someone exercising public functions to treat a person less favourably because of age, unless this can be objectively justified.
Any older person who may have been personally discriminated against because of age may also contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), the government helpline established to provide free bespoke advice and in-depth support to individuals with discrimination concerns. The EASS can be contacted via their website - http://www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/, by telephone on 0808 8000082 or text phone on 0808 8000084. The EASS has the ability to intervene on an individual’s behalf with a service provider to help resolve an issue. The EASS can also advise people who wish to take their complaint further on their options.
Asked by: Baroness Verma (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the prevalence of age discrimination in recruitment and employment, and what steps they are taking to combat that discrimination.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
It is not possible to accurately estimate the prevalence of age discrimination in recruitment and employment because not all such discrimination is reported or challenged and in some cases such differential treatment can be objectively justified.
The Equality Act 2010 (The Act) provides strong protection against discrimination related to age in both an employment and service provision context, as age is one of the nine protected characteristics listed in The Act. In addition, employers are not permitted to use a default retirement age for their employees.
These protections enable people to challenge age discrimination across a range of fields, including recruitment processes and when in work. Where age discrimination in recruitment and employment cannot be objectively justified and is unlawful, individuals can seek redress at an employment tribunal.