Consultation on age discrimination open for comments

Last Updated: 14 Apr 2011

Last month, the government opened a consultation on the proposed ban on age discrimination included in the Equality Act 2010. The implementation of this ban would require additional legislation, but the government is keen to hear opinions as to its scope in order to ensure that only harmful treatment that results in genuine age discrimination is targeted.

The consultation, titled ‘Equality Act 2010: Banning age discrimination in services, public functions and associations – A consultation on proposed exceptions to the ban’ has set out a range of exceptions prepared in the following areas:

• Age-based concessions: when age is used to determine eligibility for concessions or benefits, as long as the concession benefits the age group targeted
• Group Holidays: specialist holiday providers will be allowed to continue to provide holidays for specific age groups
• Immigration: age is one factor used to determine someone’s eligibility to enter the UK, amongst others
• Sport: age-restricted sports competitions – such as under-21s football competitions for instance – will be allowed to continue as before
• Residential park homes: these will be allowed to continue to include age limits in their park admission rules
• Financial services: age assessment of risk will continue to be allowed as long as it is based on relevant information from a reliable source.

There are no provisions made for allowing age discrimination by accommodation providers, although there are instances where there is a basis for such discrimination. More information and the consultation response form can be found on the Government Equalities website and the consultation is open until 25 May 2011.