Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 8
3rd Report - The rights of older people
Published 19 Feb 2025
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee The rights of older people All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend the Government commission and fund the Equality and Human Rights Commission to review the effectiveness of protections against age discrimination provided by the Equality Act and Public Sector Equality Duty in England, including but not limited to consideration of: • the implications for older people’s rights, and the enforceability of those rights, of allowing objective justification of direct discrimination based on age, and the likely impacts of replacing objective justification with specific exceptions, if required; • the extent to which the Public Sector Equality Duty in England effectively promotes progress on older people rights in areas including access to healthcare, housing, transport, and digital inclusion, and the case for more specific positive duties to drive progress; • the case for amending the Equality Act in relation to employment discrimination based on age, to bring in a stronger “reasonable steps” duty on employers; and 49 • options to amend the Equality Act to reflect the intersectional nature of age discrimination more effectively, including but not limited to commencement of section 14 on dual characteristics. (Recommendation, Paragraph 95) Government focus and wider governance framework
From: Women and Equalities Committee, 3rd Report - The rights of older people (HC 414), 19 February 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 May 2025 (deadline 19 April 2025).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the report and says the Equality Act 2010 already provides "strong protections" for older people, agreeing on digital inclusion and social tariff awareness but giving no commitment to the recommended EHRC review or the proposed unit.
- On social tariffs, the government agrees "more needs to be done to increase awareness" and will work with partners, but has "currently no plans for a regulated social tariff"; it will "keep this under review".
- On a refreshed digital inclusion strategy, it points to the February 2025 Digital Inclusion Action Plan as its "first steps"; the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund will have further details announced "in due course".
- On the proposed EHRC review of age discrimination protections, it says it is "for the Equality and Human Rights Commission" to decide how to allocate its resources, and says it is "engaging with the EHRC" on how best to commence section 14 of the Equality Act on combined discrimination.
- On a Commissioner for Older People in England, it "will however consider" the Welsh experience and evaluation, which will inform thinking "in due course" on any further action.