The Employers Forum on Age responds to the discrimination law review green paper

Today the Government publishes its Green Paper proposing a major shakeup of discrimination laws in the UK. Employers, who are vital to achieving equality in the UK, must not be sidelined in the drive for more legislation.

Sam Mercer, Chief Executive of The Employers Forum on Age comments, ìOur members support the Governmentís commitment to ending unfair age discrimination. However, we have yet to be convinced that further legislation, at this stage, is the right way to achieve the massive social change required to meet this goal.

ìThere are clearly problems relating to age which need to be addressed and which have led the government to consider extending equality legislation on age to cover the provision of goods and services. Older people are facing huge difficulties, particularly in accessing appropriate health and social care. However, introducing far reaching legislation, which would require a raft of exemptions, is too blunt a tool to solve these complex issues.

ìExperience on the age regulations for employment has shown us that attempting to ëobjectively justifyí something is extremely difficult, if not impossible. This means that while existing discounts for pensioners (e.g. cheap fish and chips, cut price hair cuts, travel reductions) are harmless and ënice to doí, it is totally misleading to suggest these could be easily retained. In reality it is these ësoft thingsí which are the hardest to defend. It is vital that we look at where the real problems are and if necessary introduce special measures purely in these areas.î

The Employers Forum on Age believes that:

The case has not been made for the extension of age discrimination laws to cover goods and services

A public sector duty which covers all grounds of discrimination, including age, could be an effective first step in removing much of the unfair discrimination which people experience

There is much to be learned from employersí experience of implementing age laws

Ms Mercer continues, ìOur experience of the extended negotiations to develop the age regulations ñ brought in only six months ago ñ also showed us just how complex legislating in this area is. It was only when employers began to implement some of the necessary changes that the many of the unintended consequences came to light. With all of the recent developments in discrimination law, it will be very hard to engage employers with this consultation. However, failure to do so will lead to laws which may make sense on paper, but will not work in the real world.