When will the UK Government implement legislation that will ban age discrimination in the provision of goods and services?
This is the question being raised by Ruth Marks MBE, the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales. She has expressed her significant disappointment at the lack of progress and said that it is "worrying" that legislation has been delayed until October 2012 at the very earliest.
Ms Marks said: “Older people in Wales regularly tell me that they experience age discrimination in many aspects of their lives. I was very troubled to hear about the delay in implementing this section of the Equality Act and feel that this will lead to the continued unfairness against older people on the grounds of age.
“The UK Government had a chance to end this unfairness, but now the rights of older people will be further delayed.”
“I have written to Cheryl Gillan, Secretary of State for Wales, to share my concerns and to encourage her to raise this matter with colleagues in the UK Government. The implementation of this section of the Act would be a real demonstration of support for increasing numbers of older people who will have changing needs and aspirations over the coming years and I have repeatedly raised its importance with UK Government Ministers and Officials and will continue to do so.
"Older People tell me that their health concerns are too readily dismissed by doctors as an inevitable part of the ageing process, where treatment could make a significant difference. Similar examples of age discrimination also include increases in insurance premiums based solely on the celebration of a certain birthday and difficulties accessing information and money-saving deals that are now often only available via the internet."