Age discrimination

Age discrimination is when you are treated differently because of your age in one of the situations that are covered by the Equality Act.

The Equality Act has some exceptions. For example, students are not protected from age discrimination at school.

The treatment could be a one-off action or as a result of a rule or policy based on age. It does not have to be intentional to be unlawful.

There are some circumstances when being treated differently due to age is lawful, explained on this page.

The Equality Act 2010 says that you must not be discriminated against because:

• you are (or are not) a certain age or in a certain age group
• someone thinks you are (or are not) a specific age or in a specific age group – this is known as discrimination by perception
• you are connected to someone of a specific age or age group – this is known as discrimination by association

Age groups can be quite wide (for example, ‘people under 50’ or 'under 18s'). They can also be quite specific (for example, ‘people in their mid-40s’). Terms such as ‘young person’ and ‘youthful’ or ‘elderly’ and ‘pensioner’ can also indicate an age group.

There are four main types of age discrimination.

Direct discrimination

Direct discrimination happens when someone treats you worse than another person in a similar situation because of your age.

Direct age discrimination is permitted provided that the organisation or employer can show that there is a good reason for the discrimination.

This is known as objective justification.

Indirect discrimination

Indirect discrimination happens when an organisation has a particular policy or way of working that applies to everyone but which puts people of your age group at a disadvantage.

Like direct age discrimination, indirect age discrimination can be permitted if the organisation or employer is able to show that there is a good reason for the policy. This is known as objective justification.

Harassment

Harassment can occur when someone makes you feel humiliated, offended, intimidated or degraded.

Harassment can never be justified. However, if an organisation or employer can show it did everything it could to prevent people who work for it from behaving like that, you will not be able to make a claim for harassment against it, although you could make a claim against the harasser.

Victimisation

Victimisation is when you are treated badly because you have made a complaint of age discrimination under the Equality Act. It can also occur if you are supporting someone who has made a complaint of age discrimination.

A difference in treatment may be lawful if:

• belonging to a particular age group is essential for a job - this is called an occupational requirement
• an organisation is taking positive action to encourage or develop people in an age group that is under-represented or disadvantaged in a role or activity
• your employer has set a compulsory retirement age that it can objectively justify in respect of your role
• the circumstances fall under one of the exceptions to the Equality Act that allow organisations to provide different treatment in employment or services based on age
• a service provider is making age-related concessions and benefits
• an organisation is providing financial services, such as banking, credit, insurance, personal pension or payment services

However, when a service provider uses someone’s age as a factor to assess risk when deciding whether, and on what terms, to provide them with a financial service, this will be unlawful unless:

• the information used for the risk assessment is relevant and up to date, and
• the information comes from a source on which it is reasonable to rely

Information which might be relevant to the risk assessment includes statistical data. Stereotypes or generalisations about age will not be relevant.