Islington residents and MP demand age equality

In a landmark moment for age equality, Labour MP for Islington South and Finsbury, Emily Thornberry, met with local residents, at the Help the Aged Mass Lobby for Age Equality at Westminster, on the 19^th of April, and walked away with one clear message - ban age discrimination.

Local residents, Margaret and Ray Shields, joined over 250 lobbyists from around the country in attending scheduled face-to-face meetings with their MPs.

The Mass Lobby provided lobbyists with the historic opportunity to discuss their experiences of age discrimination with their MPs and demand the Government take action to make ageism illegal.

It was part of Help the Aged ‘Just Equal Treatment' campaign which is working to influence legislation before Government makes its final decisions on the Discrimination Law Review - the proposals for new laws to be drawn up in the forthcoming Single Equalities Bill.

Emily Thornberry MP is a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, which has just launched an inquiry into equality. The inquiry will be looking at  how older people are treated.  On Tuesday 23^rd April it will be questioning Sir Trevor Philips, Chair of the newly created Commission for Equality and Human Rights (CEHR), which is responsible for reducing age discrimination.

As it stands, despite the Government's commitment to ‘creating a culture of zero tolerance' of unequal treatment of people based on their age, race, gender and disability. Help the Aged continues to uncover instances of age discrimination in goods, facilities and services.

As Kate Jopling, Senior Policy Manager at Help the Aged explains:

"Our research* shows that 73 per cent of people agree that older people face discrimination on the grounds of their age in everyday lives. Older people want equal treatment and they expect their government to take action on age discrimination.

"Backed by Help the Aged, lobbyists called for two new pieces of legislation to be recommended in the Discrimination Law Review: a ban on age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services, and a positive duty on public bodies to promote age equality. While positive duties to promote equality already exist for race and disability, and will soon come into force for gender equality, age discrimination remains the last acceptable form of discrimination - and that's unacceptable."

In response to the Mass Lobby, MP Emily Thornberry, says:

"Margaret and Ray were telling me about age discrimination not only in education and work but also TV, film and the press. It's not fair that older people can still be treated as second-class citizens. My select committee is taking evidence on the subject and I'll be asking witnesses about what we can do to make sure older people are treated fairly".

It's not too late to have your say before the Government finalises the Review. To join local residents in the fight for age equality write to your MP or contact Help the Aged ‘Just Equal Treatment' campaign on 0207 239 1955 or online at www.helptheaged.org.uk/justequaltreatment.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• Help the Aged Mass Lobby for Age Equality, took place 11:30am - 5pm Wednesday, 18 April, Westminster.

• * ‘Too Old: Older people's accounts of discrimination, exclusion and rejection', is a report from Research on Age Discrimination - a two year research study funded by the Big Lottery Fund and undertaken by Help the Aged and The Open University.

• Examples of age discrimination include:

• o Doctors dismissing pain as "just getting old"
• o Health programmes or certain drugs having an upper age limit
• o Older patients in hospitals having their food taken away before they've finished eating
• o Older patients having requests for cleaning of teeth rejected because they were cleaned "the day before"
• o Vital health services for older people which affect quality of life, such as chiropody, not given priority.
• o Travel insurance companies not offering quotes to those over 75
• o Media advertising making fun of older people to sell products
• o Bank loans and certain accounts refused on the basis of age
• o Bus drivers not waiting for older passengers to be seated before driving off

• Help the Aged is the charity fighting to free disadvantaged older people in the UK and overseas from poverty, isolation and neglect. It campaigns to raise public awareness of the issues affecting older people and to bring about policy change. The Charity delivers a range of services including information and advice, home support and community living that are supported by its fundraising activities and paid for services. Help the Aged also funds vital research into the health issues and experiences of older people to improve the quality of later life.