Ageism a widespread, accepted form of discrimination in UK society, MPs hear

Ageism is a normalised and accepted form of discrimination which is widespread in the UK and can have a “hugely damaging” impact, MPs have heard.

There is a “structural problem” within Government which struggles to think about age and to take the issue of ageism seriously, a hearing on the rights of older people was told.

Leaders of organisations representing older people said the issue came to the fore in the coronavirus pandemic, when people were “emboldened” to publicly express ageist views, the Women and Equalities Committee heard.

The cross-party committee is considering whether discrimination and ageist stereotyping is preventing older people from participating fully in society and the case being made for an Older People’s Commissioner for England – a role which already exists in Wales and Northern Ireland.

In Scotland a Bill has been proposed to establish an independent commissioner to promote and safeguard the rights and interests of older people.

At Wednesday’s committee hearing in Westminster, Carole Easton, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said ageism is “hidden in plain sight and embedded” in the UK.

She added: “I think we don’t even notice it when language is used on TV, in pubs, on social media.”

Ms Easton referred to the use of the phrase “bed-blocking” when it comes to the NHS, asking: “Why do we talk about bed-blocking rather than older people trapped in hospital?

“They no more want to be in hospital than we want them to be in hospital. So the very language makes it very negative and very discriminatory.”

She described ageism as “normalised” and “an unseen accepted discrimination”, adding: “It’s the most widespread form of discrimination in the UK.”

The effects can be “hugely damaging”, affecting health, job prospects and the economy, she added, saying stereotypes can sometimes become self-fulfilling prophecies “as they can affect how older people view themselves and their own capabilities and behaviours”.

Committee chairwoman Caroline Nokes shared her own experience of stereotyping in advertising, joking there had been an assumption following a recent birthday that she was now in “Velcro slippers and that’s it”.

She said: “My 50th birthday arrived and there was a deluge of advertising around stairlifts, funeral services, care homes. I was 50.”

Helena Herklots, Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, said there had been “horrific examples of of language” used in the pandemic, citing examples of “people talking about why are we protecting older people who are going to die any way”.

While she did not name Boris Johnson, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard as part of its module two investigations that the former prime minister had, according to a note read from the diary of a former private secretary, asked why the economy was being destroyed “for people who will die any way soon”, in the days before the country went into lockdown.

The inquiry also heard that then-chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance had written in his diary that Mr Johnson suggested he believed the coronavirus pandemic was nature’s way of dealing with old people”, as he resisted lockdown measures.

Ms Herklots said: “I think maybe the pandemic emboldened some people with ageist views to come out and say those publicly in a way that they wouldn’t have done before.

“And I think we are still living with the legacy of some of that, which is why the work we’ve been talking about, the work of this committee, is so important because there’s a risk that some of that becomes normalised and therefore we need to almost redouble our efforts on issues of ageism.”

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said her organisation believes there is “a structural problem within Government which in a way is simply reflecting our ageist society in lots of different ways”.

She told MPs: “Our Government struggles, I think, to think about age.

She said if the Government is serious about an issue there might be a commissioner and a minister appointed to look at it, as well as a unit of officials and a written strategy.

She said: “What’s interesting about older people is, in this country, we don’t have any of it – nothing.

“So it’s actually quite hard to have a conversation about older people.”

She said the consequences of that were seen in the pandemic when “there wasn’t anybody in Government, in Whitehall, who really knew enough about what older people’s lives were like, what they needed, and therefore we ended up with some decisions that ultimately we probably all look back on and would regret”.