Age bias ‘has left a million older workers out of a job’
Report by MPS warns that employers must address workplace discrimination as population grows older
ONE million over-50s are being lost to the workplace because age discrimination legislation is not working, MPS warn.
Employers must offer more flexible conditions for workers who are having to care for their elderly relatives. Companies also need to adapt to an ageing workplace, the Commons’ women and equalities committee says today.
By the mid-2030s, half of all adults in the UK will be over 50. At the same time, over-50s are increasingly locked out of the workforce because of “age discrimination, bias and outdated employment practices”.
More than a million now would be “willing to work if the right opportunity arose”. In a report which will be published today, the committee accuses the Government of “failing to enforce the law on age discrimination” as older workers are hit by “prejudice, unconscious bias and casual ageism in the workplace”.
The report says: “It is unacceptable that the nation is wasting the talents of more than one million people aged over 50 who are out of work but would be willing to work if the right opportunity arose. Too little is being done to enforce the law.”
Women “face particular difficulties” trying to find work after they turn 50, the report concludes, adding this is in part because women “still do the majority of caring for children and other family members, and are more likely to be in part-time work”.
In particular, women and men who are caring for elderly parents are being caught out. MPS say: “The Government should therefore introduce a statutory entitlement to five days’ paid carer’s leave, and a longer period of unpaid leave, to help stop those caring for a loved one falling out of the labour market unnecessarily.”
Maria Miller, who chairs the committee, said: “Age discrimination in the workplace is a serious problem, as many older people have discovered. Yet, despite it being unlawful for more than a decade, the scale and lack of enforcement uncovered by our inquiry is both alarming and totally unacceptable.
“The Government and the Equality and Human Rights Commission have failed to get to grips with this. As a country we face serious challenges recruiting and retaining an experienced and skilled workforce. Until we tackle discrimination against the growing number of over-50s, they will continue to be consigned to the ‘too old’ pile instead of being part of the solution.”
Baroness Altmann, who has held the roles of pensions minister and business champion for older workers, said: “Older workers seem to be written off, and not taken seriously. There is quite a bit of unconscious bias towards them. They are often not given the same training opportunities or flexible hours.
“Women are particularly affected. As soon as you hit the menopause, you are seen as past it. That is simply not true – many women get going in their 50s. The Government must up its game in helping older people, especially women, who want or need to work longer.”
The MPS conclude the Government must enforce the law better across both public and private sectors. They also call for companies to publish the age profiles of workers. “Transparency is being used with some success to challenge discrimination in other areas, such as the gender pay gap, and we would like to see it extended to older workers through reporting of the age profile of workforces,” the report says.
Research by Age UK, the charity, has found that more than a third of job applicants aged 55 to 64 have felt “disadvantaged or treated negatively because they were perceived as being older”. Caroline Abrahams, its director, said: “A lot more needs to be done to combat the negative stereotypes of older workers.”