3.1.4 In consumer services

The Equality Act 2010 covers providers of goods and services, as well as services such as health and social care. This includes, for example, shops, hotels, and insurers. It means that, in most instances, you can’t be discriminated against because of your age.

There are, however, a number of specific exemptions relating to some consumer and financial services, including:

• Age-related holidays offered for people over 50.
• Social or leisure clubs which cater for people of specific ages only.
• Insurers being able to take age into account when calculating a premium and a bank being able to refuse a financial product to a customer based on their age (however, they must make sure that they base the decision on reliable and relevant information, as opposed to just making a general assumption based on age).

If you feel that you have been treated badly as a customer on the basis of your age‚ you can:

• Make a complaint using the company’s complaints procedure, stating that you believe you have been discriminated against on the grounds of age.
• Report a local business to trading standards (teams based in local authorities that enforce legislation to protect consumers).

Depending on who you are complaining about, you could take your complaint further to a regulatory body:

• The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] about non-broadcast advertisements‚ sales promotions and direct marketing. You may want to complain if you’ve seen a press advertisement‚ promotion‚ leaflet or poster that you think is ageist and you want it changed or withdrawn. The ASA can stop misleading or offensive advertising and ensure sales promotions are run fairly. Complain about television or radio advertising through the regulator Ofcom.
• Complaints about financial organisations, insurers and banks can be taken to the Financial Ombudsman, which can investigate complaints that haven’t been resolved through the organisation’s complaints process first.
• At any of the stages above, you can also contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service for advice.

You may also wish to take your business elsewhere‚ and tell your friends and family to do the same. Write to the company telling them that ageism is the reason they’ve lost your business.

Online reviews can be a powerful way of making your views known and can sometimes get a more favourable response from the company if they fear losing more business