Government says insurers can still price on age

Home secretary Theresa May has announced that incoming age discrimination laws will not apply to insurance, according to The Telegraph.

May said yesterday that the Equality Act will not apply to financial services, meaning that insurers can still use age as a rating factor. The act takes effect in October and is designed to stop discrimination against the elderly.

Bodies including Age UK and the National Pensioners’ Convention complained that the elderly were being charged too much for insurance products such as travel insurance.

However, a Home Office spokesman responding to a consultation on the act said that complaints about high premiums for the elderly were “anecdotal in nature.”