The hope that inequality of treatment on the part of insurers, based on the age of the insured, would be prohibited by the Equality Act 2010, which brings together all the main legislation governing equality issues, was dashed when Parliament announced that it had accepted the commercial reality that risks of various sorts are age-related.
Accordingly, setting premiums for insuring risks using age as a risk factor will not be discriminatory provided it is ‘fair and reasonable’ to do so. The main insurances where age is a factor are:
- health (and travel);
- motor insurance; and
- life assurance.
It has been reported that the Government intends to review the implementation dates of the measures contained in the Act and it is likely that parts of it will be subject to amendment before it becomes law.
