Supporting rationale
 

Protect people of all ages from unjustified age discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services.
Reforming, strengthening and updating Northern Ireland equality law will help tackle inequalities, simplify and harmonise the equality legislation, and address the significant gaps in protection between equality law in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

We also continue to recommend the inclusion of a commitment in the PfG to extend age discrimination legislation to the provision of goods, facilities and services.

Real life examples show the effect of the gaps in the law
Read our real life case studies which demonstrate why reform of age equality is needed, illlustrating how older people are being affected by a lack of protection when accessing goods, facilities and services.

Mental Health Services
The Department of Health (DoH) should ensure that provisions for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) are adequate to meet the mental health needs of all children and young people.
Children and young people in Northern Ireland face particular barriers in relation to access to mental health treatment.  Specific issues relate to the provision of funding to ensure services are age appropriate and provide adequate services to support children and young people with mental health needs.



Services for young trans people
The Department of Health (DoH) should ensure the early availability of services and hormone suppressants to meet the needs of young trans people.
We recommend that consideration is given to further developing the service provision for young trans people, including taking account of any learning from the delivery of the ‘Knowing our Identity’ (KoI) service locally, and the ‘Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) in Great Britain.

Effective transition processes
Effective processes should be put in place to ensure the successful transition from youth to adult health services.
During the transition from child to adult care, adolescents can be left with no service until eligibility for adult healthcare services and associated delivery responsibilities are established.  This can result in a child having services withdrawn before commensurate adult provision is made available.  In addition, young people with specific care needs can experience a lack of support when making the transition from one service to another.

Increase accessible service of health and social care
Ensure effective care in the community, addressing any issues with direct payments; homecare visits; and transport to community care services.
Government must ensure that care in the community arrangements guarantee a sufficient quality of care to support individuals to live at home, where it is their wish and it is appropriate for them to do so.

Awareness of assistive technologies
Raise awareness and uptake amongst older people of assistive technologies to access health, social care and well-being services.
The development of the Health and Social Care Board’s eHealth and Care Strategy for Northern Ireland’s framework sets out a range of measures to increase the use of innovative technologies in the delivery of health and social care over a five year period from 2016 to 2020.

Differing domiciliary, residential or nursing care needs
Ensure that older people of differing sexual orientations and transgender people have their domiciliary, residential or nursing care needs fully met.
Older lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) and trans people can have different family support networks to the wider population and thus potentially differing needs for domiciliary, residential or nursing care support when compared to heterosexuals.  In addition, older LGB and trans people’s experience of growing up in Northern Ireland may make them more reluctant than others to disclose their sexual orientation, sex, gender or medical history.
 
• Read our age related health, social care and well-being recommendations in full (pdf, see page 8)

Supporting rationale
 

Target actions, advice and support to reduce the proportion of young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).
Effective targeted action is required, particularly for those who may face additional barriers to training and the labour market due to Section 75 identities. For example, lone parents who are predominately women, may require assistance with childcare, while disabled people may require support in relation to transport, additional costs and/or securing reasonable adjustments.  Government should use regular monitoring and disaggregated reporting to ensure maximum uptake of opportunities and subsequent progression into employment.

The Departments for the Economy and Education should work in partnership to deliver coordinated actions to reduce long-term unemployment amongst older people.
The share of people in Northern Ireland classed as long-term unemployed is higher for the over 50s age group.  Despite the fall in unemployment figures, the percentage of people aged 50 years and over claiming long-term unemployment benefits has increased by 2 percentage points over a three year period*.

*Comparison of long-term claimants over 50 between March 2014 to March 2017



• Read our age related employment recommendations in full (pdf, see page 21)

Supporting rationale
 

The Department for the Economy should tackle barriers to older people participating in life-long and further education.
The Commission welcomes that the Northern Ireland Strategy for Further Education provides a context to tackle the barriers perceived and/or faced by older people and looks forward to its review to ‘develop policy proposals on the most appropriate roles’ and ‘to identify the main barriers which inhibit different groups of learners (for example by age and level of learning) from participating in provision’.

Young carers
The Departments of Health and Education should work in collaboration to identify young carers and provide services to both support them and improve their educational outcomes.
By working in collaboration, the Education and Health Departments could better identify carers; raise awareness among young carers of supports potentially available; provide signposting to relevant DE and DoH services; and improve monitoring and data collection.



Looked after children
That the Departments of Education and Health should provide tailored support to ensure the effective participation in education of every looked after child.
Evidence shows that looked after children have poorer educational achievements when compared to their peers.  The Department of Education and the Department of Health should work together to provide a co-ordinated and consistent approach, including via their duty within the Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015, to ensure the effective participation in education of every looked after child.



Children in the Juvenile Justice Centre
Ensure children and young people in the juvenile justice centre have access to an appropriate education curriculum.
Children and young people in the juvenile justice centre (JJC) in Northern Ireland have historically not had the same access to the full education curriculum as their peers.

Since 2015, a review of the core curriculum against the requirements of Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) provision has been carried out.  The Commission welcomes this step and calls for ongoing monitoring to ensure effective and comprehensive education provision, particularly in light of the negative issues associated with reductions in staffing level, noted in the 2015 review by the Criminal Justice Inspection NI.



• Read our age related education recommendations in full (pdf, see page 28)

Supporting rationale
 

Accessible housing standards should be applied to all new builds, including as a minimum, the extension of the Lifetime Homes Standard to new builds across all tenures.
More needs to be done to ensure that all new builds in private tenures comply with accessible standards, so as to better facilitate individuals to remain in their homes as they age or as their needs change.  We note recognition within the draft Programme for Government delivery plans of the need to increase the provision of accessible homes.



Easy to access adaptation services should be implemented to ensure older people’s independence in their own home
Maintaining older residents in their own homes (as long as it is viable and they wish it) is a core element to securing and maintaining personal independence. To allow this housing adaptations may be required, driven by changing needs with age or following discharge from hospital.

Trusts should ensure there is sufficient capacity to care for permanent care home residents (where they wish it), and that they provide for all older residents requiring care and support.
Should the Department of Health’s plans proceed to reduce residential accommodation for older people it will be vital that older residents are assured that they will receive the same level of care and support in alternative accommodation.
 
Undertake further research to understand the accommodation needs, preferences and expectations of older people. 
The demographic trend of an ageing population is contributing to an increase in demand for support services and specialised housing in old age.  However it is also the case that sheltered housing has become less attractive to fit, active older people.



Given the impact of fuel poverty on older people, we recommend actions to further advance energy efficiency and to implement a fuel-brokering scheme across all tenures. 
While progress has been made, including improvements in energy efficiency through the Affordable Warmth Scheme and the requirements of an Energy Performance Certificate, addressing fuel poverty should remain a priority for action, as highlighted in the Active Ageing Strategy 2016-2021.

• Read our age related housing and accommodation recommendations in full (pdf, see page 36)

Supporting rationale
 

Encourage younger people to apply for public appointments; address institutional barriers; and deliver capacity building.
Greater participation by younger people in public appointments would help to ensure a more informed policy decision-making process.  As part of a range of actions to encourage applications from younger people, new avenues of promotion could be explored and implemented to raise awareness of opportunities, and their relevance among younger age groups.
 


Public authorities should take steps to more effectively foster the active participation of people of all ages in public policy development and decision-making, including to tackle over-arching barriers.
To ensure the active participation of younger and older people, there is a need to tackle over-arching barriers to active participation including: structural barriers; physical and communication needs; personal capacity and confidence; and stereotypes and prejudice.




• Read our age related recommendations in full on participation in public life (pdf, see page 44)

Supporting rationale
 

Further explore how prejudicial attitudes impact on older people’s health and lifestyle choices; and the key actions that will overcome any identified issues.
Studies and attitudinal surveys suggest that prejudicial attitudes may be an issue in the provision of health and social care generally for older people, but a more detailed exploration of the specific situation in Northern Ireland is currently lacking.



Training for police should incorporate challenging negative and prejudicial attitudes towards children and young people
The review of the youth justice system in 2011 highlighted a need to challenge, within the police service, negative and prejudicial attitudes towards children and young people.



The Children and Young People’s Strategy and action plans should include a focus on balanced media reporting measures.
Society’s perception of children and young people is reinforced by negative media stories.  However, actual police crime figures do not support this negative media image of children and young people, who are more likely to be victims of crime rather than perpetrators.

Government should take action to address the fear of crime among older people.
Actions must not only focus on tackling crime but also the perception of the prevalence of crime against older people.  While a number of strategies exist to reinforce actual and perceived safety, evidence suggests that delivery is dependent on adequately resourced and targeted actions across Government policy.  Delivery of commitments within action plans is therefore essential.

• Read our age related recommendations on prejudice and social attitudes in full (pdf, see page 49)

Supporting rationale
 

Assess the impact of Universal Credit on low income mixed age couples
The introduction of Universal Credit provisions relating to Pension Credit will have an adverse financial impact on low income couples where one partner is below the State Pension Age.  Under the new provisions couples on low income will not be able to claim Pension Credit until both parties reach the State Pension Age.
 


Ensure that the withdrawal of housing benefit to unemployed 18-21 year olds does not result in a rise in youth homelessness.
The 2015 summer budget announced the removal of the housing benefit element of Universal Credit for out-of-work young people aged 18-21 from April 2017.  Implementation in Northern Ireland commenced, on a rolling basis, from September 2017.

In June 2015, 3,800 claimants in Northern Ireland under the age of 22 claimed housing benefit, receiving an average of £54 per week.  Of these claimants, it has been indicated that 800 would be directly affected by the removal of housing benefit by the introduction of Universal Credit.  Action is required to assess the impact on individuals and avoid any rise in homelessness.

Note: We note Esther McVey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions statement in March 2018, on the Government’s committment to amend regulations so that all 18-21 year olds will be entitled to claim support for housing costs in Universal Credit.  We welcome this commitment and await the introduction of the regulations. Read statement



The Department for Communities should take targeted action to address the needs of single tenants aged 35 years and under when renting in the private sector.
Changes to Housing Benefit have resulted in single people aged 35 years old and under being entitled only to a shared accommodation rate.  This is lower than the full housing benefit rate.  Young people aged under 35 have been negatively affected by Welfare Reform measures, as regards their ability to secure and sustain private rented sector accommodation, in the absence of available social housing.

Reduce the number of looked after children subject to PACE detentions, and to address their overrepresentation within the criminal justice system.
The Children’s Law Centre and Include Youth have raised concerns that PACE powers “are not used as a measure of last resort, in line with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, but instead have been employed in the absence of alternative accommodation, a concern also raised by the Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland.”
 


• Read our age related recommendations in full on welfare reform and social protection (pdf, see page 55)