Ministers will face calls this week to extend the laws to protect the elderly as tribunals brace themselves for a surge in age discrimination claims.

So far an estimated 1,000-plus claims have been lodged since new laws outlawing ageism took effect last October. But the new regulations chiefly protect people in the work-place and do not extend to the provision of goods, services and facilities.

Organisations submitting comments next week on a Government review of discrimination law are calling for the age laws to be widened. Lorna Thomas Emms, of Help the Aged, said: “It is simply a disgrace that old people should be left without any legal measures to stop discriminatory treatment in both private and public sectors – from health and social services to insurance and banking.”

Ministers had indicated that they would bring forward a single Equality Bill in the next session and this should be a key part of it, she said. Gordon Lishman, director general of Age Concern, said: “There is limited recognition of the pervasive nature of age-related prejudice.” Old people were still falling victim to unfair practices in health and social care and restrictions on their access to private sector services, he said.

At the same time, organisations are concerned that the current discrimination laws still allow employers to require employees aged 65 to retire. A legal challenge lodged by Age Concern’s membership arm, Heyday, has been referred to the European Court of Justice. Ailsa Ogilvie, Heyday’s director, said: “Employers are using the new regulations to force out people over 65, knowing they cannot be accused of unlawful discrimination.”

Audrey Williams, of Eversheds, the law firm, said that claims over age discrimination lodged from October to March totalled 800 and were likely to exceed 1,000. Many, she said, appeared to be over the issue of compulsory retirement, often because employers had not followed quite complex procedures. A number of claims had also been lodged pending the outcome of the legal challenge by Heyday.

She added that legislating against ageism was complex: “The Government would want to prohibit ‘bad’ discrimination while enabling ‘good’ discrimination – such as travel concessions and package holidays limited to an age group.”

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