Pensioners facing full-price charges for evening classes

Published on Wednesday 16 January 2008 09:51

OVER-60s could be forced to pay full-price for evening classes – because of age discrimination laws.

East Lothian Council has said its current discount may be illegal, since it discriminates against people under 60. They warned older participants that they may have to pay the full price in September.

But the news angered Age Concern, which says adult education classes are a lifeline for many elderly people. Many retired people are on a low income and would not be able to afford the increase.

Olivia Begbie, 63, from Musselburgh, was shocked when she received news from the council warning of possible changes. She is studying Italian at Musselburgh East Community Learning Centre.

She said: "I think this is very worrying. If pensioners have to pay full price for classes like this, they will not be able to afford them, and so will not get out of their homes as much.

"It could also mean a lot of classes close down, because they won't have as many people going along. It just doesn't make any sense to me."

A spokeswoman for East Lothian Council said they had to comply with the Employment Equality (Age) Discrimination Regulations 2006 which have recently come into force.

She said: "As well as employment, these regulations cover access to all further, higher and other adult education provision.

"We are currently assessing the potential impact on the services that we provide.

"This might result in changes to the concessions that we can offer based on age alone for adult education classes starting in September 2008. However no decision has yet been taken."

She added: "It's a really difficult area. We're having to look at services across the board. We've had to make classes aware of this.

"There is a possibility people aged 60 plus will not get their discounted rate."

People who are aged over 60, or are retired, currently pay around half the standard price. There are also discounts for full-time students, and those receiving benefits. For a beginner's Italian course, over-60s pay 20, compared with a standard fee of 50.

Ann Ferguson, a spokeswoman for Age Concern, said many pensioners would struggle to afford classes if the prices were increased. She said adult education classes could be a "lifeline" for elderly people.

She said: "We would be very, very concerned if the local authority took this line. The majority of older people are on lower incomes, and they very much depend on concessionary prices for their quality of life.

"We should be supporting lifelong learning. Just because people have reached retirement age, they don't stop learning new things. In fact, retirement can give them more free time to do other things.

"The council might be hard pushed to fill their classes if they took away the concessions."

She said the move did not make sense, when over-60s are offered other benefits such as free bus travel throughout Scotland. An Edinburgh City Council spokeswoman said they had no plans to scrap concessions for older people.

She said: "There has been no discussion into altering the charges for our adult education programme. We have a policy of inclusion and the fees set are based on personal income."