RACISM continues to scar and disadvantage England’s black Caribbean people in later life, a charity has warned, urging for more to be done to “level the playing field.”

A new report by Age UK published today found that older black Caribbean people often face major barriers to accessing vital services such as the NHS and benefits. 

These disadvantages, the charity said, are the result of inequalities accumulated over a lifetime, combined with the institutional racism and ageism they encounter today.

The research was commissioned as a follow-up to the charity’s work supporting the Windrush generation in their fight for justice after the scandal of 2017-18 and the Home Office’s hostile environment policies.

Testimonies gathered for the report highlighted how racism shaped experiences in housing, healthcare and work. 

One woman in her 80s recalled a colleague asking her if she had “a tail, because monkeys do.”

A man in his 70s described how housing systems “automatically put families from minority communities at the bottom of the list.”

A woman in her 60s said she had “sat in meetings where marginalised young people were compared to hungry children in Africa” without challenge. 

Another participant said that as a pregnant black woman she had been treated “differently, patronisingly, dismissively” compared with white peers, who were shown “patience and care.”

The charity warns that while the needs of older people from racially minoritised communities are under-researched and under-represented in official data, evidence shows that these groups are often faring worse than the wider older population and are more likely to experience problems undermining their quality of life.

Age UK’s report makes 10 recommendations for government and public bodies, including tackling institutional racism via a national programme, addressing ethnicity pension gaps and improving access to benefits and housing.