The Equality Act 2010 - What you need to know

What is the 2010 Equality Act?

The 2010 Equality Act unites a range of anti-discrimination legislation and compounds it into a single, comprehensive law. It is the dominant piece of equality legislation in the United Kingdom.

The Act’s principal aims are to safeguard human rights, ensure fairness and protect people from discrimination in the workplace, and while accessing public and private services.

Why was the Equality Act introduced?

Before the introduction of the Equality Act, there were a numbers of separate laws, each addressing a single type of discrimination.

These were the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, the Equality Act 2006, and the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007.

The Equality Act eliminated inconsistencies between these different statutes and merged then into a single comprehensive piece of Equality legislation.

The Equality Act was introduced by the government of Gordon Brown

Areas covered by the Equality Act 2010

The 2010 Act outlaws discrimination based on the following nine protected characteristics: age, race, sex, gender reassignment, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marriage or civil partnership, and pregnancy or maternity.

Some of the most notable provisions of the Equality Act 2010 are:

Prohibited Conduct
The Equality Act 2010 outlaws direct discrimination against those in a protected group. Direct discrimination is unfair treatment because of an individual’s belonging to a protected group. For example, a failure by a guest house to offer available accommodation to a gay couple would constitute direct discrimination.

The legislation also prohibits indirect discrimination. Indirect discrimination occurs when the policies, procedures or rules of an organisation, have the effect that people with a certain protected characteristic, are personally found to have been put at a disadvantage, when compared with those without that characteristic.

Examples of indirect discrimination might include policies that require all people to work on a Sunday, which potentially may thus discriminate against people of certain religions who cannot work on this day. Another example might relate to a company’s dress code if it should prohibit certain types of hairstyles, particularly if those hairstyles were common amongst certain racial groups.

Organisations need to be able to show that a specific policy or procedure has been objectively justified. This typically involves proving a real business need for their actions, and showing that their approach was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, which both considered and followed the least discriminatory approach.

The legislation also provides protection for people making a complaint from subsequent harassment and victimisation.

Reasonable Adjustments
The Equality Act 2010 requires organisations to make reasonable adjustments for the needs of those in a protected group. Reasonable adjustments might for example require a large bank to provide a ramp, alongside stairs, to allow a disabled person to access its premises.

Public Sector Equality Duty
The Equality Act 2010 introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty. Public bodies such as local authorities, schools and health services must now actively prevent unlawful discrimination. This includes considering the needs of protected groups when making decisions about public services, often through an Equality Impact Assessment. Public bodies are also required to take reasonable steps to encourage protected groups to take part in public life. The public sector also has a duty to address prejudice, in order to foster good relations between groups.

As well as these ‘general duties’, public entities also have ‘specific duties’ to publish information regarding their compliance with the 2010 Equality Act. They must formally lay out their equality objectives every four years.

This Public Sector Equality Duty does not apply to the private sector.

Workplace
Employers have a duty to follow the non-discrimination principles laid out in the Act both when hiring staff and in the day-to-day running of their workplace.

Education
Schools and other education providers, whether state-run or private, are also not allowed to discriminate under the Equality Act. This applies to admissions policies, access to facilities, disciplinary measures, and day-to-day teaching.

Associations
The Equality Act outlaws discrimination by association. Discrimination by association occurs, when an individual is discriminated against, not because of their own identity, but because of that of a loved one or close associate.

Enforcement
Under the Equality Act, people can make complaints if they believe they have been the subject of illegal discrimination. This usually starts by following an organisation’s internal complaints procedure. If the individual is dissatisfied with the outcome of that initial internal complaint, they may take it further to an external body, such as an employment tribunal or court.

Under the 2010 Act, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) was specified as the regulatory body responsible for enforcing the Equality Act 2010. The EHRC is accredited by the United Nations as an “A status” national human rights institution.

The EHRC does not become involved in every individual dispute, but uses its legal or enforcement powers when it deems them the best way to achieve change, such as helping to clarify the law, highlighting priority issues, and challenging policies or practices that cause significant disadvantage, sometimes across a whole industry or sector.

There also exists a government funded telephone helpline, the Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS) which advises and assists individuals on issues relating to equality and human rights, across England, Scotland and Wales.

Exemptions

Some occupations and services are not regulated by the 2010 Equality Act, including religious positions, targeted training programmes, and all-women candidate shortlists for political parties.

Another common exemption relates to age-based discrimination which can be ‘objectively justified’. For example, action taken in employment situation when someone had reached the retirement age would not be viewed as age discrimination.

What has been the impact of the Equality Act 2010?

The2010 Equality Act has clarified employers and service providers’ responsibilities, making it easier for them to understand what the law requires in terms of non-discrimination.

In 2016, a House of Lords Committee report had recommended that the Government alter the 2010 law and restore the power of tribunals to make wider recommendations, with a view to preventing the discrimination experienced by one claimant from happening to others.

In 2019 a report by a House of Commons Select Committee recommended that the Equality and Human Rights Commission should significantly increase the volume, transparency and publicity of its enforcement work by making much greater use of its unique enforcement powers, publicising that work and reducing its reliance on individual complainants.

Campaigners have also argued that for the legislation to continue to advance equality, Equality Impact Assessments should be required for all decisions at all levels of public service.