The Equality Bill received royal assent on 8 April 2010 to become the Equality Act 2010. The Act replaces and consolidates all existing equality legislation, including the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, The Equal Pay Act 1970 and The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.
The Act reforms, streamlines and harmonises the previous anti-discrimination legislation in order to support and promote equality.
The Equality Act 2010 covers nine protected characteristics, making it unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of:
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Age
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Disability (those who have, or have had, a disability)
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Gender Reassignment (no longer required to be under medical supervision)
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Marriage and Civil Partnership
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Pregnancy and Maternity
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Race
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Religion or Belief (including lack of belief)
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Gender
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Sexual Orientation
The Act covers the fields of employment, facilities, goods and services, and admission and treatment of students and includes a number of new provisions, most significantly the extension of the public sector duty to promote equality of opportunity.
Key Changes
There are a number of key changes in the Equality Act 2010 that will have a direct impact on higher education institutions:
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The definition of direct discrimination has changed to include protection from discrimination based on ‘association’ or ‘perception’ for all 9 protected characteristics.
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Indirect discrimination protection has been explicitly extended to disability.
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Disability-related discrimination has been replaced by a new type of discrimination - discrimination arising from disability.
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Breastfeeding is now explicitly protected ensuring that a woman is not treated less favourably because she is breastfeeding.
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Protection from discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity has been extended to students.
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Limitations on the use of pre-employment health questionnaires have been introduced, which make it unlawful for an employer to ask about the health of a job applicant either before offering work to an applicant, or before including an applicant in a pool of shortlisted candidates.
What is the Public Sector Duty?
A requirement on public bodies to consider how different people will be affected by their activities, helping them to deliver policies and services which are efficient and effective, that are accessible to all and meet different people’s needs. The Public Sector Equality Duty was introduced 5th April 2011 and applies to all of the protected characteristics apart from marriage and civil partnership (which only applies in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination)
We have a General Duty to:
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Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
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Advance equality of opportunity between different groups
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Foster good relations between different groups
The Specific Duties came into force on 10th September 2011.
The specific duties are those duties we have to undertake to demonstrate that we are adhering to the General Duty. They include:
The new regulations focus on cutting bureaucracy and increasing transparency in order to free up public bodies to do what is appropriate in their circumstances, to take responsibility for their own performance and to be held to account by the public. The Government Equalities Office stresses that:
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Emphasis is in on being aware of the General Equality Duty in carrying out our work
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When making decisions we should consider the potential effects on different groups of people
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The Equality Duty does not mean Public Bodies have to prepare or publish equality schemes, equality action plans, equality impact assessments or seperate annual equality reports.
Please click on this link for The Equality Analysis Guidance
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