Equality Act 2010

The main provisions of the Equality Act 2010, which provide the basic framework of protection from discrimination, victimisation and harassment, came into force from 1 October 2010. The Act replaces all existing anti-discrimination laws, and extends protection across a number of ‘protected characteristics’. These are race, gender/sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnership. 

The Act applies across services and public functions; premises; work; education; associations; and transport provision; and replaces the following pieces of legislation:-

• Equal Pay Act 1970
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Race Relations Act 1976
• Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• Equality Act 2006
• Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations of 2007
• Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006

The aim of the Act is to streamline previous laws, and ‘level up’ the protection afforded to the nine ‘protected characteristic’ groups. The circumstances under which the Act applies will differ depending on the situation, but in general the Act protects against the following:-

Direct discrimination - Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic they either have or are thought to have (see discrimination by perception below), or because they associate with someone who has a protected characteristic (see discrimination by association below).

Discrimination by association - This is a form of direct discrimination against someone, whereby one person discriminates against another because the second person is associated with another person who possesses a protected characteristic. This type of discrimination previously applied to race, religion or belief and sexual orientation, and is now extended to cover the remaining protected characteristics. In practice, this will extend protection for people like carers. 

Discrimination by Perception - This is a form of direct discrimination against a person because others think they possess a particular protected characteristic, irrespective of whether or not they do in fact possess that characteristic. It previously applied to age, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation, and is now extended to cover the remaining characteristics.

Indirect discrimination - Indirect discrimination occurs when an organisation has a condition, rule, policy or practice that applies equally to everyone, but in practice has an unwittingly disadvantageous effect on groups of people who share a protected characteristic. Indirect discrimination previously applied to most of the protected characteristics, except for disability and transgender. It now covers all of the protected characteristics. Indirect discrimination can be justified if you can show that the rule, policy or practice was ‘a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’. When considering whether a rule is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, courts and tribunals will take into account a variety of factors, including the employer’s business case. Cost alone will not justify indirect discrimination, although it will frequently be a relevant factor

Harassment - Harassment is defined as “unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual”. Under the Equality Act, employees will be able to complain of behaviour that they find offensive even if it is not directed at them, and they do not possess the relevant characteristic themselves. Employees are also protected from harassment because of perception and association.

Victimisation - Victimisation occurs when an employee is treated badly because they have made or supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act; or because they are suspected of doing so. An employee is not protected from victimisation if they have maliciously made or supported an untrue complaint. There is no longer a need to compare treatment of a complainant with that of a person who has not made or supported a complaint under the Act.

Public sector equality duty

From 5 April 2011 the public sector equality duty came into force. Contained within section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the general duty (which replaces the previous race, gender, and disability duties) requires those subject to it to have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• Advance equality of opportunity between different groups
• Foster good relations between different groups

The public sector equality duty extends it coverage beyond the previous race, disability and gender equality duties. The new duty requires the Council to give due regard to the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender and sexual orientation, and marriage and civil partnership. However, where marriage and civil partnership is concerned, only the first ‘arm’ of the duty applies.

Having due regard for advancing equality involves:

• Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics
• Taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people
• Encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low

The specific duties of the public sector equality duty require public bodies to publish certain pieces of information that relate to equality in their organisations.

By no later than 31 January 2012, and at least annually thereafter, we must publish information relating to the protected characteristics of employees, and information relating to persons who share a relevant protected characteristic who are affected by our policies and practices.

By no later than 6 April 2012, and at four yearly intervals thereafter, we must publish one or more objectives that we think achievable in relation to the public sector equality duty. We have published our equality objectives in our Corporate Equality Scheme 2011-15.

You can find more information on the Equality Act 2010 on the Government Equalities Office (part of the Home Office) website  and the Equality & Human Rights Commission website .