Legislation
The Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act received Royal Assent in April 2010 and began coming into force from October of that year. It brings together over 100 separate pieces of legislation into a single Act, simplifying, strengthening and harmonising previous legislation into a new discrimination law which protects individuals and promotes a fairer and more equal society.
The nine major pieces of legislation which have been replaced by the Act are:
- 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, Part 2
- The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007
The full text of the Equality Act 2010 can be viewed here.
Impact of the Act
The Act has made a number of important changes including:
- Strengthening disabled people’s protection from discrimination
- Protecting people from discrimination as a result of association and perception
- Introduction of a single public sector equality duty and new specific duties for public bodies (including the University)
- Strengthening protections for pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers
- Banning discrimination in private members clubs
- Greater scope for positive action in recruitment to address imbalanced staff profiles
- Introduction of 9 protected characteristics (Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage and Civil Partnership, Pregnancy and Maternity, Race, Religion and belief, Sex, Sexual Orientation)
To find out more about how the University is responding to the Act click here.
For more information about the Equality Act, please consult: