Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 brings together existing anti-discrimination legislation such as the Race Relations Act, the Sex Discrimination Act and the Disability Discrimination Act. The Act sets out the Equality Duty which public bodies must fulfil when carrying out their functions.
The Equality Duty requires public bodies to take responsibility for responding to their duties; challenges from the public will be the key means of holding public bodies to account on their performance on equalities. However, the Equality Duty no longer specifies how public authorities analyse the effect of their policies and practices on equality.
In order to comply with the Equality Duty, the Council will consider the impact on equalities when drawing up or reviewing policies and proposals which affect the way the Council works. This shall be embedded into our planning and decision making process and will be summed up in the Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) form. The EIA form shall be published on the Council website to ensure transparency in the decision making process.
The Equality Duty
The Equality Duty means that, when carrying out our functions, we must have due regard for the need to:
1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act.
2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. There are eight protected characteristics:
- Age
- disability, including those associated with disabled people, i.e. carers
- gender reassignment
- pregnancy and maternity
- this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality
- religion or belief - this includes lack of belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
It also applies to marriage and civil partnership, the 9th protected characteristic covered by the Equality Act, but only in respect of the requirement to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination.
3. Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
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 equality duty includes direct and indirect discrimination:
Direct discrimination
Direct discrimination is where policies and practices treat one or more groups less favourably on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, age, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or belief. For example, it would be direct discrimination if, trying to avoid tensions, a youth club held sessions on Tuesdays for young Polish migrants and held sessions for all other young people on Wednesdays and Fridays. Direct discrimination cannot be justified and is unlawful except in extremely limited circumstances.
Indirect discrimination
Indirect discrimination is where policies and practices apply to everyone and are apparently neutral but actually disadvantage or discriminate one or more groups. For example, a service is only provided at a certain time which conflicts with various religious observances. This would be indirect discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. Indirect discrimination is unlawful if it cannot be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim
Page updated: 13 Oct 2011
.