The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 consolidates and replaces about 116 previous pieces of discrimination legislation for England, Scotland and Wales.  It is a massive step forward for UK equality legislation; it gives individuals strong protection against discrimination, and gives employers greater clarify about their responsibilities.  The Act makes discrimination unlawful in circumstances not covered previously and sets a new standard for the way public services must treat all people.

Under the Equality Act, public bodies must have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, victimisation and harassment
• promote equality with regard to the protective characteristics
• promote good relations

These three requirements form the three aims of the Equality Act, or the General Duty.

There are also Specific Duties laid out in the Act which help public bodies perform their Duty better.  They do this by requiring public bodies to be transparent about how they are meeting the General Duty.  Public organisations need to publish accessible information about their workforce (available on this page), and set at least one equality objective (by April 2012).