The Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 came into effect from 1 October 2010. For the first time it gave the UK a single Act of Parliament, requiring equal treatment in access to employment as well as private and public services, regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, maternity or pregnancy, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. 

The Equality Act aims to simplify the law by bringing together several pieces of anti-discrimination legislation. It replaces the following employment legislation:

• Equality Pay Act 1970
• Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• Race Relations Act 1976
• Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulation 2003
• Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
• Equality Act 2006, Part 2
• Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007.

Protected Characteristics
The Act covers the same groups that were protected by existing equality legislation, but they are now referred to as ‘protected characteristics’. These are:
• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage / civil partnership
• pregnancy / maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation.
The Act also extends protection to some protected characteristics which were not previously covered by legislation. 

Age

The Equality Act protects people from discrimination in employment (aged 18 plus), but it is the only protected characteristic that will allow employers to justify direct discrimination. You can discriminate between, or in favour of, different age groups if you can demonstrate that it is a proportionate means of meeting a legitimate means.
Dorset HealthCare will review all job descriptions and person profiles to ensure that they do not contain any criteria that could directly or indirectly discriminate against someone, such as, a requirement to have a certain number of years’ experience. The Trust will collect and monitor age-related data in respect of relevant policies and practices (such as recruitment, training, promotion and bullying and harassment) in order to pick up any patterns or trends.
Age is included under the public sector Equality Duty. From April 2011, the Trust will continue to be proactive in making sure that it meets these requirements in respect of age. 

Disability

Of all the protected characteristics, the law around disability has changed the most. The Act includes new provisions protecting people from both direct and indirect discrimination arising from disability (unless these can be shown to be a legitimate means of achieving a legitimate aim). There are also significant changes about what employers can ask about a candidate’s health before offering them work.

Gender reassignment

The Act contains a new definition of gender reassignment which is much broader in that it does not require a person to be under medical supervision in order to be protected.

Race

For the purposes of the Act, race includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins. A racial group can be made up of two or more different racial groups (for example, Black Britons). There are few changes in the Act in relation to race.

Religion or belief

The Equality Act protects employees and jobseekers from discrimination in relation to their religion or belief. For the purposes of the Act, a religion must have a clear structure and belief system. A belief means any religious or philosophical belief or lack of belief. The Act also protects employees or jobseekers with no religious belief. Humanism is a protected philosophical belief but political beliefs would not be protected. We have found this area difficult to monitor. To fully carry out our responsibilities under the public sector Equality Duty and robustly assess the impact of policies and services, the Trust will be making improvements in processes to be able to collect, collate and report data on the religion or belief of both staff and patients on a regular and systematic basis. 

Sex (M/F)

There are few changes in respect of sex. The key area of focus is equal pay, with a new Code of Practice now in place. The Trsut will carry out regular pay audits and assessing whether there are any significant gender pay gaps which may need to be addressed. There is also a mandatory reporting requirement on the gender pay gap which the Trust will need to comply with.

Sexual orientation

The Equality Act protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and heterosexual.