News and Events
Important Update on Equality .....
The Equality Act 2010 has been welcomed across the sector as it brings together and reforms earlier legislation in one Act.
This will apply from October 2010. Voluntary and community sector organisations need to be aware of the changes particularly if you are delivering or planning to deliver public sector services!
The Equality Act 2010 strengthens protection against discrimination by:
- Introducing a new public sector duty to consider reducing socioeconomic inequalities;
- Putting a new integrated Equality Duty on public bodies;
- Using public procurement to improve equality;
- Banning age discrimination outside the workplace;
- Requiring gender pay and employment equality publishing;
- Extending the scope to use positive action;
- Strengthening the powers of employment tribunals;
- Protecting carers from discrimination;
- Clarifying the protection for breastfeeding mothers;
- Banning discrimination in private members’ clubs;
- Strengthening protection from discrimination for disabled people; and
- Protecting people from dual discrimination – direct discrimination because of a combination of two protected characteristics
NEW ...Nine ‘Protected characteristics’ these are: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. It will be against the law to discriminate on any of these grounds.
NEW ....Public Sector Equality Duty .......all public bodies and all organisations and services they contract with will need to take action. They must demonstrate they are taking positive and proactive measures to tackle discrimination
NEW ....Public sector duty regarding socio-economic inequalities. In their plans to deliver services public sector bodies will have to design services to consider way to reduce inequalities arising from socio-economic disadvantage.
NEW ...duty to ensure public bodies are more TRANSPARENT. Public bodies will need to report on important equality areas. This in practice will APPLY to all organisations they contract with to provide services.
Strengthening protection for disabled people:
- makes it unlawful for employers to ask job applicants questions about disability or health before making a job offer
- gives disabled people who live in rented homes the right to have reasonable adjustments made to communal areas like entrances and hallways
- those to whom the act applies must take reasonable steps to provide information in an accessible format where disabled people would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage
For more information:
Updates and training events are being run by Equality South West, and you can contact them for more information Equality South West - news and updates
Government Equalities Office have produced an 'Easy Read' guide to the Equality Act - this is available to download here: GEO Easy Read
Beverly Jones for the Devon Consortium
May 2010