The majority of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 have come into force from 1 October 2010. The Act is designed to simplify and strengthen existing legislation and thus to protect people from discrimination on the basis of factors such as disability, gender, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity.
Those provisions that have come into force include:
- The basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation in services and public functions; premises; work; education; associations, and transport.
- Making it more difficult for disabled people to be unfairly screened out when applying for jobs, by restricting the circumstances in which employers can ask job applicants questions about disability or health.
- Extending protection from indirect discrimination to disability.
- Introducing a new concept of “discrimination arising from disability”, to replace protection under previous legislation lost as a result of a legal judgment.
- Harmonising the thresholds for the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.
Some provisions remain under consideration, including those about taxi accessibility and auxiliary aids in schools.
RADAR, the UK's largest disability campaigning network, has welcomed the Act. They particularly applaud measures to prevent employers from asking questions about health or disability before a job offer has been made, and believe this will help those with physical or mental health conditions to overcome prejudice that can prevent them from working.
Further details, including FAQs on the commencement of the Act, can be found on the Government Equality Office website, where the Act can be downloaded as a pdf.
Sources: Government Equality Office, RADAR