Equality Act
The majority of the Equality Act came into force on 1 October 2010, providing protection from discrimination on the basis of 'protected characteristics'. The Equality Act covers the same groups that were protected by existing equality legislation - age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
The purpose of the Equality Act is to bring together all anti-discrimination legislation to harmonise and strengthen the law to support progress on equality. The nine main pieces of legislation that have been replaced by the Equality Act are:
- Equal Pay Act 1970
- Sex Discrimination Act 1975
- Race Relations Act 1976
- Disability Discrimination Act 1995
- Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
- Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
- Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
- Equality Act 2006 (Part 2)
- Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007
The Equality Act also includes the Public Sector Equality Duty which replaces the separate duties relating to Race, Gender and Disability.