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General principles of Anti-Discrimination Legislation

This Resource Guide provides a brief outline of anti-discrimination legislation and related policy and practice developments.

The relevant legislation includes the:

Human Rights Act 1998
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended), Disability Discrimination Act 2005 and Equality (Disability, etc.) (Northern Ireland) Order 2000
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (as amended) and Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 (as amended)
Equal Pay Act 1970 (as amended) and Equal Pay Act (Northern Ireland) 1970 (as amended)
Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 1999
Gender Recognition Act 2004
Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended), Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 (as amended)
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 and Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (as amended)¹
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003. (The Regulations vary slightly between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.)
Welsh Language Act 1993 (where applicable)
Equality Act 2006
Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006

About the Race Relations, Sex Discrimination and Disability Discrimination Acts

The Race Relations (RRA), Sex Discrimination (SDA) and Disability Discrimination (DDA) Acts cover unlawful discrimination in employment, provision of or access to goods, facilities and services, property and education. Consequently discrimination on the grounds of disability in the provision of health services is unlawful.

However, ‘recruitment and selection on the grounds of a racial group, gender, disability, sexual orientation or religion/belief' is allowed in certain jobs where being of a particular racial group, sex, disability, sexuality or religion/belief is a genuine occupational requirement for that job.

For example, recruiting a member of a religious group to perform acts of worship for that group is lawful, whereas hiring a person of a particular religious group to clean the windows of a building used for worship could be unlawful if that person was chosen on the grounds of his/her religion. Also, it would be acceptable to recruit from a particular sex if the job involved intimate or personal care or procedures².’

As well as dealing with unfair discrimination, the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (as amended), the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 place a duty on public bodies to promote equality of opportunity³.

The Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act 1998 came into force on 2 October 2000 and incorporates into UK law certain rights and freedoms set out in the European Convention on Human Rights, making it unlawful for a public authority to act in a way which is incompatible with a Convention right, unless, because of an Act of Parliament, it has no choice.

The Act does not define a ‘public authority’, but the Department for Constitutional Affairs’ list includes government departments, local authorities, courts, police, prisons and “any person exercising ‘a public function’ ”⁴. Health authorities and NHS Trusts are public authorities for the purposes of the Act.

The Equality Act

There are three main purposes to the Equality Act:

It establishes the unified Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The Act also makes discrimination unlawful on the grounds of religion or belief in the provision of goods, facilities and services, the disposal and management of premises, education, and the exercise of public functions.
The Equality Act creates a duty on public authorities to promote equality of opportunity between men and women, and to prohibit sex discrimination in the exercise of public functions.

Practical tips and information

Whilst compliance with the legislation is essential, do not be drawn into mere legal compliance. Focus instead on what will add value to your services and what information would be useful to identify and measure in order to continually improve your professional practice.
According to the NHS’s Positively Diverse programme, among other things, local action within the national framework for valuing diversity will result in ‘reduced risk of industrial tribunals or other legal challenges with all the costs, adverse publicity, and the strains on management time these entail’⁵.

The web links that follow provide more detailed briefings on legislative and related matters.

Key Web Links

Use the following links to view information on external websites.

General issues

The Equality and Human Rights Commission was established on 1 October 2007 and has taken on the role and functions of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), as well as responsibility for sexual orientation, age, religion and belief, and human rights. The Equality and Human Rights Commission provides information on both legislation and promoting good practice.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland is an independent public body established under the Northern Ireland Act 1998. The Commission works towards the elimination of discrimination on the grounds of disability, race/ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, religious belief and political opinion, and fair employment, including equal pay. This web site provides information on all the relevant laws.

The Audit Commission website has reports on diversity and equality, for example Directions in Diversity, and Equality and Diversity which includes a diversity checklist and self-assessment tool for Race Equality.

Age

Age Positive is an organisation with a remit to tackle age discrimination and promote age diversity in employment. The Age Positive website provides information for employers.

The Employers Forum on Age provides practical advice on all aspects of employment policy.

Human rights

Information on the Human Rights Act 1998 and the implications for public authorities can be found by visiting the Ministry of Justice website or the Department for Constitutional Affairs website.

The Nuffield Trust website has publications such as ‘Human Rights, Equity and Health’ (Nuffield Trust, 2004) and ‘Health and Human Rights: a guide to the Human Rights Act 1998’ (Nuffield Trust, 2003) in PDF format.

Local groups

The role of Equality North-East is to:

establish one comprehensive, central information service giving advice and guidance on equal opportunities employment issues.
provide this service 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.
establish a network of centres with free internet access.
encourage employers to ensure equality of opportunity for their employees.
support employers to maintain a skilled and committed workforce for the mutual benefit of both employers and employees.

The role of Equality South West is to:

be the voice of organisations, networks and individuals.
advocate on their behalf.
be a strong and influential body representing every aspect of equalities and diversity such as age, disability, faith, gender, race, sexual orientation.

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Footnotes

This Order makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the grounds of their religious belief or political opinion, including a person’s supposed religious belief or political opinion. (return to paragraph containing footnote 1)
A-Z Equality and Diversity, (Equality Challenge Unit, 2005), p20. (return to paragraph containing footnote 2)
Forthcoming changes will almost certainly include a positive duty to promote gender equality also. (return to paragraph containing footnote 3)
Department for Constitutional Affairs: Human Rights Act - Frequently Asked Questions. (return to paragraph containing footnote 4)
Positively Diverse: Report 2000 (Department of Health, 2000), p32. (return to paragraph containing footnote 5)