Equality Act 2010 and other Existing Equality Legislation
We at St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School will also comply with, and have due regard to, the following equalities legislation:
New Equality Act 2010
The Equality Bill has recently gone through parliament and became an Act on the 8th April 2010. It takes effect from Autumn 2010. The Equality Act has put a new single Equality duty on public bodies. The duty requires public bodies to think about the needs of everyone who uses their services or works for them, regardless of race or ethnicity, or any other protected characteristic such as disability or religion.
The act protects people from discrimination on the basis of “protected characteristics” (which previously used to be called grounds). The relevant characteristics for services and public functions are:
- Disability (definition changed)
The protected characteristic of disability applies to a person who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities.
To qualify for protection from discrimination a disabled person no longer has to show that their impairment affects a particular “capacity” such as mobility or speech, hearing or eyesight. Direct discrimination has been extended to cover disability
- Gender re-assignment (definition changed)
The protected characteristic of gender re-assignment will apply to a person who is proposing to undergo, is undergoing or has undergone a process to change their sex. To qualify for protection from discrimination a transsexual person no longer has to show that they are under medical supervision as it is considered a personal process rather than a medical process which involves a person expressing their gender in a way that differs from or is inconsistent with the physical sex they were born with.
- Pregnancy and maternity (no change)
Pregnancy and maternity is not a protected characteristic for the purposes of the schools provisions but it is covered by other requirements which means that schools are prohibited from restricting access to education on the grounds pregnancy and maternity status
- Race (no change)
Race includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality. People can belong to one or more of these groups at the same time and the one which is relevant to a particular situation depends on the circumstances.
- Religion or belief (no change)
The protected characteristic of religion or belief includes any religion or belief and any religious or philosophical belief. It also includes any lack of such religion or belief. A religion need not be mainstream or well known to gain protection as a religion, although it must be identifiable and have a clear structure and belief system.
Faith schools and educational institutions with a religious ethos may in some limited circumstances favour pupils or students because of their religion.
- Sex (no change)
A person’s sex refers to the fact that they are male or female. You must not treat a woman or a girl worse than you would treat a man or boy. You must not treat a man or boy worse than you would treat a woman or a girl in the same circumstances.
- Sexual orientation (no change)
Everyone is protected from being treated worse because of sexual orientation whether they are straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Sexual orientation discrimination also covers discrimination connected with expressions or manifestations of a person’s sexual orientation. That may include someone’s appearance, the places they visit or the people they associate with.
- Age (no change)
Under the schools provisions of the Act age is excluded from the list of protected characteristics.
An integrated public sector Equality duty encourages public bodies to address the needs of groups experiencing disadvantage or discrimination on a number of grounds including the new socio-economic duty. It also extends the use of positive action in the workplace. The Equality Act also introduce a dual discrimination provision which enables people to bring claims where they have experienced less favourable treatment because of a combination of two protected characteristics. Further clarity regarding these issues and many others, particularly in relation to employment matters are likely to be much clearer when the codes of practice are published in January 2011.
The Employment Equality Regulations 2003 protect employees from discrimination because of their actual or perceived religion or belief. Discrimination is unlawful in relation to:
- recruitment and selection
- terms and conditions of employment offered and or applied
- opportunities for training, training itself, job promotions and transfers
- harassment and victimisation
- dismissal, including redundancy
- post employment, for example provision of references
The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and the subsequent Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 protect employees and consumers from discrimination because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Once seen as a peripheral issue of little relevance to the core business of public bodies, sexual identity has been brought centre stage by legislative and societal developments. The Equality Bill will mean that public authorities will have a single public duty, which will extend the current public duties to age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender reassignment. It also includes pregnancy and maternity. Public authorities will have a duty to promote 'positive action'.
Gender Recognition Act 2004
The purpose of the Act is to provide transsexual people with legal recognition in their acquired gender. Legal recognition follows from the issue of a full gender recognition certificate (GRC) by a gender recognition panel. The holder of a GRC is not obliged to inform their employer that they have one, but if they choose to do so this information on their gender history must be established as protected information. Trans people are protected by the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, as amended by the Sex Discrimination (Gender Reassignment) Regulations 19992 and the Sex Discrimination (Amendment of Legislation) Regulations 2008
Human Rights Act 1998 and Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 14 refers to the prohibition of discrimination and states that the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any grounds such as “sex, race, colour, language, religion, political, or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status”
Part 2 of the Equality Act 2006
Part 2 of the Equality Act 2006 came into force in April 2007 and makes it unlawful for providers of goods, facilities and services to discriminate in grounds of religion or belief.
Employment Equality (Age) Regulation 2006
This came into force in October 2006 and it protects against discrimination on grounds of age in employment and vocational training. The regulations prohibit direct and indirect discrimination, victimisation, harassment and instructions to discriminate. The regulations cover recruitment, terms and conditions, promotions, transfers, dismissals and training.
The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007
Made under section 81 of the Equality act 2006, the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007, make it unlawful for providers of goods, facilities or services to discriminate on grounds of sexual identity.
Glossary:
Diversity is
- about including everyone
- valuing differences
- harnessing differences in individuals to the benefit of both the organisation and the individual, by allowing people with different perspectives and views to use their unique blend of skills and character to improve the quality and performance of the organisation
- having a better understanding of the diverse needs of our community
Duty
A mandatory and legal obligation to do something
Promote
Contribute to the progress and growth of….
Make publicity for…..
Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)
This new body brings together the Equal Opportunities Commission, the Disability Rights Commission and Commission for Race Equality; it also serves as a national body for age, religion and belief and sexual discrimination as well as human rights.
What is meant by discrimination?
Generally “discrimination” means treating someone with a protected characteristic worse than someone who does not have this characteristic would be treated in the same situation. The worse treatment must be because of that characteristic.
Discrimination can take a number of forms:
- “direct” or
- “indirect” or
- failure to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people or
- “discrimination arising from disability” or
- discrimination because of “association” with someone who has a protected characteristic, or
- discrimination because a person is thought to have a protected characteristic whether correctly or incorrectly (“perceived”)
People are also protected from:
- harassment related to a protected characteristic
- victimisation because they have, or their education provider thinks they have, made or helped made a complaint about discrimination, unless they know the complaint was not true.
Direct discrimination
Direct discrimination happens when an education provider treats a pupil or student (or an applicant for admission) worse than they treat or would treat another pupil or student (or applicant) because of a protected characteristic.
Direct discrimination also includes less favourable treatment of a person based on a stereotype relating to a protected characteristic, whether or not the stereotype is accurate.
It is not direct discrimination against a non disabled person to treat a disabled person better.
Education providers must not treat someone worse because of a combination of two protected characteristics than they would treat someone who did not have either of these characteristics; this is known as combined characteristics.
Combined discrimination
Sometimes, a person may experience worse treatment than someone else because of combination of the protected characteristics they have:
There may be an interaction between two or more than two of a person’s characteristics, but a claim for combined discrimination will only look at a combination of two of them.
Indirect discrimination
People’s experiences and opportunities in education can be affected by an education provider’s rules or ways of doing things. Indirect discrimination takes place when the same rule or way of doing things is applied to everyone. The rule or way of doing things may not appear to have a different or worse impact on people with a protected characteristic but does so in reality.
Victimisation
If an education provider treats a person badly because they have taken a particular action related to the Equality Act 2010 (or because they suspect the person has taken or will be taking such action), this will be victimisation, and is against the law. The protection covers anyone, whether or not they have a protected characteristic, if they do something in relation to making a complaint of discrimination and you treat them badly.
Harassment
Harassment in the Equality Act 2010 means:
- Unwanted behaviour which has purpose or effect of:
- Violating the dignity of another person: or
- Creating for that person an intimidating ,hostile, degrading and humiliating or offensive environment
Unwanted behaviour can include any kind of behaviour, including spoken or written words or abuse, imagery, graffiti, physical gestures, facial expressions, mimicry, jokes, pranks, acts affecting a person’s surroundings or other physical behaviour.
Positive action
“Positive action&