Equality Act 10 Years On Report 

The Equality Act 10 Years on Report is the largest and most comprehensive review of the Act in its decade-long history. The report argues that the existing protected characteristics are  largely rooted in biology and proposes that new protected characteristics such as socioeconomic background, homelessness, accent, hair, weight, and immigration be added to the Act. 

The report also proposes:

 

• Unenforced aspects of the Act such as S.1 Public Sector Equality duty, S. 14 dual discrimination should be ratified immediately. 

• Current protected characteristics such as race, religion, sex, and disability should be strengthened. 

• Promote greater enforcement of the Act particularly in unregulated employment industries.

 

The report draws on powerful testimonies from affected persons, to demonstrate the severity of discrimination embedded within the government. Contributors include homeless individuals who report modifying their CVs to prevent employers from recognising their residential addresses as homeless shelters, and the widow of a long-term disabled individual who has been denied bereaved widows’ allowance on the basis that her spouse had not made NI contributions.

 

Overall, we find that the UK Equality legislation significantly lags behind Canadian and South African equality laws.