Update on the Future

1. Update on the Future Equality Act 2010

2. CEHR • The government are planning a wholesale review of the Commission and the Equality Act in 2013.Watch this space!

3. Amending the Equality Act 2010 • Equality regulations will be simplified and strengthened through a package of measures focused on relieving the burden on business while preserving key legal protection from discrimination. • The Government will repeal measures on procedures for gathering discrimination information, and specific employer liability for third party harassment to help business get on with the job. • In addition, they will introduce a power so that they can allow employment tribunals, at a later date, to order an employer to carry out an equal pay audit when they have breached the law. • They will also make it easier for SMEs and micro businesses to get good quality advice and support on equality and employment related matters, through industry-led initiatives.

4. ENTERPRISE & REGULATORY REFORM BILL: Equalities (Equality Act 2010) Main purpose and benefits of legislation: • The legislation is part of the Government’s programme to remove obstacles which prevent it from achieving a strong economy and a fair society. • It will also introduce stronger steps towards addressing the longstanding gender pay gap. It will do this by repealing unnecessary and/or complicated legislation; and enabling the Government to introduce specific sanctions

5. The main elements under the Bill are: • Removing provisions which make employers expressly liable for harassment of their employees by third parties, such as customers; • Removing the statutory provisions for an individual to obtain information from a person they think has acted unlawfully against them, with a view to establishing if discrimination has taken place – which includes the Government prescribing questions and answers forms and the time limits for their use; and • Introducing a power to enable Ministers to make regulations at a later date that will require an employment tribunal to order an equal pay audit where an employer has been found to have breached equal pay laws.

6. Government research shows businesses welcome the Equality Act! • Last week, the Government published a series of reports as part of its first evaluation of the impact of the Equality Act 2010. • These reports were produced by the Centre for Research in Social Policy and the International Centre for Public and Social Policy on behalf of the Government Equalities Office. • They are designed to investigate organisations’ understanding of and responses to the Equality Act 2010 and are based on a survey of organisations throughout Great Britain. You can access these reports at http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/9552.aspx • The research includes a survey asking more than 1,800 private sector organisations about the impact that the Equality Act 2010 has had on their business.

7. The results reveal that: • 76 per cent of businesses saw reputation as an important driver of business behaviour in relation to equality; • Only 6 per cent of employers had complaints or grievances about the Equality Act. • But two-thirds of organisations said they found it difficult to get good quality information on equality issues. In contrast and only last week, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) published a report on how public authorities in England have met their transparency obligations on equality. • The report reveals that only half of the public authorities assessed were responding fully to the requirements of the specific duty in the regulations to publish equality information such as the diversity of their staff and people who use their services.