Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all.

The Equality Act became law in October 2010, replacing previous equality legislation (such as the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995), bringing together separate pieces of legislation into one law to ensure consistency and a single framework for tackling disadvantage and discrimination.

You can read the full text of the Equality Act on the legislation.gov.uk webpages and learn more about it from the following external sources: Equality and Human Rights Commission, Gov.UK, Acas, and Citizen's Advice.

Learn more about the key elements of the Equality Act below.

Protected Characteristics

The Equality Act covers nine 'protected characteristics':

Age Disability

Defined as a "physical or mental impairment" which has a substantial (i.e., more than minor or trivial impact) and long-term (i.e., lasting for at least 12 months) adverse effect on [a person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The Act also creates a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people - see our adjustments guidance and process for more information.

Gender Reassignment Marriage and Civil Partnership Pregnancy and Maternity Race Religion or Belief Sex Sexual Orientation

Find more on from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Prohibited Conduct

The Equality Act outlines the following 'prohibited conduct':

Direct Discrimination

This is when someone is treated less favourably because of a protected characteristic. This can include direct discrimination:

By association: This is when someone is treated less favourably because of a connection to an individual who has a protected characteristic (for example, a family member, friend, or colleague).
By perception: This is when someone is treated less favourably because they are thought to have a protected characteristic, whether or not this perception is correct.

Indirect Discrimination Harassment Victimisation

If you have experienced or witnessed any incident of bullying, harassment, discrimination, sexual misconduct, relationship abuse and/or hate crime, you can report it anonymously or speak to an advisor and request support through Report + Support.

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act created the Public Sector Equality Duty. The PSED places a responsibility on public bodies to not just avoid discrimination, but to promote equality by having "due regard to the need to":

Eliminate unlawful conduct prohibited by the Act Advance equality of opportunity Foster good relations

The PSED is supported by the Specific Duties, which help public bodies be transparent about their performance on equality by requiring that we publish equality information at least once a year to show compliance with the PSED and prepare and publish equality objectives at least every 4 years. You can find this information for Warwick on our PSED reporting webpage

Positive Action

The Act allows employers to take 'positive action' to address inequalities, which may involve treating one group more favourably.

There are two types of positive action outlined in the Equality Act:

General

If an employer reasonably thinks that people with protected characteristics experience disadvantages, have different needs, and/or are underrepresented in certain activities, they can take proportionate actions designed to address this. This could include, for example, providing a leadership scheme to help an underrepresented group reach more senior positions or providing tailored training for a group with specific requirements.

Recruitment and Promotion

If an employer reasonably thinks that people with a particular protected characteristic are underrepresented in their workforce or experience a disadvantage, they can recruit or promote a candidate with that protected characteristic over another candidate of equal merit who does not have that characteristic.

If you are planning work which includes positive action measures, contact the Legal and Compliance Services team for guidance.

Our talent programmes for disabled, women, LGBTQUIA+, and BAME staff, the PATHWAY Programme addressing underrepresentation of Black Academics, and the Aurora leadership programme for women, are all examples of positive action taking place at Warwick.

Our Dignity Principles set out our expectations of how we behave.

These principles facilitate an environment with the ability to voice ideas at its core, a place in which staff and students operate with mutual respect, with the confidence that equality of opportunity is accessible to all. These principles underpin our desire to give students and staff the best experience possible whilst studying and working here.