With effect from 1st October 2010 the Equality Act 2010 replaces the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, much of the Equality Act 2006, the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, and the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 (all as subsequently amended), plus other ancillary pieces of legislation.
This program (professional versions only) includes:-
The main commencement order for the Act, bringing the main parts into force on 1st October 2010, is the Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No. 4, Savings, Consequential, Transitional, Transitory and Incidental Provisions and Revocation) Order 2010, SI 2010/2317.
Both the Conservatives and the Lib-Dems have been generally in favour of the Act, especially in so far as it is a technical, "harmonising" provision bringing together on one place a mish-mash of statutes and regulations going back to 1970. However the Conservatives indicated before the General Election in May 2010 that if elected they would not implement the socio-economic duty (the coalition government confirmed this in November 2010) or positive action provisions (see Equality Act 2010 s.159 and notes at Equality Act 2010/positive action ).
In general the Act makes only detailed changes to the substance of previous law - but does make some changes (see Equality Act 2010/changes made by the Act ).
A well publicised late inclusion was enacted as Equality Act 2010 s.78 - gender pay gap information. This provides for regulations to be made requiring employers with 250 or more employees "to publish information relating to the pay of employees for the purpose of showing whether, by reference to factors of such description as is prescribed, there are differences in the pay of male and female employees." This is unlikely to happen, if ever, before 2013.
The Act will, in addition, ban 'pay secrecy clauses' in certain circumstances (see Equality Act 2010/pay secrecy ). According to the former Equal Opportunities Commission, nearly a quarter of employers include "secrecy clauses" in employment contracts, forbidding staff from talking about their wages, This practice will become generally illegal so that work colleagues will be able to compare wages.
A June 2009 Cabinet Office press release concerned with age discrimination outside the employment field (see 2009/06/29 - Cabinet Office Press Release "Banning age discrimination: consultation launched" stated that:
"The Equality Bill will simplify the law which, over the last four decades, has become complex and difficult to navigate. Nine major pieces of legislation and around 100 other measures will be replaced by a single Act written in plain English to make it easier for individuals and employers to understand their legal rights and obligations.
The Equality Bill will strengthen our equality law by:
The Act has a logical structure, encompassing a wide range of provisions in an admirably clear and concise way. Please refer to sub-headings under the main heading Equality Act 2010 for more detailed information on the Act itself.
See also notes on Lord Lester's influential "Equality Bill" which failed to become law in 2003 (at Bills before Parliament/Archive (2002 onwards)/2002 Equality Bill ) and also notes at Bills before Parliament/Archive (2002 onwards)/2008 Single Equality Bill