HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Equality Act 2006 (c 3) is an Act of the
Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative supremacy ...
covering the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...
. The 2006 Act is a precursor to the
Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
, which combines all of the equality enactments within Great Britain and provide comparable protections across all equality strands. Those explicitly mentioned by the Equality Act 2006 include age; disability; sex; proposed, commenced or completed gender reassignment; race; religion or belief and sexual orientation. The changes it made were: *creating the
Equality and Human Rights Commission The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is a non-departmental public body in Great Britain, established by the Equality Act 2006 with effect from 1 October 2007. The Commission has responsibility for the promotion and enforcement of e ...
(EHRC) (merging the
Commission for Racial Equality The Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to address racial discrimination and promote racial equality. The commission was established in 1976, and disbanded in 2007 when its ...
, the Equal Opportunities Commission and the
Disability Rights Commission The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was established by the British Labour government in 1999. At that time, the DRC was the UK's third equality commission alongside the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission. It ...
) *outlawing of discrimination on goods and services on the grounds of religion and belief (subject to certain exemptions) *allowing the Government to introduce regulations outlawing discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation in goods and services, which led to the Sexual Orientation Regulations 2006 *creating a public duty to promote equality on the ground of gender (The Equality Act 2006, section 84, inserting section 76A of the
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c. 65) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which protected men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status. The Act concerned employment, training, education, harassment, ...
, now found in section 1 of the
Equality Act 2010 The Equality Act 2010 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed during the Brown ministry with the primary purpose of consolidating, updating and supplementing the numerous prior Acts and Regulations, that formed the basis of anti-d ...
)


Overview

With the exception of the provision relating to goods and services discrimination in Northern Ireland on the grounds of sexual orientation, the Act relates to equality law in Great Britain, as a separate legislative framework exists for
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
which also has a separate equality body, the
Equality Commission for Northern Ireland The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland ( Irish: ''Coimisiún Comhionannais do Thuaisceart Éireann'', Ulster-Scots: ''Equalitie Commission fer Norlin Airlan'') is a non-departmental public body in Northern Ireland established under the North ...
(though by and large reflecting the general approach to equality legislation in Great Britain).


Background

In 1998, the
Runnymede Trust The Runnymede Trust is a race equality think tank in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1968 by Jim Rose and Anthony Lester as an independent source for generating intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain through research, network building, ...
published a report by
Bhikhu Parekh Bhikhu Chotalal Parekh, Baron Parekh, (born 4 January 1935) is a British political theorist, academic, and life peer. He is a Labour Party member of the House of Lords. He was Professor of Political Theory at the University of Hull from 1982 t ...
calling for a new Equality Act which would consolidate and advance existing legislation. The Equality Bill first appeared in the 2004/05 Session, but did not make it into law before Parliament was dissolved ahead of the 2005 general election. In its manifesto, the Labour Party promised to reintroduce the Bill, which it duly accomplished upon its reinstatement in Westminster. At this stage, only "religion or belief" was included in the anti-discrimination clauses. The Labour Party specifically did not wish to ban discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. After the bill was reintroduced, further lobbying by openly
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
Peer the Lord Alli succeeded in forcing the government to add homophobic discrimination to the Bill. However, the lateness of this concession meant the extra provisions could not be included substantively in the primary legislation. Instead, legislators agreed to delegate the drafting of regulations to the Government. After a public consultation and a protracted debate within the Cabinet, these were eventually laid before Parliament as the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007. Further promised legislation also includes a provision to provide for protection for people in the provision of goods and services on the grounds of gender reassignment in order to comply with an
EU Directive The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
.


Cases under the Act

In mid-2010, following the
June 2010 United Kingdom Budget The June 2010 United Kingdom Budget, officially also known as Responsibility, freedom, fairness: a five-year plan to re-build the economy, was delivered by George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the House of Commons in his budget speech ...
, which allocated a series of cuts across government departments and the public sector, the
Fawcett Society The Fawcett Society is a membership charity in the United Kingdom which campaigns for women's rights. The organisation dates back to 1866, when Millicent Garrett Fawcett dedicated her life to the peaceful campaign for women's suffrage. Original ...
filed an action for
judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompa ...
, on the ground that the budget paid no regard to the disparate negative impact on women as it should have under section 84 of the Equality Act 2006 and section 76A of the
Sex Discrimination Act 1975 The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c. 65) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which protected men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status. The Act concerned employment, training, education, harassment, ...
. This requires every public authority, not excluding the Treasury or the Cabinet Office, to "have due regard to the need— (a) to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment, and (b) to promote equality of opportunity between men and women". It was alleged that the government failed to "have due regard" to the disparate impact of its budget on women.


Section 93 – Commencement

The following orders have been made under this section:
The Equality Act 2006 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2006
(S.I. 2006/1082 (C.36))
The Equality Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2007
(S.I. 2007/1092 (C.48))
The Equality Act 2006 (Commencement No. 3 and Savings) Order 2007
(S.I. 2007/2603 (C.100))


Notes


References

*C. O'Cinneide, "The Commission for Equality and Human Rights: A New Institution for New and Uncertain Times" (2007) 36(2) ''Industrial Law Journal'' 141


External links

*
Explanatory notes
to the Equality Act 2006. * {{UK legislation United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 2006 Anti-discrimination law in the United Kingdom Race relations in the United Kingdom Disability law in the United Kingdom LGBT law in the United Kingdom Transgender law in the United Kingdom February 2006 events in the United Kingdom 2006 in LGBT history