Today, Friday 1 October 2010, the new Equality Act comes into effect in the U.K (excluding Wales). This new act affects any public bodies or organisations that carry out functions of a public nature, for example, Peabody.
The act is a really big step forward for fairness and equality legislation and expands the 6 strands of diversity to 9 'protected characteristics'.
The new act also pulls together 40 years of legislation into one single act and will:
- ban age discrimination;
- ban dual or associated discrimination, for example, discrimination if you care for someone else who may be disabled;
- enforce gender pay auditing and reporting;
- extend positive action;
- strengthen protection for disabled people, for example by extending the provision of reasonable adjustments to communal adjustments;
- make the requirement to carry out Equality Impact Assessments a legal duty; and
- bring in new 'protected characteristics' that it will be illegal to discriminate against for the first time, for example, discrimination on the grounds of marriage or civil partnership and gender reassignment.
In line with the new act, we have also started a review of our Single Equality Policy and Action Plan and will be consulting with residents and our Diversity Forum soon to get feedback on how we can improve our approach to equality and diversity.
One of the main areas we are also working on in line with the new act is making sure we carry out Equality Impact Assessments (EQIAs) for any changes to polices, procedures or our services.
If you would like more information, got to the Equality and Human Rights Commission website or contact the Policy and Insight Service on 020 7021 4457 or by email on policy.helpline@peabody.org.uk
Also in the news:
TSA report to residents 2010DIY workshop for residents held at Pembury
