Equality Act 2010 Clears Third Reading in House of Lords

The Equality Bill had its third reading in the House of Lords today, and is now expected to be followed by approval of the Lord’s amendments in the House of Commons, and finally Royal Assent  – which will make the Bill an Act of Parliament.

The new Act will harmonise many of the current discrimination & equality laws, with most of these to be repealed as the new Act comes into force:

• the Equal Pay Act 1970;

• the Sex Discrimination Act 1975;

• the Race Relations Act 1976;

• the Disability Discrimination Act 1995;

• the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003;

• the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003;

• and also strengthen the law for progress on equality.

This important milestone in the progress of the bill was welcomed by Harriet Harman, Minister for Women and Equality, who said:

“I’m pleased that the Equality Bill has completed its Third Reading in  the House of Lords and I want to thank our ministers in the Upper Chamber, Jan Royall and Glenys Thornton, for their hard work and commitment in steering it through to this stage.

“This is a historic piece of legislation that contains a range of new rights, powers and obligations to help the drive towards equality, including tackling the overarching inequality caused by where you are born and what your parents do for a living.

“I look forward to it taking its place on the statute books following further scrutiny by the House of Commons, but that will not be the end of the story. After the Bill is passed we will set to work implementing and enforcing it, putting equality firmly at the centre of Government.”

An article with more details of the new law, and how this will affect employers, will be published by Employment Law Clinic shortly. Employers can register to receive a PDF copy of the article by email as soon as it available; simply email equalities-act@employmentlawclinic.com to register.