Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether she has considered the potential merits amending the Equality Act 2010 to explicitly forbid perceptive and motivated discrimination.

Provisions under the Equality Act 2010 already account that discrimination may be perceptive and apply regardless of the motivation of the person who is discriminating.

The 2010 Act provides protection against discrimination, harassment, victimisation and unfair treatment because of any of the protected characteristics covered by the Act. It protects people from discrimination in the workplace, access to services and in wider society.

Direct discrimination is when a person is treated less favourably because of a protected characteristic. This includes treating a person less favourably because of a perceived protected characteristic, or because they are associated with someone who has a protected characteristic.

Indirect discrimination is where rules, policies or practices apply in the same way for everyone but put people who share a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage, unless the person applying the rule, policy or practice can objectively justify it.

Harassment involves unwanted conduct that is related to a relevant characteristic and has the purpose or effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment for the complainant or of violating the complainant’s dignity.

Victimisation is where a person is treated unfairly, punished, threatened with punishment or subjected to a detriment because they make a complaint about discrimination, or give evidence when someone else makes a complaint (irrespective of whether the complaint is upheld).

These protections apply regardless of the motivation of the person discriminating.

With this in mind, the Government has no current plans to amend the 2010 Act.