The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023: Safeguarding rights and protections after 2023
The UK government has published a draft of The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023.
Due to take effect on January 1, 2024, this amendment aims to ensure UK law continues to offer the same rights and protections that were previously protected under EU case law (which ceases to have effect at the end of 2023).
The amendment covers:
- discrimination in access to employment
- discrimination related to pregnancy, maternity and breastfeeding
- indirect discrimination by association
- the definition of disability, and
- equal pay
An overview of the key updates
Disability Definition
The law will clarify that when determining if someone is disabled, their ability to take part in working life, compared to others, will be taken into account.
Support for breastfeeding
Clarification that treating a person unfairly because they're breastfeeding in the workplace is discriminatory based on sex.
Direct discrimination
Even when there’s no active recruitment process or a specific person in mind, it is still illegal to make discriminatory statements about not wanting to hire someone with a protected characteristic.
Indirect discrimination
People can claim discrimination even if they don't have the same protected characteristic as the group being discriminated against.
Equal Pay
Under current UK law, comparators for equal pay claims need to be from the same company. These changes allow comparators to come from another company, if there’s one main body responsible for how they both get paid.
What this means for you
These changes aim to make things clearer in the law. If you need help understanding how these changes may affect your claim, book a session with our experts.
More resources
9 protected characteristics - The Equality Act lists nine ‘protected characteristics’. It’s illegal for you to be treated unfairly for reasons that relate to one of these characteristics.
