The Equality Act (keep it but with less bureaucracy)

Abbie Rose Design

There is so much going on in politics at present, that the pretty posts about zero waste toothbrushes and summer dresses, must be balanced with some alternative media. To balance out the biased and often too-brief noise in mainstream media.

Not informing people properly is leading to scary politics.

In this post, we’ll look at the Equality Act. You’ve likely heard in the news that Reform UK wish to abolish it, and ‘replace it with something better’. We’ll take a fact-driven view at what the Equality Act is, why Reform UK wish to abolish it (and what other political views are). And what they would replace it with.

What is the Equality Act?

The Equality Act 2010 is the UK’s main anti-discrimination law. It means that there are nine areas where people are protected from being discriminated against:

Age
Sex (male or female)
Disability
Pregnancy and maternity
Marriage and civil partnership
Race
Religion or belief
Sexual orientation (gay, straight)
Gender reassignment

It applies to the following areas:

Employment
Education
Housing
Shops and businesses
Public services
Healthcare
Transport
Clubs and associations

So here’s a few examples of how it works:

You can’t be refused a job if you are a woman or gay.
You could not fire a woman in early pregnancy.
A landlord can’t refuse to rent a room or flat based on someone’s race.
You can’t pay a woman less, for doing the same job.
You can’t refuse a gay couple a room at a guest house, if they are gay.
You can’t refuse shop or taxi entry, for a blind man and his guide dog.

You can’t refuse a job to a disabled person, unless there are mitigating circumstances (say the office was on the 5th floor and there is no lift). But say you had a big office, you would be responsible for ensuring there were accessible toilets.

Why does Reform UK wish to scrap it?

The law sounds good right? But some MPs believe that the law has gone too far into the realms of political correctness. Saying that the state should not force organisations pursue ‘diversity’, nor be burdened with excessive requirements (say providing accessible toilets for disabled employees).

It does say that if in power, it would bring in other rights to protect women (when ‘Boo-hoo Bob’ is not laughing about women getting hit on the head and having their hair pulled at conferences).

What do other political parties think?

Greens, Lib Dems and Labour all want the law to remain. They all say if you scrap it, vulnerable people get fewer legal protections.

The Conservatives want to scrap some (not all) of the Equality Act.

Another issue is this. It’s more expensive to be disabled as you have to buy things, use more water etc. But this law would make it harder for disabled people to find work. And Reform UK would also make it harder to ge into PIP (even though the fraud rate is virtually zero).

People don’t get PIP for mild anxiety or tennis elbow. The applications are so complicated, that many people give up.

One man wrote online that he had no upper arm. He filled in the form and was asked ‘Please describe in detail the movements you can do with your arm and what tasks you can perform’. He simply wrote again ‘None, as I have no arm’.

The legitimate criticism for some is that England has become too ‘woke’ (an abbreviation of the term ‘stay awake/alert to injustice and discrimination’) which some people think has too far. In that people are too frightened to say the wrong thing, or being obsessed with paperwork to avoid legal complaints.

For instance, if a woman is completely unqualified for a job and is turned down in favour of a man, it may be that in this particular instance, the male is simply better qualified.

But some organisations now have ‘positive discrimination’, actively employing women, ethnic minorities and gay people, in order to meet diversity quotas.

What is the compassionate solution?

This would be to keep the present safeguards, and simplify the paperwork and bureacracy. Don’t force employers to meet demographic quotas, and make guidance simple to understand. And make the law clearer, without adding layers of regulation.

Reform UK says it would replace the Equality Act with alternative protections:

The proposed Women and Motherhood Protection Act would retain equal pay and maternity rights, but because this would not be banded with other laws like housing protection, there could be ‘gaps’ for people to fall through.

With PIP, it proposed a ‘return to work cover’ system. But it omits the fact that in The Netherlands, they have a similar Equality Act alongside, to protect anyone who could fall through gaps.

It says it does this to ‘protect those who cannot work but make people who say they are disabled work’. But as mentioned above, there is almost zero fraud for PIP. It’s medics who make the decision (not MPs). So based on the current standards, the exact same amount of people would remain on PIP anyway.