Here we offer a practical guide to the Equality Act 2010, including the nine protected characteristics, key legislation merged into this law, and a compliance checklist for businesses.
The Equality Act 2010 is the main piece of equality and anti-discrimination legislation in Great Britain. It protects people from unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation in work, education, services, public functions, premises, associations and transport. The Act brought together previous anti-discrimination laws into one legal framework, with the aim of making equality law clearer and more consistent.
For businesses, the Act is especially important in recruitment, employment, pay, promotion, training, dismissal, customer service, accessibility, marketing, premises management and the way complaints are handled. It applies in England, Scotland and Wales. Northern Ireland has separate equality legislation.
What the Equality Act 2010 does
The Act makes it unlawful to treat someone unfairly because of a protected characteristic. It covers several types of unlawful conduct, including direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation, discrimination arising from disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people. ACAS guidance makes clear that discrimination law protects people at work and that employers need to understand their legal responsibilities.
In practice, this means businesses must not only avoid openly discriminatory decisions, but also consider whether apparently neutral policies, workplace cultures, service designs or management practices put certain groups at a disadvantage.
The 9 protected characteristics under the Equality Act
The Equality Act protects people because of nine protected characteristics.
1. Age
Age discrimination can affect younger workers, older workers, job applicants, customers or service users. Examples include refusing to recruit someone because they are “too young”, assuming an older employee cannot learn new technology, or using age-biased wording in job adverts.
Some age-based treatment can be lawful if it is objectively justified, but businesses should be able to show a legitimate aim and proportionate means of achieving it.
2. Disability
A person is protected if they have a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. Businesses have a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees, workers, applicants, customers and service users.
Reasonable adjustments may include changes to working hours, equipment, premises, recruitment processes, job duties, communication formats, seating, software or service access. Failure to make reasonable adjustments is one of the most common and costly areas of Equality Act risk.
3. Gender reassignment
The Act protects people who are proposing to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone a process of gender reassignment. Protection does not depend on medical treatment.
Employers and service providers should take care over harassment, confidentiality, dress codes, facilities, records, names, pronouns and workplace behaviour. Businesses should also keep current with guidance in this area, as case law and EHRC guidance have developed since the Act was introduced. In May 2026, the government announced updated draft EHRC guidance for organisations on implementing equality law, reflecting developments including the 2025 Supreme Court judgment on the meaning of sex for the purposes of the Act.
4. Marriage and civil partnership
This characteristic protects people who are married or in a civil partnership. In employment, it is unlawful to treat someone less favourably because they are married or in a civil partnership.
For example, an employer should not refuse promotion because it assumes a married employee will be less flexible, or treat civil partners less favourably than married employees.
5. Pregnancy and maternity
Pregnancy and maternity protection covers pregnancy, maternity leave and related treatment. Employers must not disadvantage someone because they are pregnant, because of pregnancy-related illness, or because they are taking or have taken maternity leave.
Common risk areas include recruitment decisions, redundancy selection, bonus allocation, performance management, returning to work, breastfeeding, flexible working requests and exclusion from opportunities during maternity leave.
6. Race
Race includes colour, nationality, ethnic origin and national origin. Race discrimination can arise in recruitment, promotion, pay, disciplinary action, workplace culture, customer treatment and service delivery.
Examples include racist comments, biased assumptions about language or nationality, exclusion from client-facing roles, unequal disciplinary treatment, or policies that indirectly disadvantage people from particular ethnic or national backgrounds.
7. Religion or belief
This characteristic protects religion, religious belief and philosophical belief, as well as lack of religion or belief. Protected beliefs can include certain philosophical beliefs where they meet legal tests.
Businesses should be alert to issues around dress codes, working patterns, prayer, dietary requirements, workplace debate, harassment and respectful treatment of different beliefs and non-belief.
8. Sex
Sex discrimination covers unfair treatment because someone is male or female. It is highly relevant to pay, promotion, pregnancy-related treatment, harassment, sexist comments, bonuses, flexible working, redundancy and workplace culture.
Equal pay and sex discrimination risk often overlap, especially where men and women are doing equal work but receiving different pay, bonuses, benefits or progression opportunities.
9. Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation protects people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or heterosexual. Businesses must prevent discrimination, harassment and victimisation linked to sexual orientation.
Examples include homophobic jokes, assumptions about family life, excluding same-sex partners from benefits, biased customer treatment, or tolerating workplace banter that creates a hostile environment.
The 9 main pieces of legislation incorporated into the Act
The Equality Act 2010 brought together nine main pieces of earlier equality legislation, along with many pieces of secondary legislation. The Equality and Human Rights Commission lists the nine main merged laws as follows:
1. Equal Pay Act 1970
This legislation addressed unequal pay between men and women doing equal work. Its principles now sit within the Equality Act’s equal pay and sex equality provisions.
2. Sex Discrimination Act 1975
This prohibited discrimination on grounds of sex and marital status in areas such as employment, education and services. It was a major foundation for modern sex discrimination law.
3. Race Relations Act 1976
This prohibited discrimination on racial grounds, including race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin and national origin. Its principles are now part of the Equality Act’s race discrimination framework.
4. Disability Discrimination Act 1995
This introduced protection for disabled people and duties around reasonable adjustments. The Equality Act retained and consolidated disability discrimination protections.
5. Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
These regulations protected workers from discrimination because of religion or belief.
6. Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
These regulations protected workers from discrimination because of sexual orientation.
7. Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
These regulations introduced protection against age discrimination in employment and vocational training.
8. Equality Act 2006, Part 2
Part 2 of the Equality Act 2006 related to discrimination on grounds of religion or belief in goods, facilities, services, premises, education and public functions.
9. Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007
These regulations extended protection from sexual orientation discrimination beyond employment, including access to goods, facilities and services.
What counts as business non-compliance?
For businesses, non-compliance may include:
Direct discrimination, such as rejecting an applicant because she is pregnant or refusing service because of someone’s race.
Indirect discrimination, such as applying a policy to everyone that disadvantages people with a protected characteristic and cannot be justified.
Harassment, such as unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that violates someone’s dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.
Victimisation, such as penalising someone because they complained about discrimination or supported another person’s complaint.
Failure to make reasonable adjustments, where a disabled person is placed at a substantial disadvantage and the business fails to take reasonable steps to remove or reduce that disadvantage.
Discrimination arising from disability, where someone is treated unfavourably because of something connected with their disability, unless the treatment can be objectively justified.
Notable financial penalties, awards and business risks
Strictly speaking, Equality Act claims usually lead to compensation, declarations, recommendations, settlements, legal costs and reputational damage rather than “fines” in the ordinary regulatory sense. For employment tribunal claims, the government states that compensation is the most common outcome when an employer loses and that there is no limit on compensation in discrimination cases.
Recent tribunal statistics show why this matters. In 2023/24, there were 270 discrimination cases where compensation was awarded, and the maximum reported award was £995,000 in a sex discrimination jurisdiction.
Notable examples include:
Wright-Turner v London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Although this involved a public authority rather than a private business, it is a major warning for all employers. Mrs R Wright-Turner was awarded almost £4.6 million in a disability discrimination and harassment case, one of the largest reported employment tribunal awards.
Macken v BNP Paribas
In this high-profile sex discrimination and equal pay case, banker Stacey Macken was awarded over £2 million against BNP Paribas. The case highlighted the financial and reputational risks of unequal pay, discriminatory workplace culture and bonus-related disparities.
Wainwright v Cennox
A disability discrimination and constructive dismissal case resulted in a reported £1.2 million award. The case is a reminder of the importance of transparent communication, consultation and proper handling of employees affected by disability or long-term sickness absence.
Assan v Vigilant Security
In 2025, The Guardian reported that Richard Assan, a Black security manager at Vigilant Security, was awarded £361,000 after years of racial abuse and victimisation. The case illustrates the risk of failing to address workplace racism, harassment and promotion-related concerns.
Barclays sex discrimination and reasonable adjustments case
Reuters reported in 2024 that Barclays was ordered to pay almost £50,000 to a former banker in a case involving working hours, sex discrimination and failure to accommodate health-related needs.
The lesson for businesses is that Equality Act failures can become expensive even when the organisation believes an issue is informal, historic, culturally tolerated, or limited to one manager. Poor documentation, weak grievance handling, inconsistent decision-making and lack of training often make the risk worse.
Key areas of Equality Act risk for businesses
Recruitment
Job adverts, interview questions, selection tests and shortlisting criteria must be fair and relevant to the role. Avoid wording that implies a preference for a particular age, sex, nationality, background or physical ability unless there is a lawful reason.
Pay and benefits
Businesses should monitor pay, bonuses, commission, overtime, benefits and promotion outcomes. Equal pay and discrimination risks can arise where decision-making is opaque or based on manager discretion.
Promotion and progression
Promotion criteria should be transparent, evidence-based and consistently applied. Informal sponsorship, subjective “fit” assessments and exclusion from stretch assignments can create discrimination risk.
Flexible working
Flexible working decisions can create indirect discrimination risk, particularly in relation to sex, disability, pregnancy and maternity, religion or belief, and caring responsibilities. Decisions should be based on genuine business reasons and properly documented.
Disability adjustments
Employers and service providers should have a clear process for identifying, assessing, implementing and reviewing reasonable adjustments. Managers should understand that the duty is proactive and fact-specific.
Harassment and workplace culture
Businesses can be liable for discriminatory harassment by employees unless they can show they took reasonable steps to prevent it. Training, policies, reporting channels and decisive action all matter.
Customer-facing services
The Act applies not only to employment but also to services. Businesses should consider accessibility, staff behaviour, refusal of service, online journeys, premises, communication formats and complaint handling.
Third parties, contractors and suppliers
Equality risk can arise through agency workers, contractors, outsourced providers, customers and suppliers. Contracts, onboarding and escalation processes should reflect equality obligations.
Equality Act compliance checklist for businesses
Governance and responsibility
Assign board or senior leadership responsibility for equality compliance.
Keep equality, diversity and inclusion policies up to date.
Make sure policies cover employees, workers, contractors, applicants, customers and service users where relevant.
Review policies after major legal, organisational or workforce changes.
Document key decisions involving recruitment, pay, promotion, dismissal, redundancy, grievances and adjustments.
Recruitment and onboarding
Use inclusive, role-specific job adverts.
Avoid unnecessary requirements that could indirectly discriminate.
Train hiring managers on lawful interview questions.
Use structured scoring for applications and interviews.
Make reasonable adjustments available during recruitment.
Keep records explaining selection decisions.
Employment policies and procedures
Review disciplinary, grievance, absence, performance, redundancy and flexible working procedures for Equality Act risk.
Apply policies consistently, while still considering individual circumstances.
Check that sickness absence and performance processes account for disability and pregnancy-related issues.
Build equality considerations into restructuring and redundancy selection.
Make sure employees can raise discrimination concerns safely.
Pay, reward and progression
Audit pay and bonus decisions for sex, race, age, disability and other equality risks.
Use clear criteria for bonuses, promotion and salary increases.
Monitor access to training, mentoring and high-value projects.
Investigate unexplained disparities.
Keep evidence showing how pay and progression decisions were made.
Disability and accessibility
Create a reasonable adjustments process.
Train managers to recognise adjustment requests, even when the employee does not use legal language.
Review physical premises, digital systems, documents and customer journeys for accessibility.
Record agreed adjustments and review them regularly.
Do not make assumptions about what a disabled person can or cannot do.
Harassment and workplace behaviour
Have a clear anti-harassment policy.
Train staff and managers on protected characteristics, harassment, victimisation and bystander responsibilities.
Make clear that “banter” is not a defence to discriminatory conduct.
Provide confidential reporting routes.
Act quickly and proportionately when issues are raised.
Keep investigation records.
Customer and service-user compliance
Ensure staff understand that the Act applies to customers and service users, not only employees.
Review access to premises, websites, apps, booking systems and customer support.
Provide alternative formats or assistance where reasonable.
Avoid blanket rules that could disadvantage disabled people, pregnant women, religious groups or other protected groups.
Train front-line staff on respectful service and escalation.
Data and monitoring
Collect equality data lawfully, transparently and securely where appropriate.
Use data to identify patterns in recruitment, pay, promotion, complaints, grievances, sickness absence and turnover.
Do not collect data without a clear purpose.
Combine data analysis with qualitative feedback from employees and customers.
Act where monitoring reveals potential disadvantage.
Training and communication
Provide Equality Act training for all staff.
Give enhanced training to managers, HR teams, recruiters and customer-facing employees.
Refresh training regularly rather than treating it as a one-off exercise.
Use realistic scenarios relevant to the organisation.
Keep records of training completion.
Complaints and investigations
Take discrimination complaints seriously, even if they are informal or historic.
Protect complainants and witnesses from victimisation.
Investigate promptly and fairly.
Use independent investigators where appropriate.
Communicate outcomes clearly.
Follow up to check whether the issue has been resolved.
Supplier and contractor management
Include equality expectations in supplier contracts.
Check that outsourced providers follow appropriate equality and accessibility standards.
Make sure agency workers and contractors know how to report discrimination or harassment.
Address discriminatory behaviour by customers, clients or third parties.
Continuous improvement
Review tribunal decisions and EHRC/ACAS guidance for lessons.
Update policies when legislation, guidance or case law changes.
Run periodic equality risk assessments.
Report equality risks to senior leadership.
Treat equality compliance as an ongoing business risk, not a once-a-year HR task.
Practical Summary
The Equality Act 2010 is not just an HR law. It affects how businesses recruit, manage, pay, promote, dismiss, serve customers, design premises, build websites, handle complaints and train staff. The most effective approach is to combine clear policies, manager training, accessible systems, good records, fair decision-making and a workplace culture where concerns are addressed early.
Further Equality Act 2010 guidance can be found on the UK Gov website.
For businesses, the cost of getting equality compliance wrong can be substantial. Compensation in discrimination cases can be uncapped, and high-profile claims can damage trust with employees, customers, regulators and the wider public. A proactive approach is therefore both a legal requirement and a sound business practice.