What does the Equality Act mean?
The Equality Act 2010 replaced nine major pieces of legislation and this makes it easier for schools to understand their legal responsibilities and tackle inequalities in education.
The Equality Act 2010 replaced nine major Acts of Parliament, which deal with equality and discrimination. The Act provides a single, consolidated source of discrimination law, covering all the types of discrimination that are unlawful.
The Act uses the term “protected characteristics” to refer to aspects of a person’s identity. Treating a person less favourably because they have one or more of these characteristics would be unlawful. The protected characteristics are:
• Age.
• Disability.
• Gender reassignment.
• Marriage and civil partnership.
• Pregnancy and maternity.
• Race.
• Religion or belief.
• Sex.
• Sexual orientation.
