Equality Act 2010: Essential Guide for UK Employers

The Equality Act 2010 is the single most important piece of anti-discrimination legislation for UK employers. It consolidated over 100 separate pieces of legislation into one Act, covering discrimination in employment, services, education, and public functions. For employers, the Act defines what discrimination looks like, who is protected, and what you must do to prevent it. Getting it wrong is expensive — discrimination claims have no qualifying service period, no cap on compensation, and can cause lasting reputational harm.

This guide explains what the Equality Act means in practice for UK employers, covering protected characteristics, types of discrimination, reasonable adjustments, and the steps you should take to stay compliant.

The nine protected characteristics

The Equality Act protects people from discrimination because of nine characteristics. These are exhaustive — the Act does not protect other characteristics (though some may be covered by other legislation or good practice).

Types of discrimination

The Act prohibits several distinct types of discrimination. Understanding each type is essential for employers.

Direct discrimination

Treating someone less favourably because of a protected characteristic than you would treat someone without that characteristic. For example, not promoting a woman because you assume she will have children, refusing to hire someone because of their race, or selecting someone for redundancy because of their age.

Direct discrimination cannot generally be justified, except for age discrimination, which can be justified if you can show it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Indirect discrimination

Applying a provision, criterion, or practice (PCP) that applies equally to everyone but puts people with a particular protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage. For example, requiring all employees to work full-time may indirectly discriminate against women (who are statistically more likely to have childcare responsibilities), or requiring all applicants to have a UK degree may indirectly discriminate against certain nationalities.

Indirect discrimination can be justified if you can show the PCP is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Harassment

Unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that has the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment. This covers verbal abuse, "banter," offensive emails, physical behaviour, and any other unwanted conduct.

From October 2024, employers have a proactive duty to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment, including by third parties such as customers and clients.

Victimisation

Subjecting someone to a detriment because they have done (or you believe they have done or may do) a protected act — such as bringing a discrimination claim, giving evidence in someone else's claim, or complaining about discriminatory behaviour.

The duty to make reasonable adjustments

Where a provision, criterion, or practice, a physical feature of the premises, or the absence of an auxiliary aid puts a disabled person at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people, the employer has a duty to take reasonable steps to avoid that disadvantage.

What counts as reasonable

There is no exhaustive list. What is reasonable depends on the effectiveness of the adjustment, the practicability of making it, the cost and the employer's financial resources, the size of the organisation, and the availability of financial or other assistance (such as Access to Work grants).

Common reasonable adjustments

Adjustments that employers commonly make include modifying working hours or allowing flexible working, reallocating minor duties to other employees, providing specialist equipment (screen readers, ergonomic chairs, adapted keyboards), allowing additional breaks, modifying absence triggers to discount disability-related absence, making physical alterations to premises (ramps, accessible toilets, adjusted lighting), providing a quiet workspace, and allowing working from home.

Discrimination in recruitment

The Equality Act applies from the very first point of contact with a potential employee. This covers job advertisements, application forms, shortlisting, interviews, and selection decisions.

Job advertisements

Do not include requirements that could discriminate (directly or indirectly) unless they are objectively justified. For example, "recent graduate" discriminates on age. "Must be physically fit" could discriminate against disabled applicants unless physical fitness is a genuine requirement of the role.

Pre-employment health questions

Except in limited circumstances, you must not ask about a candidate's health or disability before offering them a job (or including them in a pool of candidates to whom offers will be made). The limited exceptions include questions necessary to make reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process itself, questions to establish whether the candidate can carry out a function intrinsic to the role, and monitoring diversity.

Interview questions

Avoid questions about protected characteristics — marital status, children, religion, age, and health. Focus on the candidate's ability to do the job. Train interviewers on what they can and cannot ask.

Positive action

The Equality Act permits (but does not require) employers to take positive action where they reasonably think that people with a particular protected characteristic are disadvantaged, have particular needs, or are disproportionately underrepresented.

Positive action can include targeted advertising, mentoring schemes, open days for underrepresented groups, and additional training opportunities.

The "tiebreaker" provision allows employers to choose a candidate from an underrepresented group over an equally qualified candidate, but only where the candidates are genuinely of equal merit.

Equal pay

The Equality Act includes provisions on equal pay, giving employees the right to equal pay for equal work. Equal work means like work (the same or broadly similar), work rated as equivalent under a job evaluation scheme, or work of equal value.

If a pay difference exists between a man and a woman doing equal work, the employer must show a material factor that explains the difference — and that factor must not itself be discriminatory. Common material factors include length of service, qualifications, performance, and market forces, but each must be genuinely explanatory and non-discriminatory.

Employers with 250 or more employees are required to publish annual gender pay gap reports. Even if you are below this threshold, monitoring your pay data for unjustifiable differences is good practice.

Employer liability and defences

Employers are vicariously liable for discriminatory acts committed by their employees in the course of employment, whether or not the employer knew about or approved the conduct. The only defence is to show that you took all reasonable steps to prevent the discrimination.

What "all reasonable steps" looks like

To establish this defence, you should have clear equal opportunities and anti-harassment policies, provide regular training for all employees (especially managers), take complaints seriously and investigate them promptly, take appropriate disciplinary action against perpetrators, monitor and review the effectiveness of your policies, and ensure senior leadership visibly supports equality.

Practical steps for compliance

Every UK employer, regardless of size, should take the following steps.

Write and communicate a clear equal opportunities policy. Train all managers and staff on equality obligations — and refresh the training regularly. Review recruitment processes for potential discrimination. Audit pay and benefits for unjustifiable differences. Ensure your disciplinary and grievance procedures can handle discrimination complaints effectively. Make reasonable adjustments promptly when a disabled employee or applicant needs them. Keep records of the steps you have taken — they form your defence if a claim is brought.

Frequently asked questions

Next steps

Key takeaways

The Equality Act 2010 protects workers from discrimination based on nine protected characteristics across all aspects of employment. Employers must understand direct and indirect discrimination, make reasonable adjustments for disabled employees, and take proactive steps to prevent harassment. Claims carry no service requirement and no compensation cap. The best defence is prevention: clear policies, regular training, fair processes, and a genuine commitment to equality at every level of the organisation.

If pay audits reveal differences that need correcting, use our Payroll Tax Calculator to model the cost of pay adjustments and ensure compliance with minimum wage requirements.