12. Equality in recruitment

There is ample evidence of discrimination, in particular race discrimination, in recruitment in the UK. In 2009, the Department for Work and Pensions experimented by sending out 2,000 job applications from fictitious applicants for 1,000 real jobs, half using Anglo-Saxon-type names and half using an ethnic minority-sounding name. The results were damning. Applicants with “white”, British-sounding names were far more likely to be called for interview than their ethnic minority counterparts.

More recent evidence, such as the government-commissioned McGregor-Smith review of 2017, (Race in the workplace) confirms that little has changed in the intervening years.

The law is clear. With a few narrow exceptions, less favourable treatment in recruitment on the basis of a protected characteristic is unlawful. Clear guidance for employers is available from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and there is no excuse for getting it wrong.