Political context

Equality legislation has been under consistent attack since the start of the coalition government, both through repeals to the EA 10 and by making it harder to access justice. Once tribunal fees are in place from about July 2013, a discrimination claim under the EA 10 will attract a fee of £1,200.

These developments have taken place alongside cuts to the statutory equality body, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), a reduction of its functions and remit and an undermining of its independence. The government eventually abandoned a plan to use its “anti-red tape” Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 to abolish the ECHR’s general duty to promote equality under Section 3 of the Equality Act 2006 (see below), following two clear defeats in the House of Lords, the second taking place on the twentieth anniversary of the death of Stephen Lawrence.

The duty, criticised by the government as “vague and aspirational”, expressly requires the ECHR to exercise its functions so as to help build a society that enables people to meet their potential free from discrimination. It is recognised by campaigners as fundamental to the role of the ECHR, which is not only to enforce existing law but also to pursue wider social and cultural change. Over 80% of respondents to the government’s consultation had opposed the repeal of the general duty, concerned about “losing the guiding principles and values” it sets out. Even the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned the government that some of its proposed reforms of the ECHR were incompatible with its role as the national human rights institution. The duty was behind ECHR reports such as How fair is Britain (2010) and Human Rights Review (2012).

At the same time, a government review of the Public Sector Equality Duty, expected to be complete by June 2013, threatens to repeal the positive obligations on public bodies to prevent discrimination and promote equality. All this is happening against a broad backdrop of funding cuts, increased demand for public services, a pernicious argument that “equality” legislation is a “burden on business” and mounting evidence that government cuts are disproportionately affecting disadvantaged groups (see All in this together? TUC Touchstone 2012).

Fundamentally, the government’s Equality Strategy is based on a rejection of the need to recognise and tackle group disadvantage, the lynchpin of equality legislation. Instead it promotes an “approach to tackling inequality ….that moves away from treating people as groups or ‘equality strands’ and instead recognises we are a nation of 62 million individuals” (The Equality Strategy: Building a Fairer Britain, 2010).