Equality and Human Rights Commission

The Equality Act is the most significant piece of equality legislation for many years. It simplifies, streamlines and strengthens the law. It gives individuals greater protection from unfair discrimination and makes it easier for employers and companies to understand their responsibilities. It also sets a new standard for those who provide public services to treat everyone, with dignity and respect.

In line with our statutory powers, we have produced Codes of Practice on Employment, Services and Equal Pay. The main purpose of the Codes of Practice is to provide detailed explanations of the provisions in the Act and to apply legal concepts in the Act to everyday situations. This will assist courts and tribunals when interpreting the law and help lawyers, advisers, trades union representatives, human resources departments and others who need to apply the law. As with the Act, the Codes apply to England, Scotland and Wales.

The Codes set out clearly and precisely what the legislation means. They draw on precedent and case law and explain the implications of every clause in technical terms. These statutory codes are the authoritative source of advice for anyone who wants a rigorous analysis of the legislation's detail. For lawyers, advocates and human resources experts in particular, they will be invaluable.

These Codes of Practice became law on 6 April 2011.

You can purchase printed copies of the Codes from The Stationery Office (TSO) website or download on this page.

Code of Practice on Equal Pay

Download: Code of Practice on Equal Pay (PDF version)

Download: Code of Practice on Equal Pay (Word version)

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Code of Practice on Employment

Please note that the Employment Code does not provide guidance on the positive action provision in relation to recruitment and promotion (section 159 of the Act) or the repeal of the default retirement age (Schedule 9 exceptions to discrimination in employment) which come into force on 6 April 2011. The Code will be amended in due course to provide guidance on these provisions. Please refer to our non-statutory guidance on employment for assistance on these issues in the interim.

Download: Code of Practice on Employment (PDF version)

Download: Code of Practice on Employment (Word version)

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Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations

Download: Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations (PDF Version)

Download: Code of Practice on Services, Public Functions and Associations (Word version)

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Codes of Practice post consultation report

Our post consultation report highlights the concerns that stakeholders raised with us during the Equality Act Codes of Practice consultation period in 2010. The report explains how we addressed these concerns and how this stakeholder input has ultimately improved the final version of these Codes.

The Equality Act Codes of Practice post consultation report (PDF)

The Equality Act Codes of Practice post consultation report (Word)

Other Codes of Practice

 We were intending to produce further statutory codes of practice on the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which came into force on 5 April 2011, and codes for the Further and Higher Education (FEHE) sector and schools.

Unfortunately, we are no longer able to proceed with these plans. The Government is keen to reduce bureaucracy around the Equality Act 2010, and feels that further statutory guidance may place too much of a burden on public bodies. Although the Commission has powers to issue codes, it cannot do so without the approval of the Secretary of State, as we are reliant upon government to lay codes before parliament, in order for them to be statutory.

It is the Commission’s view that, rather than creating a regulatory burden, statutory codes have a valuable role to play in making clearer to everyone what is and is not needed in order to comply with the Equality Act. However, as this is no longer an option, we feel the best solution is to issue our draft codes as non statutory codes instead. These non statutory codes will still give a formal, authoritative, and comprehensive legal interpretation of the PSED and education sections of the Act and will make it clear to everyone what the requirements of the legislation are.

The FEHE and schools underwent a full consultation in 2011 in the form of draft statutory codes, and we intend to publish the revised versions as non statutory codes shortly. The draft PSED non statutory codes will be published shortly for review and we will be looking for feedback on the draft texts so that we can make sure they fully meet the needs of public bodies and other potential users.