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When you bring a discrimination claim relating to equality in county court (England and Wales) or sheriff court (Scotland), you need to send us information about your claim.
England and Wales
There is no set format that this information needs to take. We suggest sending us a copy of the claim form and a letter stating:
- that you are giving the Equality and Human Rights Commission notice of the issuing of proceedings under the Equality Act 2010
- the name of the other party
- the name of the court
- the case number
Please send this to us by email:
commencementofproceedings@equalityhumanrights.com
Do not send confidential documents.
Scotland
In Scotland you should send us a copy of the writ or statement of claim.
Please send this to us by email:
legalrequestscotland@equalityhumanrights.com
Why you need to send this
Court rules say that when you bring a complaint relating to equality you must let the Equality and Human Rights Commission know about it.
For claims in county court (England and Wales), this is set out in paragraph 2 of the rules (known as a Practice Direction), under section 114 of the Equality Act 2010.
For claims in sheriff court (Scotland), this is set out in Rule 44.2 of the Ordinary Cause Rules and Rule 17.14 of the Simple Procedure Rules.
The purpose is for us to see the nature and volume of discrimination law cases brought to the courts. It also provides us with the opportunity to intervene in a case under Section 30 of the Equality Act 2006.
We do this if the case is in line with our litigation and enforcement policy and we think we can assist the court by providing expert testimony. Therefore, information that gives enough detail for us to consider this is useful.
The information we receive is for intelligence purposes only and is not routinely published. It is logged and stored in accordance with our security and data retention policies. To see how we use your personal data when you give it to us, please see the Privacy Notice.
Last updated: 27 Apr 2022