Exclusive: What the Equality Bill will mean to the public sector

PublicService.co.uk – Richard Kenyon

Public bodies should make it a priority to familiarise themselves with the contents of the new Equality Bill, say Richard Kenyon and Louise Fernandes-Owen

After promising the biggest shake up in discrimination law since the 1970s, the government finally published the Equality Bill on 27 April 2009. The Bill has two key purposes: to harmonise discrimination law and to strengthen the law to support progress on equality. Due to its potentially far-reaching proposals, the Bill has received much publicity. Since many of the changes will impact directly on the public sector, it’s worth looking at the key headline issues.