Commission launches starter kit for Equality Act

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has launched an online starter guide to the Equality Act 2010 to coincide with most of the legislation coming into force. The new legislation brings together existing equality law into one place so that it is easier to understand and it extends protection to some groups so that they are treated more fairly. The Commission's role, given to it by Parliament, is to help people understand the law and to enforce it.

In order to ensure that the private, public and voluntary sectors understand their obligations under the new Equality Act, the Commission has created nine bite-size learning modules that set out the essential points of the legislation. Organisations can encourage their employees to work through the modules or can use it as a starting point for their own in-house training.

Each downloadable module takes less than 10 minutes to complete and no more than an hour to finish all nine sections. It shows how the Act applies to managing a team; personnel changes; flexible working and time off for employers; and an overview of the law; strategy and planning; and service delivery for service providers.

The learning modules are one element of the Commission's starter kit for organisations on the new Equality Act. More detailed guidance to the new Equality Act is being rolled out by the Commission. The statutory guidance (“Codes of Practice”) is for legal professionals and can be referred to in legal cases; other guidance (“non-statutory guidance”) is aimed at people who want to know how the law applies in different settings. These are available on the Commission's website:
www.equalityhumanrights.com/ea2010