A Patchwork of Protection: The New Anti‐discrimination Law Framework

Abstract

Substantial reforms to British anti-discrimination law were undertaken during 2003, pursuing a number of different directions. First, the government issued new statutory regulations in order to forbid discrimination on grounds of religion or belief,' and sexual orientation.2 Secondly, the government simultaneously amended the main primary legislation governing discrimination on grounds of sex (including equal pay),3 race4 and disability.5 In relation to race and disability, the changes were significant and designed to comply with the standards set in the European Union's Racial Equality6 and Framework Employment7 Directives. Finally, the government opened consultations on the option of merging the existing equality Commissions, as well as the contents of future legislation on age discrimination.9 If this barrage of reforms was not sufficient to make discrimination lawyers dizzy, the House of Lords delivered a number of long-awaited judgments addressing key concepts within the existing primary legislation. This note provides an overview of the principal developments emerging from the recent law reforms, although clearly each of these changes warrants further detailed examination elsewhere. The first part examines the grounds of discrimination, whilst the second part will analyse the new definition of discrimination. The final section will consider further the arrangements for enforcement of the legislation. Before embarking on this discussion, the following section contextualises the current reform process.