News

April 30, 2010

Equality Act guidance “baffling” for small firms

Guidance drawn up to explain the new Equality Act may prove baffling to smaller firms, the Forum of Private Business (FPB) has warned.

To help businesses understand their legal obligations under the Act, which comes into full force in October, new guidance for small firms has been issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

But according to the FPB, the 300-page document is "misleading" and "ambiguous", and business owners would find it difficult to know how they are expected to prevent discrimination in line with new changes to the law.

The Act, which is the biggest overhaul of UK anti-discrimination law since 1975, aims to simplify existing legislation, including gender and disability anti-discrimination measures.

While the FPB said it welcomed the move to consolidate existing laws, it cautioned that the guidance appeared to be aimed at larger businesses with specialist HR or legal departments with extensive formal processes.

"The employment guidance is just short of 300 pages, which is an obvious hindrance for most small business owners, who often have severe limits on their time," said FPB chief executive, Phil Orford. "It fails to provide clear and accurate advice for business owners. It also appears to create ambiguity in a number of key areas and is inconsistent in its use of language, creating a recipe for confusion.

"We believe that this confusion will lead to further costs as businesses either over-comply with the legislation or are forced to bear the burden at subsequent tribunals of not engaging with the legislation," he added.

The FPB is calling for further clarification of the Act before it comes into effect in six months' time.

Between now and October, experts are advising employers to review recruitment and sickness absence policies to make sure they do not discriminate against individuals, particularly those with disabilities.

New rules to be brought in include the disallowing of pre-employment questionnaires, which ask about the candidate's health. Employers will also be able to discriminate in favour of a minority candidate, if that group is under-represented in the workforce. The much-publicised issue of gender pay reporting, where firms have to submit details of men and women's pay, will be voluntary for businesses.

• To access an Equality Bill Factsheet, visit the Government Equalities Office website

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