Equality, Diversity and
Rights
Equal opportunities legislation
Aims and Objective
 To
find out how much you already know in
regards to legislation
 To grow through the different pieces of
legislation relating to equality, diversity
and rights
 To consider how the legislation impacts on
placements and workplaces
Group work
 Work
in groups to match up the definitions
for the different pieces of legislation
 Be prepared to feedback this to the larger
group
Legislation- an overview

Legislation is passed by government to set down
certain standards and principles to ensure that
people receive equal access to services and that
people from certain groups do not experience
discrimination.
 Organisations have to ensure they adhere to
legislation such as access for disabled student,
and ensuring people from different groups in
society do not experience any form of
discrimination
Equal Pay act 1970
 This
stated that wages should be the
same for a particular job regardless of
whether it is a male or female worker.
 The Equal Opportunities Commission was
set up to support the laws affecting sexual
discrimination
Sex Discrimination Act 1975

Protects individuals from sex
discrimination when applying for a job
 At work
 Renting a home
 House sale and purchase
 In education
 Using goods and services
 Men and women are entitled to fair and
equal treatment
Race Relations Act 1976
 Protects
individuals against discrimination
when
 Applying for a job
 At work
 Joining a club, renting a home, house sale
and purchase
 Education and training
 The
commission for Racial Equality (CRE)
was set up to enforce the Act and to give
advice on improving quality of opportunity
in the area of race and ethnicity
Race Relations (amendment) 2000
Extends PROTECTION against racial
discrimination and places a new enforceable
POSITIVE DUTY on public authorities to have
due regard, in everything they do, to the need
to…
 ELIMINATE unlawful racial discrimination
 PROMOTE equality of opportunity and
 PROMOTE good race relations between
people of different racial groups
Education Act 1981
 Introduced
concept of special needs
education
 Assessment could result in a statement of
special needs
 Local authorities were required by law to
make special requirements for children
with special needs
Children Act 1989
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Main points
The well being of the child is paramount
Parental responsibility stressed
Introduced statutory support for children in need
Partnership with parents
Individuals race, culture, language and religion
must be respected
Services to be co-ordinated
 Services
designed to meet the needs of
individual families
 Child protection
 Children are best cared for by their
families
 Children’s own feeling and wishes to be
taken into consideration
 Parents and extended family should play
and important role
 Registration and inspection of early years
providers
Human Rights Act 1998
 There
are a number of articles to the
Human Rights Act
 This ensures that the European
Convention on Human Rights is
enforceable in the UK
 Includes articles such as right to life, right
to respect to family life, right to education,
to be free from torture and degrading
treatment
Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Protects individuals against discrimination on grounds of
disability. Covers those who have or who have had a
disability
 Main points
 Rights for disabled employees and job applicants
 Access to goods and services
 Rights when buying or renting
 A new disability duty which came into place on
the 4th Dec 2006 states that public organisations
have to gain the views of and actively
involve people with disabilities
The 2006 Disability Duty states
public bodies should
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Promote equality of opportunity between
disabled people and other people
Eliminate unlawful discrimination
Eliminate disability related harassment
Promote positive attitudes towards disabled
people
Encourage participation by disabled people in
public life
Take account of disabled people’s disabilities
even where that involves treating disabled
people more favourably than others.
Other pieces of legislationyou may want to discuss these to gain Merit

1997 The Protection from Harassment Act makes
harassment both a civil court and criminal offence.
 2001The Special Educational Needs and Disability
Act (SENDA) extends the DDA to include the provision
of education (including Higher Education).
 It makes it illegal to discriminate in the provision of
education on the grounds of a student’s disability.
 2002 The Employment Act makes it unlawful to
discriminate on the grounds of family leave and covers
the right to request flexible working.
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2003 The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief)
 Regulations make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds
of religion or religious belief.
 2003 The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation)
Regulations make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds
of sexual orientation.
 2006 The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations
 make it unlawful to discriminate on grounds of age.
 2006 The Equality Act
 makes provision for the establishment of the
Commission for Equality and Human Rights, merging the
Equal Opportunities Commission, the Commission for
Racial Equality and the Disability Rights Commission,
and covering the new strands of discrimination law religion, sexual orientation and age.
Recap
 Identify
different pieces of equal
opportunities legislation
How can those working in health and social care
promotes anti discriminatory practice (P.5)
 Staff
should receive regular training on
legislation
 Staff should be encouraged to reflect on
how legislation works in practice
 The aims of the legislation should be
implemented through policies and actions
 It
is essential that in order to promote
equality and diversity the various settings
need to work within a framework of
legislation and codes of practice. These
are specifically designed to promote
equality and diversity
 All
service users and workers should have
equal access to services- whether it be the
venue or the service provided
 Promote choice and rights among service
users
 Ensure that there are clear straight
forward policies identifying the main points
of the legislation
 Racist,
sexist and other discriminatory
comments should be challenged
appropriately, whether in the classroom,
staffroom or other areas of the settingpolicies will identify how this should be
done
 Reasonable
adjustments should be made
to settings to ensure that people with all
kinds of disabilities can gain access to the
service
 Staff
should be appropriately trained in
equal opportunities issues and each staff
member should have training and support
on how to deal with issues relating to
discrimination regardless of the
care/health setting
 Organisations
could have an equal
opportunities committee to ensure that
policies and practical issues are being
addressed
 These should draw from a wide range of
service users and workers
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Ensure that books do not reflect gender or race
stereotypes. This is particularly important if the
setting is working with children
 Activities should reflect diverse cultures,
religions etc.
 Different languages should be encouraged and
supported
 Settings should provide variety of cultural and
religious foods
 Resources
should not be exclusive to
certain groups i.e. use of multi skin
coloured crayons, scissors suitable for left
handed students
 Ensure that teachers/workers do not
encourage children to play only with
gender specific toys i.e. girls with the
home corner, while boys play with the
trucks and cars
Recap
 What
are the main pieces of legislation
which affects equality issues in
placement/the workplace
 What are the ways in which the principles
in the legislation can be put into practice in
placement or in work situations