You’ve been passed over for a promotion shortly after mentioning you’re pregnant. A shop refuses to let your guide dog inside. A colleague keeps making comments about your age that you’re told to “just ignore.” Each of these sounds like a personal grievance — but each one may also be unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
The Act is one of the most far-reaching pieces of UK legislation, covering workplaces, shops, schools, housing, healthcare and public services. Yet most people only encounter it when something’s already gone wrong, and by then, the legal terms — “protected characteristic,” “indirect discrimination,” “reasonable adjustments” — can feel like a wall between the problem and any actual solution.
This guide sets out what the Equality Act 2010 actually protects, who it applies to, the different forms discrimination can take under the law, and the practical steps to take if you think you’ve experienced it.
What Is the Equality Act 2010?
The Equality Act 2010 consolidated over 116 separate pieces of anti-discrimination legislation — including the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Race Relations Act 1976, and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 — into a single law covering England, Scotland and Wales (Northern Ireland has its own separate framework).
Its core purpose is to make certain kinds of unfair treatment illegal, based on specific personal characteristics. It applies broadly across:
- Employment — recruitment, pay, promotion, dismissal, and treatment at work
- Services and public functions — shops, restaurants, transport, healthcare, and government services
- Education — schools, colleges and universities
- Housing — landlords, letting agents and housing associations
- Associations and clubs — membership organisations and private clubs
The Act is enforced through employment tribunals (for workplace issues) and the county courts (for most other situations), with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) providing guidance and, in some cases, taking action on matters of wider public interest.
The Nine Protected Characteristics
The Act doesn’t ban all forms of unfair treatment — it specifically protects against discrimination linked to nine defined characteristics:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender reassignment
- Marriage and civil partnership
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race (including colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origin)
- Religion or belief (including lack of belief)
- Sex
- Sexual orientation
If unfair treatment isn’t connected to one of these nine characteristics, it may still be unpleasant or unreasonable, but it generally won’t fall under the Equality Act. A manager who’s simply difficult with everyone isn’t discriminating in the legal sense — but a manager who’s noticeably harder on staff over 50, or who consistently overlooks women for stretch projects, may well be.
The Different Types of Discrimination
This is where the Act gets more nuanced than most people expect, because discrimination doesn’t only mean someone being openly hostile or using a slur.
Direct discrimination is treating someone worse specifically because of a protected characteristic — for example, rejecting a job applicant once you learn they’re pregnant.
Indirect discrimination happens when a policy applies to everyone equally on paper but disadvantages people with a particular characteristic in practice, and can’t be objectively justified. A requirement that all staff work Saturdays might indirectly discriminate against employees whose religion requires Saturday observance, unless the employer can show a genuine business reason for the rule.
Harassment covers unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic that violates someone’s dignity or creates a hostile, humiliating or offensive environment — this includes repeated “jokes” about someone’s accent, age or sexuality, even if no single comment seems severe on its own.
Victimisation protects someone who’s been treated badly because they made or supported a discrimination complaint — for example, being excluded from meetings after raising a formal grievance about a colleague’s behaviour.
Failure to make reasonable adjustments applies specifically to disability. Employers and service providers have a proactive legal duty to make reasonable changes — such as adjusting a workstation, providing information in an accessible format, or allowing more time to complete a task — so that a disabled person isn’t put at a substantial disadvantage.
Reasonable Adjustments: What Employers Actually Have to Do
This is one of the most misunderstood parts of the Act, so it’s worth unpacking directly.
The duty to make reasonable adjustments only applies where someone meets the Act’s definition of disability — a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term (12 months or more) adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. This covers a wide range of conditions, including many that aren’t visible, such as chronic pain, mental health conditions, and neurodivergent conditions like autism or ADHD.
Once that threshold is met, an employer must take reasonable steps to remove or reduce any disadvantage the person faces because of their disability. What counts as “reasonable” depends on factors like the cost of the adjustment, the size and resources of the employer, and how effective the change would actually be.
Common examples include:
- Adjusting start and finish times around medical appointments or fatigue
- Providing specialist equipment, such as screen-reading software or an ergonomic chair
- Allowing someone to work from home for all or part of their role
- Modifying a recruitment process, such as providing interview questions in advance
Importantly, the duty is anticipatory in service settings — a shop or restaurant is expected to think ahead about likely barriers disabled customers might face, rather than only reacting once someone specifically complains.
Discrimination Outside the Workplace
Employment cases get the most attention, but the Act applies just as firmly to everyday services — and this is where many people don’t realise they have a claim at all.
Shops, restaurants and venues cannot refuse service, or provide a lower standard of service, because of a protected characteristic. A restaurant that seats a same-sex couple at a table far from other diners “to avoid awkwardness” is very likely acting unlawfully, even without an explicit refusal of service.
Assistance dogs are specifically protected — a business generally cannot refuse entry to someone with a guide dog or other assistance dog, even in places with a general no-pets policy, except in very limited circumstances such as certain medical or food preparation areas.
Housing — a landlord refusing to rent to a family because of their race, or a letting agent declining to make reasonable adjustments to a tenancy for a disabled applicant, both fall within the Act’s scope.
Healthcare and public services — the NHS and other public bodies also have a wider “public sector equality duty” to actively consider the impact of their decisions on people with protected characteristics, not just avoid direct discrimination.
(If your situation involves a specific workplace dispute — for example, being dismissed shortly after a maternity leave request — it’s worth reading a more detailed guide on maternity and pregnancy discrimination claims, since time limits and evidence requirements differ from a general discrimination complaint.)
How to Raise a Discrimination Complaint
Start with a written record. Note down what happened, when, who was involved, and any witnesses, as close to the event as possible. Memory fades, and a contemporaneous note carries more weight later.
Raise it formally where relevant. In a workplace, this usually means a written grievance to HR or a manager. With a service provider, a written complaint to the business (and, if unresolved, to any relevant regulator or ombudsman) is the usual first step.
Be aware of time limits. Employment tribunal claims generally must be started within three months less one day from the discriminatory act — this is a strict deadline, and tribunals rarely allow exceptions. Claims about services, in the county court, generally have a longer limit of six months. Given how tight the employment deadline is, it’s worth seeking advice early rather than waiting to see if internal processes resolve things first.
ACAS early conciliation. Before lodging most employment tribunal claims, you’re required to notify ACAS, who offer a free conciliation service that can resolve many disputes without a full tribunal hearing.
Get advice if it’s complex. Citizens Advice, the EHRC helpline, and specialist employment or discrimination solicitors can all help assess whether a situation meets the legal threshold for a claim, particularly for less obvious cases like indirect discrimination.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a disability under the Equality Act 2010? A disability is defined as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on someone’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. “Long-term” generally means it has lasted, or is expected to last, at least 12 months. This includes many hidden conditions, such as depression, chronic fatigue, or diabetes, not just visible or physical impairments.
Can I be discriminated against for being pregnant if I’m not yet showing? Yes. Pregnancy and maternity discrimination protection applies from the moment your employer becomes aware of the pregnancy, regardless of how visible it is. Unfavourable treatment during this protected period — such as being overlooked for a role you’d otherwise have received — can amount to unlawful discrimination even early in the pregnancy.
Does the Equality Act protect against age discrimination for younger employees too? Yes. Age is a two-way protected characteristic, meaning both older and younger workers are protected. A blanket rule that only staff over a certain age can apply for senior roles, for example, could equally disadvantage — and unlawfully discriminate against — younger employees.
How long do I have to make an Equality Act claim? For workplace discrimination, you generally have three months less one day from the date of the discriminatory act to start an employment tribunal claim, though this pauses briefly during ACAS early conciliation. For discrimination in services, housing or education, the time limit in the county court is generally six months. These deadlines are strict, so it’s worth getting advice as early as possible.
Can a business refuse entry to someone with an assistance dog? Only in very limited situations, such as certain clinical or food-preparation areas where there’s a genuine health and safety justification. A general “no pets” policy does not override the Equality Act’s protection for people using an assistance dog, and refusing entry on that basis is likely to be unlawful disability discrimination.
Key Takeaways
The Equality Act 2010 protects against unfair treatment linked to nine specific characteristics, across the workplace, shops, housing, education and public services — and it covers far more than obvious, deliberate discrimination. Indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and a failure to make reasonable adjustments are all treated just as seriously under the law as direct, intentional unfair treatment.
If you think you’ve experienced discrimination, the most useful first step is writing down exactly what happened while it’s fresh, and checking the relevant time limit before deciding what to do next. For workplace situations specifically, ACAS’s early conciliation service is a practical, low-cost starting point before any formal tribunal claim.
