Government makes Equality Act commencement order on positive action

The Government has made an order under the Equality Act 2010 that implements the provisions on positive action on 6 April 2011. 

The Equality Act 2010 (Commencement No.5) Order 2011 (SI 2011/96) brings s.159 of the Equality Act 2010 into force on 6 April 2011. This section permits employers in their recruitment or promotion processes to treat individuals with a protected characteristic more favourably when faced with two or more candidates of equal merit, if the more favourable treatment is intended to address under-representation in the workforce or a disadvantage that is connected to the protected characteristic. 

The order also gives the Government powers to specify the public authorities under sch.19 of the Equality Act 2010 to which the public sector equality duty applies and make regulations imposing requirements on them to enable the better performance of the duty. 

Also

Equality Act 2010: Guidance on the public sector duty and positive action The Government Equalities Office has published draft Regulations on the public sector equality duty and guidance on the positive action provisions, which are expected to be introduced via the Equality Act 2010 on 6 April 2011. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published guidance on the public sector equality duty. 

Positive action and the Equality Act 2010: what will the provisions mean for employers? The coalition Government has taken the surprise decision to go ahead with controversial positive action provisions in the Equality Act 2010 that allow employers to favour under-represented groups in recruitment and promotion in some circumstances. What will they mean for employers? From the XpertHR Tribunal Watch blog. 

Equality Act 2010: resources on XpertHR We provide a round-up of the new and updated resources from XpertHR on the Equality Act 2010, the main provisions of which come into force on 1 October 2010.