Recommendation 12

HM Government · verbatim extract Acknowledged

We welcome the Committee’s attention to people who have experienced discrimination due to a combination of protected characteristics and share the view that this is unacceptable. The UK has a strong history of protecting against direct and indirect discrimination and the Government is committed to reinforcing this, including through strengthening protections against dual discrimination. It is wrong, for example, that some Muslim women or women experiencing the menopause may be treated less favourably by an employer or service provider because of a particular combination of protected characteristics. The Equality Act 2010 has protections that enable people to challenge discrimination across a range of fields, including the provision of services, employment and recruitment processes. Acas also provides free impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practice, including guidance on Following discrimination law - Recruitment - Acas. We will explore with Acas options for enhancing their advice. In April 2025, we launched the Equality law call for evidence, which sought evidence and views on a number of areas of equality policy to identify barriers to opportunity and seek expert views on how to overcome these barriers, including on how to strengthen protections against dual discrimination. We will be confirming our next steps after considering the responses. We will explore effective and proportionate ways to encourage employers to promote fairness and transparency throughout the recruitment process.