Equality Act 2010

UK legislation prohibiting discrimination based on protected characteristics in employment, education, and services. Applies to employers, service providers, and public bodies in Great Britain.

11

Rules extracted

173

Obligations decomposed

15.7x

Avg obligations per rule

🇬🇧 United Kingdom

Jurisdiction

About this regulation

The Equality Act 2010 consolidates and replaces previous anti-discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom. It establishes nine protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation) and prohibits discrimination, harassment, and victimisation in employment, services, public functions, education, associations, and premises. The Act imposes duties on employers including the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled persons, equal pay requirements, and the public sector equality duty. Enforced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Employment Tribunals.

What AuditDSS covers

Source

1

Regulation

Extracted

11

Rules

Decomposed

173

Obligations

15.7x

Decomposition ratio

Each rule is decomposed into an average of 15.7 atomic obligations — the smallest testable units that can be independently violated.

Fully extracted & scored

All 173 obligations have been decomposed, titled, risk-scored, and embedded for semantic matching.

Risk scoring

Every obligation in Equality Act 2010 is scored across independent risk dimensions:

W

Obligation Weight

How critical within the regulatory framework

L

Violation Likelihood

How often breached in practice

E

Enforcement Evidence

Regulator enforcement history and penalties

C

Cascade Dependency

How many obligations depend on this one

Regulatory details

Full title
Equality Act 2010
Regulatory body
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Jurisdiction
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Document type
legislation
Effective date
October 1, 2010
Issuing authority
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Official source
View source document ↗

Who this applies to

employersservice providerspublic authoritiesassociationseducational institutions

Key requirements

  • nine protected characteristics
  • direct and indirect discrimination prohibition
  • harassment and victimisation protections
  • duty to make reasonable adjustments
  • equal pay
  • public sector equality duty
  • positive action provisions

Frequently asked questions about Equality Act 2010

What is Equality Act 2010?

The Equality Act 2010 consolidates and replaces previous anti-discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom. It establishes nine protected characteristics (age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation) and prohibits discrimination, harassment, and victimisation in employment, services, public functions, education, associations, and premises. The Act imposes duties on employers including the duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled persons, equal pay requirements, and the public sector equality duty. Enforced by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Employment Tribunals.

Who does Equality Act 2010 apply to?

Equality Act 2010 applies to employers, service providers, public authorities, associations, educational institutions.

How many obligations does Equality Act 2010 contain?

AuditDSS has decomposed Equality Act 2010 into 173 atomic obligations from 11 rules. Each obligation is independently testable and risk-scored.

What are the key requirements of Equality Act 2010?

The key requirements include: nine protected characteristics, direct and indirect discrimination prohibition, harassment and victimisation protections, duty to make reasonable adjustments, equal pay, public sector equality duty, positive action provisions.

How can I assess my Equality Act 2010 compliance?

Upload your compliance policy to AuditDSS. The platform maps your document against all 173 Equality Act 2010 obligations using deterministic AI scoring — not checklists or LLM summaries. You get a risk-scored gap analysis showing exactly which obligations are covered, partially covered, or missing.

Which jurisdiction enforces Equality Act 2010?

Equality Act 2010 is enforced in United Kingdom by Equality and Human Rights Commission.

When did Equality Act 2010 come into effect?

Equality Act 2010 became effective on October 1, 2010.

What industry does Equality Act 2010 apply to?

Equality Act 2010 is primarily relevant to the Workplace Safety & WHS/OHS industry. AuditDSS covers 45 regulations in this industry sector.

Build a Equality Act 2010 compliance pack

Don't have a compliance policy yet? AuditDSS generates a complete compliance pack for Equality Act 2010 — alone or combined with other regulations your business needs. Every clause is mapped to specific obligations.

Policy

High-level commitments and governance framework covering Equality Act 2010 requirements.

Procedures

Step-by-step operational procedures to implement each policy commitment.

Forms & checklists

Ready-to-use forms, registers, and checklists for day-to-day compliance operations.

Multi-regulation

Combine Equality Act 2010 with other regulations into a single unified compliance pack for your business.

Already have a policy? Assess it against Equality Act 2010

1

Upload your document

Upload your compliance policy, program manual, or operational document. AuditDSS accepts any text-based document.

2

AI maps against 173 obligations

Your document is scored against every obligation in Equality Act 2010. Each claim is mapped to the obligation tree and evaluated for coverage.

3

Risk-scored gap report

Receive every gap ranked by risk priority with remediation guidance, enforcement evidence, and cascade impact analysis.

Related regulations in Workplace Safety & WHS/OHS

Assess your Equality Act 2010 compliance

Upload your document and get a risk-scored gap analysis against 173 Equality Act 2010 obligations in under 5 minutes.