The Equality Act 2010: caste discrimination
17 August 2018
Following consultation, the government has decided that it will not amend or introduce new legislation to deal with caste discrimination but will rely on developments in case law instead.
Caste discrimination is not expressly prohibited under UK equality legislation, although section 9 of the Equality Act 2010, as amended, currently requires the Government to introduce secondary legislation to make caste an aspect of race, thereby making caste discrimination a form of race discrimination. The Coalition Government initially indicated that this legislation would be introduced to Parliament during summer 2015.
The Conservative Government reviewed its position on the need to introduce legislation, following the Employment Appeal Tribunal’s decision in Chandhok & Anor v Tirkey [2014]. In that case, the Employment Appeal Tribunal noted that caste discrimination is capable of being unlawful under current law, provided that the circumstances of the case fall within the existing prohibition of race discrimination.
On 2 September 2016, the Government announced that it would conduct a public consultation on the issue. The consultation was published March to September 2017 and offered two choices on how to provide the necessary legal protection against caste discrimination:
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By relying on emerging case-law under the Equality Act as developed by courts and tribunals
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By using the legislative duty to insert caste into the Equality Act as an aspect of race
The Government published its response on 23 July 2018, concluding against further legislation, preferring to rely on developments in case law.
The Government has therefore committed to repealing the duty, under the amended section 9 of the Equality Act, to legislate to prohibit caste discrimination.
Geographical extent – this consultation applies to Great Britain only so excludes Northern Ireland.