The Equality Act 2010: evaluating the evolution and development of organisational strategy and professional practice

Abstract

This paper evaluates the evolution, development and endurance of the Equality Act 2010, providing a critical overview of influence and key legal principles, demonstrating how the Act has impacted strategic organisational and human resources policy and practice in the United Kingdom. The research is based on a systematic review of relevant professional and academic literature, alongside an evaluation of the law itself. The subject focus is seen as timely with the return of a Labour government in the UK - the architects of the Equality Act - for the first time in fourteen years. The Act, though now established, owes its historical inception to civil rights activism and a radical turn in legislative drafting and ambition – points frequently missed when discussing its scope and influence. An highly unusual anomaly is that having been created by an outgoing Labour government its stewardship immediately passed to a Conservative administration. In particular the principles consolidated and introduced by the Act have greatly impacted the workplace, crucially organisational behaviour and human resources practices, leading to greater responsibility and interpretive power being directed from employment lawyers towards organisational policy and professional practice. The Equality Act is usually discussed as an artifact rather than a radical creation and developing entity, this article however, approaches the subject as a ‘living’ object with an eye on future reform.

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ORCID for Christopher Hamerton: orcid.org/0000-0001-6300-2378

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