A new report on the failings of the Equality Act 2010, leading to what it calls “the breakdown of informal civility in the workplace” was launched in Westminster—the heart of the British government—on Thursday, June 12th.
As The Times of London observes, the Act is now being “blamed for a surge in failed race discrimination cases.” Entitled The Equality Act Isn’t Working, its authors show how between 2016-2024 there have been 226,890 Employment Tribunal cases, with 5,523 in 2017-2024 which included allegations of race-based discrimination.
Of these, only 281 or 5% of race discrimination claims were upheld in employment courts—suggesting that the proliferation of EDI policies, workgroups and officers has been detrimental to relations between people at work (all while submerging potential economic development in Britain under a rising tide of litigation).
According to co-author Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, the report demonstrates
that there are serious structural problems in the workplace that are not due to racism, but are being (mis)interpreted and presented to courts as discrimination cases. It suggests the Equality Act of 2010 was not a mere bundling up of existing anti discrimination law [but something much more insidious—ed.].
It also bolsters the case against the current legislation which, until a successful legal challenge, was interpreted to treat sex as a question of gender identity rather than biology.
