The Women and Equalities Committee has recently launched an inquiry into the enforcement of the Equality Act 2010.
Following recent inquiries, such as into sexual harassment in the workplace; a discovery was made that there have been problems in relation to the enforcement of the rights contained in the Equality Act 2010. This therefore led to the committee making recommendations for improvement. Such recommendations include:
- Extending time limits for bringing certain Employment Tribunal Claims; and
- Increasing the intervention by EHRC and also regulators.
Following on from the inquiries, the aims of the committee includes:
- Collection of evidence in relation to the enforcement of the Equality Act; and
- Assessing the effectiveness of the enforcement of the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
The committee has also requested written evidence on:
- Whether the public understand how to enforce their statutory rights;
- How effective and accessible the Tribunals and other enforcement systems are and any suggested improvements;
- How effective are the remedies and or penalties in cases of discrimination; and
- Whether such enforcement of the Equality Act will be successful in achieving a change on the large scale.
