The Equality Act (2010) is an Act of UK Parliament covering England, Scotland & Wales. The Act consolidated and updated several other pieces of anti-discrimination legislation. For example, you may have heard in the past about the Disability Discrimination Act (1995). Having a single piece of legislation makes things simple. In Northen Ireland, equality law remains across several pieces of legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act (1995) Regulation (Northern Ireland) (2004).
The Equality Act (2010) defines a list of nine 'protected characteristics' which are specific aspects of people's identities. It's unlawful to discriminate against someone because of these protected characteristics:
You’re also protected from discrimination if:
We've got a wealth of information available on our website, including what support is available, useful resources and contacts and template letters if you need to resort to raising a complaint about discrimination of unfair treatment.