As the majority of employers may be aware, the Equality Act 2010 has now come into force (1st October 2010), however, not all the proposed provisions have come into force at the same time. Those now in force are set out below. The others will be due in April 2011, 2012 and 2013, such as dual discrimination.

By way of background, the purpose of the Equality Act was to provide a simplified Act to deal with the existing Discrimination law, replacing:

* The Equality Act 1970

* The Sex Discrimination Act 1975

*The Race Relations Act 1976

* The Disability Discrimination Act 1995

* The Equality Act 2006, Part 2

* The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003

* The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003

* The Employment (Age) Regulations 2006

* The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007

It largely replicates the types of discrimination found in previous legislation but there are some important changes.

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