This week, the government laid the Statutory Instrument (SI) of the Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023.

The aim is to ensure that the law will continue to offer the same protection after the end of 2023 in relation to pregnancy, maternity and breastfeeding, indirect discrimination, access to employment and occupation, equal pay and the definition of disability.

According to government analysis, the REUL Act will remove certain EU-derived principles of interpretation at the end of 2023. The Equality Hub has given careful consideration to the impact of this on equality law. The overwhelming majority of equality law is contained in domestic legislation, approved and voted on by Parliament.

The government’s analysis confirmed that the interpretive effects of retained EU law have a bearing on equality law in only a limited number of areas. Where this is the case, government will utilise the powers of the REUL Act to ensure necessary protections are put into statute.

The Statutory Instrument was laid on Tuesday 7 November, to safeguard and enshrine key rights and principles, maintaining:

• equal pay protections where employees' terms and conditions are attributable to a single source but not the same employer;
• protections for women against less favourable treatment at work because they are breastfeeding;
• protections for women against unfavourable treatment after they return from maternity leave where that treatment is in connection with a pregnancy or a pregnancy-related illness occurring before their return;
• protections for women against pregnancy and maternity discrimination where they do not have a statutory right to maternity leave but have similar rights under alternative occupational schemes;
• protections ensuring women can continue to receive special treatment from their employer in connection with maternity, for example through enhanced occupational maternity schemes;
• full protections for disabled people at work, meaning that disability is understood in law as specifically covering a person’s ability to participate in working life on an equal basis with other workers;
• protections against discriminatory recruitment conditions, in particular the making of public discriminatory statements by an employer about access to opportunities in their organisation;
• protections against indirect discrimination by association, so that those who may be caught up and disadvantaged by discrimination against others are also protected.

Subject to Parliamentary approval, the intention is that there will be no time gap and no break in protections between the SI coming into effect and the removal of the special status and EU-derived features of retained EU law at the end of this year.

For detailed information, please refer to the Explanatory Memorandum. The SI will now go through the affirmative procedure in both Houses of Parliament, with all the usual scrutiny and debate.