Equality 2025

Following a report by the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in 2005 (Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People), the Government has decided to set up an advisory body which will:

  • work with Government to help achieve equality for disabled people by 2025
  • provide advice and information, based on the views and experiences of disabled people 
  • advise Government departments on how to engage effectively with disabled people
  • help the Government to raise awareness of disabled people and their rights and challenge negative stereotypes in the media
  • help ensure that public bodies meet their legal duties under the Disability Discrimination Act in relation to the Disability Equality Duty.

The new body, called Equality 2025, will be launched later this year. The Government will advertise for members of the body in both the general interest media and the disability press shortly.

Disability Champions

Are you a potential disability champion? If so, the Disability Champions @ Work project wants to hear from you. You just need to be a trade union representative with an interest in promoting disability issues at work.

Set up in 2003, there are already 200 disability champions in workplaces around the country. Their basic role is to negotiate “reasonable adjustments”, raise awareness of disability issues, conduct access audits of buildings, documents, policies etc and liaise with external organisations and other champions.

Champions attend a five-day accredited training course to give them the knowledge, skills and tools to do their role. This looks at:

  • the Disability Discrimination Act
  • understanding the concept of “reasonable adjustments”
  • negotiating adjustments
  • understanding Access to Work funding
  • conducting an audit.

What does your boss earn?

Ever wondered what your boss earns? A TUC website now lets UK employees access information about staff pay and pensions, profits and losses, shareholder details and arrangements for staff representation.

The “Your Company” search at www.workSMART.org.uk provides lots of detailed information, usually buried in annual reports, on 7,000 UK companies employing millions of staff.

Employees can use the site to compare their own pay with company directors. When they enter what they were earning five years ago the site tells them how much they would be paid if their earnings had increased at the same rate as executives.

Staff can also compare their own pay to others doing the same job at different firms. “Company Finder” also enables job seekers to check out a firm before interviews or accepting a post. Go to: www.workSMART.org.uk/company to try it out.

More Annual Leave

Plans to ensure that workers get paid leave for bank holidays, in addition to the statutory four weeks annual leave, have been set out in a Government consultation document.

The Government proposes to phase in the additional leave starting with an increase from 20 to 24 days (pro rata for part time workers) from 1 October 2007.

It is also seeking views on whether the rest of the leave should be introduced in one stage (either from October 2008 or 2009) or in two phases (26 days from October 2008 and 28 days from October 2009).

ACAS Reports

In its annual report for 2005-6 published at the end of July, ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) reported that:

  • there were 109,712 applications to tribunals in 2005-6 compared to 81,833 the year before – up 25 per cent
  • unfair dismissal continues to be the largest category of complaint with almost 36,000 applications (an increase of 1,000 on the year before)
  • the top three topics to the ACAS helpline were: discipline / grievance, maternity / paternity and redundancy.

For a copy, go to www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/7/0/Annual_report_2005_2006.pdf

Equality Directive

Seven directives on equality between men and women in employment have been “recast” by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. The new text also includes relevant decisions of the European Court of Justice. The seven consolidated directives are:

  • No.75/117 on equal pay for men and women
  • No.76/207 on equal treatment for men and women relating to access to employment
  • No.2002/73, amending directive No.76/207, on equal treatment for men and women relating to employment, vocational training and promotion and working conditions
  • No.86/378 on equal treatment for men and women in occupational social security schemes
  • No.96/97, amending directive No.86/378, on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in occupational social security schemes 
  • No.97/80 on the burden of proof in cases of discrimination based on sex
  • No.98/52 on the extension of directive No.97/80 to the UK.


The new directive (2006/54) has to be implemented by member states by 15 August 2008.

Fixing the term

Anyone on a fixed term contract (or a series of them) for four years automatically became a permanent employee as of 10 July.

This was because regulation 8 of the Fixed Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 was finally introduced (see LELR 105). The only exception to the rule is if the employer can objectively justify continuing the fixed term arrangement.

The implementation of the regulation means that employers must (within a month of the anniversary) give their employee a statement of changes to their terms and conditions. If they don’t, the employee can make a claim to a tribunal and get an award of two or four weeks’ pay.

Too Old at 65

The National Council on Ageing (NCA) is challenging the Government over the legality of mandatory retirement ages. It has asked for a judicial review of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (2006) which come into force on 1 October.

Under the regulations, employers can force employees to retire at or after 65 and can refuse to recruit anyone over the age of 65.

The NCA believes that by excluding people over 65 from protection the Government has failed to implement the directive correctly – in breach of their obligations under European law.

Work and Families Act

According to the DTI, thousands of working parents stand to benefit from new rights to more maternity and paternity leave and pay now that the Work and Families Act has come into effect.

Under the Act working parents will be entitled to:

  • Nine months Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance from April 2007 (to be increased to a year's paid leave by the end of the Parliament).
  • A new right to an additional period of paternity leave for fathers, which will be introduced alongside the extension of Statutory Maternity Pay, Adoption Pay and Maternity Allowance to 12 months. This will enable them to benefit from leave and statutory pay if the mother returns to work after six months but before the end of her maternity leave period.
  • The introduction of “Keeping in Touch” days so that a woman on maternity leave can go into work for a few days, without losing her right to maternity leave or a week's statutory pay.

Smoke free

The Health Bill that is currently before Parliament includes legislative provisions to make virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces smoke free.

If approved by Parliament, the Government plans to implement smoke free legislation in summer 2007.

The Department of Health has now published a consultation document - Smoke Free Premises and Vehicles – looking at proposed regulations to be made under powers in the Health Bill. The consultation period expires on 9th October 2006.

Go to www.dh.gov.uk/Consultations/LiveConsultations/fs/en to download the consultation document.