Hi ,
The socio-economic duty is the missing piece of the equality law jigsaw. 15 years after the Equality Act 2010, we finally have a chance to commence it – not only helping everyone facing poverty, but all of us.
The government has opened a call for evidence on equality law, including equal pay, discrimination, and finally commencing the socio-economic duty. This is something we've been campaigning on for years; it would give us a powerful tool to shift all policy-making towards equality. But the way it's implemented will matter a lot. Why? Our new Senior Project Officer, Vanessa Boon, writes:
There are key moments in the timeline of equality law-making history: the Equal Pay Act and laws addressing sex and race discrimination in the 70s; disability rights campaigners securing the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995; the Public Sector Equality Duty launching in 2000 and the Equality Act 2010 bringing the various laws together; the Equal Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act in 2013.
But socio-economic disadvantage has remained the missing piece of the equality law jigsaw. Right now, we’re on the cusp of rectifying that omission and we all have the chance to be part of this history in the making.
Awakening the socio-economic duty could be a historic shift
This month marks the 15th anniversary of the socio-economic duty. It was passed into law as Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010: it requires national and local public authorities to consider how their strategic decisions could reduce unequal outcomes linked to socio-economic disadvantage. For the first time, issues like poverty, class struggle, unequal access to resources and the rich-poor gap wouldn’t rely on brave individuals bringing them up – they’d be a legally required consideration for all authorities.
But despite being passed into law, it was never commenced. Instead, successive governments have pursued austerity policies. The United Nations and the #1forEquality and Make Equality Real campaigns have challenged this. If the socio-economic duty had existed, legal scholars believe, we could have challenged policies like the two-child limit, punitive Universal Credit sanctions, and the distress and deaths linked to disabled people’s benefit cuts. But the duty was also never repealed, allowing the governments of Scotland and Wales to activate it in 2018 and 2021 respectively.
Can it really make a difference? It already does. In Scotland and Wales, the socio-economic duty has already led to improved sick pay for low-paid social care workers and helped secure universal free school meals for primary pupils. Local authorities in England voluntarily adopting the duty have improved their understanding of inequality, sparking policy changes like ending the use of bailiffs to collect council tax debt from financially vulnerable households.
Now we need to ensure it's commenced effectively and fairly across the rest of the UK. That's why we need to make this moment count. We'll be at the steps of 10 Downing Street with our allies in the trade union movement to meet MPs and tell them to #MakeEqualityReal, but we need your help to get the MPs there: |
