Racial Equality

Positive Action

Despite huge improvements in racial equality over the last few years, it is still the case that those from ethnic minorities are 15.5% less likely to find a job than those who are white. Evidence of this inequality persists right across the workforce, from the lowest to the very highest levels. For example, there is only one High Court Judge from an ethnic minority, and not a single MP is an Asian woman. With the new Equality Bill, employers will be allowed to take under-representation into account when choosing between two equally qualified candidates for a job.

Positive Action is supported by the CBI, the TUC and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, as a means of producing workforces which are more diverse and more reflective of the communities they operate in.

Employment Tribunals

The current system of employment tribunals only allows for ‘recommendations’ in some limited cases where employers have been found to have discriminated. In practise, this means that the result of an employment discrimination claim tends to focus on individuals, and very rarely reaps benefits for the wider workforce.

The Equality Bill will do two things to help. First, it will allow for a far wider use of recommendations by tribunals – for example, recommending the introduction of an equal opportunities policy, or a review on equal pay: policies which will allow other people to benefit – even if they themselves weren’t the ones who brought the discrimination claim to tribunal. Secondly, the bill will pave the way for allowing the introduction of class-action discrimination claims: so that an entire workforce can be represented in court by groups such as trade unions or the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Political Representation

As a result of the consultation and research which preceded the drafting of the Equality Bill, there will be various non-legislative measures taken to ensure that more people from Black and Ethnic Minority backgrounds are encouraged to enter politics. One of the most significant of these will be a dedicated taskforce, which will go out to communities across the country, seeking out new candidates - particularly women from ethnic minorities - for local councils. They will provide information about the work of councillors, and give assistance in applying for candidacy and building a campaign.