As we noted here, the Government’s new Equality Bill brings together various bits of anti-discrimination legislation and extends some of them. One area that is extended is protection against age discrimination, which is now covered by Part 3, in respect of goods, facilities and services. It is not however covered by Part 4 which deals with premises, including housing.
A number of people seem to be looking into this; the Conservatives have put down an amendment as part of the Committee stage, which would include age in Part 4. We have been contacted by Age Concern and Help the Aged, who are looking for any evidence of harmful age discrimination in premises, in relation to the terms on which housing is offered or the management of housing. Although their primary focus is older people they are also interested in information of age discrimination against young people. Housing Benefit rules are one obvious example.
If you have any evidence please send it, not to us, but to them care of Robert.Brown at helptheaged.org.uk. Hopefully they can keep us updated of developments.
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From Usefully Employed (hat-tip) comes the news that the consultation on the Equality Bill proposes the introduction of indirect discrimination as a category, which would help with the horlicks that the Lords made of the 1995 Act in Malcolm v Lewisham:
[the Bill shall] adopt the concept of indirect discrimination for the purposes of the disability discrimination provisions in the Equality Bill, rather than carry forward to the Equality Bill the existing provisions in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 that apply to disability-related discrimination. Once a prima facie case of indirect discrimination has been made, it will be possible for the person who imposed the provision, criterion or practice to show that it was objectively justified to defeat the claim; and
introduce a requirement that those people and organisations that are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people must make any reasonable adjustment that the Equality Bill will require them to make before they can seek to justify indirect discrimination.
Consultation here. Let us hope that this provision will extend to eviction as the 1995 Act did, but without the little difficulties.
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