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Home | Equality and Human Rights Commission | Duties

The EHRC Duties

The EHRC will have a basic remit to:

• Promote equality of opportunity. The EHRC will work to promote a greater understanding that equality and human rights are important for everyone, and are key foundations of a fair, successful and cohesive society. It will also play an important role in widening understanding and appreciation of the benefits that diversity can bring
   

• Challenge discrimination. As a regulatory body, the EHRC will have a duty to work towards eliminating discrimination. It will challenge unlawful discrimination both through the services that it provides directly, and through supporting other organisations that help individuals secure their right to fair treatment. In some instances it will provide legal representation and support to individuals.
   

• Promote human rights. The new body will play an important role in promoting a culture of respect for human rights by providing systematic advice and guidance to public bodies.  It will also promote human rights as a framework of core values that can underpin cohesive communities.
   

• Promote citizenship and a cohesive society. The EHRC will work at community level as well as at national level to support activities that promote common core values, create a shared understanding of citizenship and help build inclusive communities.

Its duties will therefore include:

Encouraging awareness and good practice on equality and diversity

The EHRC will act as a champion by initiating and leading debate on the impact of diversity and promoting human rights.

It will also undertake work to promote better understanding of the costs of discrimination and to combat stereotyping of certain groups. Importantly, it will be able to work with groups that are not specifically protected by discrimination law.

It will bring together work related to several different aspects of equality such as age and sexual orientation, or race and gender.  In that way, it will be able to respond to the complexity of individual and group identities.

It will also be able to address situations where there are challenges to social integration and conflicts between different sets of rights.

Promoting awareness and understanding of human rights

The new commission will spread good practice and promote support for human rights in the public sector. That includes private sector bodies carrying out public services.

The EHRC will be active in helping to embed a culture of respect for human rights. The goal will be to move away from bare compliance with the Human Rights Act (HRA) to using good human rights practice as a way to improve service provision.

The focus of its work will be on providing information and guidance to public authorities on how to comply with the HRA and on mainstreaming good practice.

It will not bring cases under the Act, but it will provide a general ‘helpline’ advice facility for the public.

The EHRC’s work to improve compliance in public authorities will have at its legal core the rights and obligations set out in the HRA.

Promotion will be central to the EHRC’s human rights role. As part of encouraging good practice, the focus for the EHRC will be the development of values and standards through examples of best practice, and the dissemination of relevant court case results.

Promoting equality of opportunity

The EHRC will promote equality of opportunity between:

• men and women 
   

• people of different racial groups 
   

• people of different sexual orientations
   

• people of different religions or beliefs (including those who do not have a religion or belief)
   

• people of different ages
   

• people who intend to undergo, are undergoing, or have undergone gender reassignment.

It will also have a duty to promote the equalisation of opportunities for disabled people. It will do this by providing advice and guidance about how to comply with the law, and it will also encourage good practice.

The EHRC will be able to act in a broad range of areas, not just those where there is specific legislative protection.

So, for example, it would encourage good practice in the provision of goods and services to help prevent unfair treatment on grounds of sexual orientation, religion or belief, and age.

The EHRC will also be able to provide general guidance on good practice in areas that discrimination law does not cover.

Working towards eliminating unlawful discrimination and harassment

The commission will focus on advising individuals of their rights under discrimination law and how to secure them, including how to bring proceedings.

The EHRC will also support a number of cases with potential strategic impact. It will work with organisations to encourage others to improve their practices.

Promoting good relations among different communities

The EHRC will promote good relations among different communities (particularly those of different religions and races) by providing support to local projects that promote dialogue and understanding between them.

This work will also include fostering good relations between these communities and wider society.

The commission will maintain the CRE’s programme of supporting local projects delivered through the Race Equality Councils and other bodies and, over time, will extend this to cover other areas of discrimination.

Keeping discrimination and human rights legislation under review

The commission will have a responsibility to keep the working of discrimination legislation and the HRA under review.

It will consider the effectiveness and adequacy of the legislation and, if necessary, make recommendations or proposals to the relevant Secretary of State for change.

The EHRC will also be able to give Ministers advice or make proposals on any aspect of law within its remit.

So, for example, it would be able to advise that a proposed piece of employment legislation could result in indirect discrimination against women, or would cause particular difficulties for disabled people.

The EHRC will also be able to give advice on good practice in relation to the protected groups. This would not be confined simply to  discrimination legislation and related good practice.

Responsibility for scrutinising new legislation for compatibility with the HRA will remain with the JCHR.

Becoming a source of expertise on equality and human rights

The EHRC should be a centre of excellence and expertise on equality and human rights issues. 

It will be able to carry out training, educational and outreach activities to other organisations, and to fund projects or other activities that support its work.