HomeEquality Bill timeline
Summary: Equality Bill key dates
Equality Bill key dates
- 26 June 2008: Harriet Harman, Leader of the House of Commons, announced the new Single Equality Bill.
- 27 April 2009: the Government published the Equality Bill.
- 6 April 2010: the Equality Bill completed its parliamentary process, as MPs approved all Lords amendments.
- 8 April 2010: the Bill received Royal Assent.
- October 2010: the Bill is due to come into force from this date (see below for more detail).
Legal dates
The timeline for the different parts of the Equality Bill to have legal effect, provided it passes all its Parliamentary stages before the general election, and for publication of the practical guidance and legal codes of practice, is:
Employment, Equal pay and Services, public functions and associations
- Comes into force: October 2010
- Guidance published: July 2010
- Draft code of practice laid before Parliament: June 2010.
Education (further and higher education)
- Comes into force: October 2010
- Guidance published: July 2010
- Draft code of practice laid before Parliament: January 2011.
Education (schools)
- Comes into force: October 2010
- Guidance published: July 2010
- Draft code of practice laid before Parliament: May 2011.
Public sector equality duty
- Comes into force: April 2011
- Guidance published: December 2010
- Draft code of practice laid before Parliament: January 2011.
Age protection outside the workplace
- Comes into force: expected April 2012
- Guidance published: December 2011
- Draft code of practice laid before Parliament: January 2012.
Please note: these dates (particularly the schools code of practice and the public sector equality duty code of practice) are subject to change where detailed regulations are awaited. Where there are jurisdictional differences between England, Scotland and Wales and separate regulations will exist (as, for example, on the public sector equality duty) then the codes may be published to a different timetable in each jurisdiction.
All pages in this section: