Regional Equality & Diversity Partnership

Easy read guide to the Localism Act

Summary: A plain English guide to the Localism Act

This document describes the main measures of the Localism Act under four headings:
• new freedoms and flexibilities for local government
• new rights and powers for communities and individuals
• reform to make the planning system more democratic and more effective
• reform to ensure that decisions about housing are taken locally

This document is designed to give an overview only. You can read the Act
and its explanatory notes in full, on the parliament website at the address below: http://services.parliament.uk/Acts/2010-11/localism.html
The document Decentralisation and the Localism Act: an essential guide also gives further background. It explains how the principles that underpin the Localism Act also inform other government policies: http://www.communities.gov.uk/decentralisationguide

Click here to download the guide.

Source: www.communities.gov.uk

All pages in this section:

• Fawcett launches legal challenge to government budget
• EDF Update on the Implementation of the Equality Act
• Government targets child poverty with reform of the benefits system
• Lib Dems expected to back gay marriage
• Seeking Views on Equality Scheme
• Autism in adults diagnosed by quick, new brain scan
• Coping With Cuts: Practical Advice Guides
• Poll reveals widespread discrimination against people with learning disabilities
• Legal aid cuts put access to justice at risk, say lawyers
• Theresa May's letter to the chancellor
• Maria Miller Calls for More Accessible Politics
• Religious discrimination: What recent tribunal decisions mean for employers
• Fawcett Society launches legal challenge to government budget
• New Equality Duty May Require Publishing of Equality Data
• Schools admissions ''fail poorest children''
• The EU Journalist Award 2010 is now open
• Equal pay for women still 57 years away
• Girls continue to outperform boys in early education
• Ministers call on business to improve disabled access ahead of the 2012 Games
• Eric Pickles: Time for a fair deal for the travelling and settled community
• Mervyn Davies in new drive to boost women in the boardroom
• Office for Disability Issues: Equality Act guidance consultation
• Human Rights committee calls for submissions
• Black and mixed-race young people treated more harshly by youth justice system, research confirms
• Ethnic Minority customers of the Pension, Disability and Carers Service
• Deaf children face teaching inequality
• Special needs label overused, says Ofsted
• List of Equality Act provisions coming into force on October 1st
• Stonewall Urged to Speak Out for Marriage Equality
• British Chambers of Commerce and EHRC Publish Small Business Equal Pay Guide
• National BAME Youth Survey
• The 14th Ethnic Minority Business Conference
• EDF Views on the Future of Equality
• Time To Change Launch Mental Health Campaign
• Parliamentary Debate on the Equality Act
• Minimum Requirements for Children's Rights Commissioner Published
• Late Guidance on Equality Act 'Risks Confusion.'
• New Draft Compact Published Ahead of Six Week Consultation
• Minimum Wage Increases
• Implementation of the Equality Act 2010: EHRC Statement
• Cameron vows to support vulnerable families and invest in early years
• Mental health boost for Britain's troops
• LGA - Vital councils at heart of health service shake-up
• Incapacity Benefit Claims Come Under Spotlight
• More black people jailed in England and Wales proportionally than in US
• Inequality Still Rife in Schools, Says EHRC
• Right to Request Flexible Working will be Extended to Parents of Children under 18
• Thirteen Arrests in Leicester EDL and UAF Protests
• Stonewall opens research into experiences of older people
• BIHR Launch Human Rights Toolkit
• Communities Minister urges faith groups to inspire community action
• DfE figures show one in four primary school boys has SEN
• Spending Review 2010
• Poll on sexual harassment in schools
• Government strategy for the VCS and consultation
• Government Review of Public Bodies
• EHRC Equality Act Starter Kit
• Children with Special Educational Needs 2010: An Analysis
• Welfare reform - new employment programme for disabled people is launched
• Children from poorest households more likely to suffer from mental health problems, study shows
• Childcare provision for disabled children branded inadequate
• Community Budgets to help the vulnerable
• Charity Commission consults on its spending cuts
• Consultation on the 'Future of Citizenship Survey'
• GEO Update Gender Equality Factsheet
• Grandparents Plus: 'What if we said no?'
• Howard League for Penal Reform calls for action on imbalance of black and minority ethnic children in the secure estate
• Commission Launches Inquiry into Home Care of Older People
• Government Spending Review
• DWP Unveils Five-Year Business Plan
• BBC to ask viewers what they think of its diversity work
• Ethnicity should not be a barrier to adoption, says Junior Children's Minister
• DWP Launch 'Universal Credit: Welfare That Works'
• An Open Letter to the Voluntary Sector
• New Legislation Introduced to Enable Quango Reforms
• 700,000 children acting as carers, survey shows
• Increase to higher rate Disability Living Allowance
• Average coming out age has fallen by over 20 years
• Equality duty scrapped
• New guidance on producing information for people with learning disabilities
• One million women unemployed as government spending cuts start to bite
• 'Black Africans' in Britain: integration or segregation?
• Public enthusiastic to join the 'Big Society', but put off by time constraints and red tape
• 'Capping Immigration to the UK: Where Next?' IPPR Report
• When times are tough - Tackling household spending and debt through diaries - IPPR Report
• 400,000 could lose DLA, alliance claims
• Improving services for women and child victims of violence: the Department of Health Action Plan
• Department for Education publishes 'The Importance of Teaching' white paper
• EHRC to assess the Spending Review's compliance with equality law
• EHRC warns police forces of legal action over use of stop and search
• Cross-Government Equalities Strategy published
• Cross-Government plan on violence against women and girls
• 'A vision for adult social care' strategy launched
• Consultation on Legal Aid reform
• Coalition campaign: 'Justice for All'
• RADAR Chief Executive will review Employment Support for disabled people
• Forum identifies twelve key steps to tackling discrimination
• Welfare Reform: Disability Living Allowance for the 21st century
• Cuts will reduce women's income and widen pay gay, warns TUC
• Eric Pickles celebrates faiths working in harmony
• Business Minister lobbies Europe against 'costly and regressive' maternity proposals
• Deal will mean public runs Leicester community centre
• Baroness Newlove in 'Call to Action' for community safety
• Government abandons rape anonymity move
• Improvements to Ministry of Justice statistics - Consultation
• Free volunteer advertising with Guardian jobs
• Regional Focus: Public service relocation - The case for Northamptonshire
• End of child trust fund will harm vulnerable children's life chances, think tank cautions
• Disabled people get right to control services
• EDF Launch 3-year strategy
• Life Opportunities Survey of Disability
• Government plans in disarray as experts predict rise in child poverty
• Government to begin process to erase convictions for historic gay sex offences
• Child and Working-Age Poverty Set To Rise In Next Three Years
• One East Midlands publishes 'Our Big Society' papers
• 'Modernising Commissioning' Green Paper Published
• EHRC legal action against the BNP
• Cabinet Office provide Big Society overview
• Cuts spell hardship 'for a generation of young people'
• Court finds hotel owners discriminated against gay couple
• New online safety resources launched for young deaf people and those with special educational needs
• Government announces boost for dementia research
• Phasing out the default retirement age: Government reponse to consultation
• Citizenship survey: April - September 2010, England
• New public sector equality duty guidance
• Equality Act: Positive action in recruitment and promotion
• Nottingham MP calls for early years intervention
• BBC looking for young victims of disability hate crime
• East Midlands MEP defends Twitter gay comments
• Protest over Leicester City Council savings plan
• Pensions Bill will boost savings for millions
• Government consulting on Disability Living Allowance reform
• One East Midlands MP Guide 2011
• More disabled workers risk losing their jobs in public sector cuts, warns TUC
• Nottinghamshire council U-turn on voluntary funding
• Study looking to talk to transgender people
• Bus subsidies set to be scrapped in Northamptonshire
• Seven Lincolnshire schools consider 'super academy'
• UK Gay marriage challenge goes to European Court
• Localism Bill set to impact on NHS
• First Hindu school for Leicester is given the go-ahead
• Nearly £30 million to help most vulnerable victims of crime
• Museum closures justified because visitors are 'predominantly white' says Leicester City Council
• Police launch new hate crime website
• Admissions suspended to Leicestershire care home as CQC takes action to protect people
• Further protest over Leicester City Council cuts plan
• Charity Commission should charge registration or membership fees, says Institute of Fundraising
• Disabled people urge Leicester City Council to rethink its plan to shut down day centres
• Women's groups struggle amid funding cuts
• Disabled people fear cuts will make life 'not worth living'
• RADAR Stop Disability Hate Crime Project
• Voluntary Sector Cuts - Mapping Intelligence
• EHRC Statutory Codes of Practice
• Bishop opens Leicester's St Martin's House complex
• New charity 'How To' guides
• Extra 3 million pounds set to secure Leicestershire travel scheme
• Government blasted over childhood taskforce silence
• Leicester City Council makes U-turn on some of its planned cuts
• New plans to expand volunteering and training unveiled
• Equality laws aid economic recovery - Trevor Phillips
• Services are failing to support refugee children in accessing education, claims charity
• Gingerbread calls on government to drop child maintenance fees
• GEO launches new approach to engaging and listening to women
• Campaigners welcome gay marriage equality plans
• Cuts will clobber Equality and Human Rights Commission, claim staff
• One in five schoolchildren has been abused or neglected, says NSPCC survey
• Two Derby men deny inciting anti-gay hatred
• New push for LGBT equality will allow civil partnerships in religious buildings
• New funding will help disabled people become MPs
• Welfare Reform Bill introduced into Parliament
• Call for evidence on disabled people and independent living
• Spending cuts campaigns and resources
• 'Who is ready for the Big Society?' report
• New Disability Counsel website launched
• Equality Act 2010 dual discrimination provisions delayed
• Positive Action under the Equality Act 2010
• New Paternity Leave rules for dads
• Save the Children attacks child poverty figure
• Eastwood hate crime victims offered help
• Response to the Lord Davies report on women in the boardroom
• Fears youth unemployment will rise further as figures hit five-year high
• Six million pounds of community grants unveiled by the Department for Education
• EHRC supplementary research on specific LGBT issues
• Youngsters from ethnic minorities miss out on apprenticeships
• Families face a cost of living crisis, warns Miliband
• DfE cuts to research evaluations spark concern
• EHRC launch Draft Code of Practise for Schools consultation
• Response to definition of disability consultation published
• DPP says prosecuting disability hate crime is 'the next frontier' for the Criminal Justice System
• Mapping Voluntary Sector Cuts
• Age discrimination to be outlawed under new government plans
• Government accused of politically-motivated cuts to children's services
• Nottinghamshire voluntary group funding is slashed
• Stonewall is conducting the largest ever survey of gay and bisexual men’s health
• Budget implications for equality
• Consultation on reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Commission on a UK Bill of Rights: announcement and responses
• Government LGB and T action plan
• Hutton Review of Fair Pay: Final report
• Committee report and response on ‘Shrinking the Quango State’
• Future of the Citizenship Survey: Summary of responses
• Handbook on European non-discrimination law
• Cuts and the voluntary sector: Secretary of State’s speech and VCS letter to councils
• Stonewall survey of gay and bisexual men’s health
• Rainbow Project report on workplace equality
• Leicestershire Constabulary and Adult Safeguarding
• Coalition scrambles to salvage NHS reforms as Miliband goes on offensive
• Human Rights for Disabled People - are you aware of "the Convention"?
• The new single Equality Duty – what is it all about?
• Report on Migrant Communities and the Big Society
• Eric Pickles predicts public service shake up - as Community Budget begins
• Government approves new £6.08 minimum wage rate
• Results of 2010 National Census
• Derbyshire Friend - Job Opportunities
• Youth Services - new self-help pack points councils and professionals to better value
• RNIB Partners with Fix the Web to Tackle the Issue of Inaccessible Websites
• Prime Minister and Health Secretary listen on NHS accountability
• Councillor's Guide 2011/12
• June 30th 2011 - A date for your diaries
• ‘Worrying times ahead’ for homeless in England
• Equality Act 2010: Public Sector Equality Duty
• Building a social recovery
• UN convention report - Multidisciplinary perspectives
• Higher rate mobility component for people with severe sight impairments
• Tracking the lives of disabled families through the cuts
• Striking equality staff challenge employer's misleading claims
• OCS announcement of strategic patterns and responses
• HPA - Dengue fever causes double among UK travellers
• Charter to end homophobia and transphobia in sport
• Radar's MP Disability Dialogue
• Don't be fooled by today's child poverty figures
• Government 'Access to Work' statistics
• Department for Education report on anti-bullying stategies in schools
• Report of review of government policy on Gypsies and Travellers
• Survey on impact of cuts on refugees and migrants
• The latest households below average income figures were published today
• Government announces £3m extra for disabled people's organisations
• Radical reforms for parental leave and flexible working proposal
• Business plan 2011-15
• New public sector equality duty in action
• Transgender online survey recieved overwhelming response
• Publication of DWP Research Report 735 Predictors of attitudes to age across Europe
• Public consultation: The Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2011
• Equlity and Human Rights Commission: Business plan 2011-12
• Predictors of attitudes to age across Europe
• Have your say on the government's draft UN report
• Broke, not broken report - Princess Trust
• Research confirms link between poverty and ethnicity in the UK
• ICCP publishes Fiona Pilkington investigation report
• Cameron 'big society' speech in full
• Red tape challenge
• Commission appoints Chief Executive
• Human rights in social housing guidance published by Commission
• Commission comment on the retrial of Lawrence suspects
• Equality Act Guidance
• Cuts are likely to hit charities harder than expected
• PCS and Unite take first action on equalities body
• UK demonstrates progress on eliminating discrimination against women
• Commission welcomes ruling on London Borough of Hillingdon v Steven and Mark Neary
• Women face 150-year wait for equality in local government
• A review to the Government by Liz Sayce
• Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission: a consultation
• A plain English guide to the Localism Bill - Update
• Minister calls on councils to get ready for proposed new powers to help homeless families
• Inquiry reveals failure to protect the rights of older people receiving care at home
• EHRC religion and belief report
• Government Response to the Communities and Local Government Committee's report: Abolition of Regional Spatial Strategies
• EHRC research report: The impact of counter-terrorism measures on muslim communities
• Consulation on EHRC strategic plan 2009-12
• Stop and Think - EHRC report
• Risk information published for small charities
• Equality Seminars
• CAB - Inconsistent treatment preventing disabled people address their debts says Citizens Advice
• Cuts making it harder for homeless people to get help
• Draft Specific Duties regulations
• Government response to the consultation on legal aid reform
• Consultation on EHRC strategic plan 2009-2010
• Hate crime research report
• Fairer care funding report
• UN resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity
• Equality matters for children
• Fawcett research on single mothers and welfare changes
• Older people and Human rights
• Your human rights
• What am I afriad of?
• Refugees, migrants and the equality agenda
• Parliamentary committeee sessions on UK Bill of rights commission
• EHRC research report - All things being equal?
• Differing lifestyles: a study of ethnicity and health
• New health authorities need to advance equality
• Branch manager awarded £400,000 in disability discrimination case
• Draft Specific Duties update
• EHRC intervention in cases of religious discrimination
• Supporting youth employment
• EHRC research and policy paper on the health sector and equality duties
• Appointments to public bodies: your views needed
• GEO - Annual report and accounts 2010-11
• Moving towards effective equality outcomes
• How fair is Britain?
• Commission launches human rights resource for public sector
• Commission on a bill of rights discussion paper
• Shadow report to the committee for the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination
• The low review and call for evidence on personal mobility in residential care
• Consultations and responses on community rights to challenge and buy
• EHRC practical guidance on human rights
• Strengthening disabled people's useer-led organisations programme
• European commission anti-discrimination activities
• European commission synthesis report on LGBT
• Runnymede report: Fair's Fair - Equality and justice in the big society
• Increasing women's representation on boards: The 30% Club
• New Age UK guide - Equality and Human Rights in practice
• One Eastmidlands - New board members required
• First £30 million transferred from dormant bank accounts
• Over 2,000 charities hit by local council spending
• OCS spending to reduce by 61 percent over three years
• Sex and Power: 5,400 women missing from top jobs
• The Government is cutting funding for over disabled and over 60s coach discount
• Gender pay gap narrowing
• Summary of survey results by Papworth trust
• A fair deal for the voluntary and community sector - from Whitehall to town halls
• EHRC sex and power reports
• Does Equality Act change landlords' obligations to disabled tenants?
• Hidden in plain sight report - the inquiry final report
• Racist incidents - latest statistics
• Leading UK businesses to report equality data
• Tackling the obstacles faced by disabled people
• Older persons' month launch
• It's time to act on mental health work
• Select Committee report on localism and Government response
• Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender equality
• EHRC - equal rights, equal respect
• Combating anti-gypsyism and discrimination against Roma
• Citizenship survey: April 2010 - March 2011 Statistics
• Research report by the DWP
• Review of Joseph Rowntree Foundation research
• Enabling equality: futhering disability equality for staff in HE
• Commission submits European court of Human Rights intervention on religious discrimination in the workplace
• Home Secretary Theresa May wants Human Rights Act axed
• 4 in every 10 disabled children living in poverty
• Consultation on EHRC strategic plan 2012-2015
• Lets fight racism
• Employment law review - update and consulatation
• Integrated household survey April 2010-March 2011
• Lesbian Health: Myths and Realities
• Launch of observatory of inequality in Europe
• EDF call for public sector equality duty case studies
• Take the "I Exist" survey
• GEO - Addressing Gender Eqaulity
• Governemnt consulatation on the big lottery fund
• One East Midlands AGM
• Far right studies
• Take action to defend women's rights
• Voluntary Action Melton is now recruiting
• One East Midlands CEO to head-up to economic investment body
• Nick Hurd writes open letter to the voluntary sector
• Gareth Thomas named new shadow civil society minister
• TSRC launches gateway to voluntary sector research
• Department of Health: Hard enough task even in good times
• Census: consultation on the 'Beyond 2011 Programme'
• Government announcement: delay in the increase in the state pension age
• Government update and progress report on 'women on boards'
• Commission on a Bill of Rights: EDF template response
• TUC Equality Duty Toolkit
• Big society and inequality
• European Trans Equality Toolkit
• Lottery £50m to shelter vcs from funding cuts
• 2010/11 National Survey of Investment in Adult Mental Health Services
• More news is bad news, says report
• Commission publishes research on targeted crime
• EHRC Codes and guidance feedback survey
• Equal rights, equal respect
• New investment guidance for charities
• Public has BIG ideas to move millennium forward
• Government guide to the Equality Act 2010 specific duties
• Call to participate in universal periodic review
• EHRC call for human rights case studies
• EDF invitation to test new vcs public sector equality duty materials
• Stonewall tools for lesbian, gay and bisexual jobseekers
• NCVO best practice guidance for local authorities and the vcs
• Charities 'ignored' in riot debate - NCVO
• Women facing 'retirement poverty'
• Women at the heart of plans for economic growth
• Strengthening women's voices in Government
• Blood donation ban for gay men lifted
• Words can hurt
• Youth unemployment increases in 97 percent of the UK in the last year
• Equality Act 2010 Quick start up guide
• Body confidence campaign
• Civil partnership in religious premises consultation response
• Personal health budgets DVD
• Sustaining and transforming the future of funding advice
• Review of charities Act 2006
• Support service reaches out to deaf and hard of hearing people
• Government support for women in business
• EHRC research on targeted harassment and violence
• EHRC briefing on equality groups' perceptions and experiences of crime
• Scope report on impact of legal aids cuts on disabled people
• TUC 'Women and the Cuts toolkit'
• Fawcett report: 'A life raft for women's equality'
• Human dignity trust: legally challenging the illegality of homosexuality
• Rethinking disability policy
• NFWI report: Legal aid is a lifeline
• EHRC submission to the Bill of Rights Commission
• First football club signs the Sports Charter
• Civil justice council report on access to justice
• School and youth workers struggle to tackle homophobic bullying
• Easy read guide to the Localism Act
• Latest Gypsy & Traveller Caravan Count Statistics
• World AIDS Day - 1 December
• Care home residents to keep DLA/PIP mobility
• Fulfilling potential: disabled people asked to Shape Government Policy
• Disabled children do matter
• Social Inclusion for migrants and ethnic minorities
• Monitoring poverty and social inclusion
• Hate crime laws extended
• Advancing transgender equality: a plan for action
• Contact a Family survey reveals plight of families with disabled children
• Human Rights in your community
• Speech by Human Rights commissioner at EDF event
• New arrangements for information, advice and support on discrimination and human rights
• European Commission seeks public input on measures to break down barriers to disabled people
• Commons committee publishes report on Big Society
• OECD report on income inequality
• British Social Attitudes: the 28th report
• Labour's Consultation on women's personal safety and security
• Human Rights and the Eqaulity Act 2010 - Seminars
• New site funding offers fairer deal for travellers and the settled community
• Human rights committe report on legal aid bill
• EHRC chair's evidence to parliamentary committee on human rights in the UK
• EHRC updated guidance on the equality duty
• 2009-10 citizenship survey: Race, Religion and Equalities topic report
• EHRC research update December 2011
• Law changes to enable VCS to join credit unions
• Results of 16th quarterly charity Forecast Survey published
• Charities Act 2011 recieves Royal Assent
• Office for civil society launches VCS web survey
• Bob Neill gives more councils the go-ahead to tackle historic pay inequalities
• DWP In-house research report 'Attitudes to age in Britain 2010-11'
• Stop-and-search 'highly intrusive'
• First BIG grants to help VCS groups plan for more sustianable future
• Commission funds first age discrimination cases heard at the supreme court
• Prime Minister's speech on the European court of Human Rights
• Evidence to the Leveson Inquiry on violence against women
• Thirty NGOs call for protection for legal aid
• Equality and Human Rights News - January 2012
• February - LGBT History Month
• Enduring myths about rape victims lead to acquittals, says chief prosecutor
• New interpreter services to provide more efficient and effective justice
• Lawyer wins gay discrimination claim against law firm
• People often not at the centre of their own care, says CQC as it publishes reports from its review of services for people with learning disabilities
• One East Midlands February Newsletter
• Civil partners win against gay discrimination appeal
• Report shows unaccompanied children, including trafficking victims, sent back to France: our response
• Coffee morning with Action Deafness
• Tackle mental health problems among those with long term conditions, says thinktank
• Court ruling means disabled air passengers are not protected, says commission
• Stronger CPS cases in hate crime lead to increase in guilty pleas
• Choice Unlimited
• Vacancy: EDF Human Rights Program Director
• Creating the conditions for integration
• Age discrimination in the provision of services and public functions
• Lottery £50m to put people power into practice in England Communities
• Too many young people "suffering in silence" with mental health problems
• Commission publishes Human Rights review
• FRA factsheet on inequalities and multiple discrimination in health care
• CLG strategy: 'Creating the conditions for integration'
• Marmot Review: Two years on data
• Three steps to escaping domestic violence
• Letter to the Independent by Human Rights Commissioner on Gypsies and Travellers in the UK
• Human Rights protect everyone in Britain and affect every aspect of our lives
• REDP Hate Crime Seminars
• End of life care services letting down lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, say leading charities
• Challenge it, Report it, stop it
• Premier League signs the sports charter
• Update on statutory codes of practice on the public sector equality duty
• Government consultation on equal civil marriage
• Delay in implementing ban on age discrimination
• Report of Labour's Commission on Women's safety
• Budget not 'George's Marvellous Medicine' for the voluntary sector
• Consultation and responses on equal civil marriage consultation
• Progress report by the ministerial working group on tackling inequalities experienced by Gypsies and Travellers
• Access to elected office for disabled people strategy complience with the equality Act 2010:guidance for political parties
• Equality and Human Rights Commission research update March 2012
• FRA survey of Jewish people's experiences and perceptions of antisemitism
• Coverage of event was disappointing
• Websites suffer in comparison with decent access standards
• Legal Aid, sentencing and punishment of offenders Act:
• Commission publishes research on European Court of Human Rights judgements relating to UK government
• Parliamentary debate on the Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Make your experience count
• OCC report on 'Children and Equality'
• Gay and bisexual men 'neglected' by health services
• British Humanist Association report on 'prganisation of "faith" schools in the maintained sector
• Joint NGO statement
• Over-looked communities, over due change
• Black minority groups more likely to receive extra days in custody