Equality News

The Fawcett Society has filed papers with the High Court seeking a judicial review of the Government's recent emergency budget.  The Society is claiming the Government failed to carry out an adequate impact assessment to show what level of inequality will occur between men and women.

The Fawcett Society's solicitor, Samantha Mangwana, of Russell Jones & Walker solicitors, said:

"Although public authorities have been subject to the gender equality duty for several years now, there is widespread ignorance not only about how strong these laws actually are, but also what specific steps are required to be undertaken.  However, the case law is crystal clear in spelling this out.  Firstly, an equality impact assessment must be conducted before policy decisions are taken.

"Secondly, where an assessment reveals a risk of discrimination, urgent action must be taken to address those risks.  Clearly, if the equality impact is not even assessed as a starting point, a public authority cannot start to consider what steps to take to mitigate any inequality."