ABSTRACT
This chapter explores what has happened to equality and diversity at work under the coalition. It considers the implementation of the 2010 Equality Act which was included in the coalition's Red-Tape Challenge aimed at repealing statutory provisions considered to be a burden on businesses. The Equality Act is a significant piece of legislation which brings together several major equality statutes relating to age, gender, race, disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief which were developed over a period of more than forty years. The chapter examines the impact of the coalition's equality policies in relation to older workers, the disabled, black and minority ethnic (BME) workers and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers. It concludes by arguing that under the coalition anti-discrimination regulations were weakened and that inequality deepened as a result of a return to a market driven de-regulatory approach and also by the impact of austerity policies.
