Reform tells its councillors to consider equalities – despite pledging to rip up the Equality Act
Reform UK has told councillors responsible for adult social care to consider how significant decisions affect different groups, including through equality impact assessments. The guidance sits alongside the party’s pledge to repeal the Equality Act 2010 “on day one” if it wins the next general election, prompting Labour to accuse Reform of hypocrisy.
The booklet acknowledges Reform’s plan to abolish the Act but says assessing effects on local communities remains important for good governance and decision-making under current law. Reform says the guidance reflects councils’ existing legal duties and is compatible with its policy to reform the Act and introduce a Workplace Fairness Act, though it has not detailed which protections that would retain. The Act protects people with characteristics including age, disability, race, sex and pregnancy from discrimination.
- Reform councillors were advised to assess how decisions affect different groups.
- The party says it would repeal the Equality Act on day one.
- Reform says its proposed replacement would keep many workplace protections.
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The Equality Act 2010 is a UK law that protects people from discrimination because of characteristics such as age, disability, race, sex and pregnancy. Councils also make decisions about services, including adult social care, which can affect different groups in different ways.
Equality impact assessments are a way of considering those possible effects before making a decision. Councils have legal duties under current law, while Reform UK has said it wants to repeal the Act and replace it with a Workplace Fairness Act; it has not set out in detail which protections the proposed law would keep.
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The case for
Reform’s guidance can be defended as responsible local government: councillors must make decisions under the law currently in force, and assessing effects on different groups can help them identify practical harms and allocate services fairly. A party can also argue that reviewing the Equality Act nationally does not require councils to ignore unequal impacts, especially if it intends to replace the Act with a different framework.
The case against
The apparent tension can reasonably be seen as raising questions about Reform’s policy: equality impact assessments are a way to put some of the Act’s protections into practice, while the party has pledged to repeal the law without explaining which protections its proposed replacement would preserve. Critics may therefore see the guidance as evidence that these safeguards serve a continuing purpose, and worry that removing the statutory framework could leave vulnerable groups less protected.