On 4 June 2025, Equally Ours are hosting a free online event to gather evidence and share knowledge on Combined Discrimination, in response to the government’s commitment to commence section 14 of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits direct discrimination because of a combination of two protected characteristics. As part of the Equality Law call for evidence they are now giving careful consideration to how they bring this provision into force.
Aims:
1. To provide a space for people to share their communities’ experiences of combined discrimination and to root thinking about legal remedies in the reality of people’s lives
2. To explore how the current combined discrimination law would work if commenced as it is, what needs to change and why
3. To explore how access to justice and access to remedies for combined discrimination work, what needs to change and why.
Agenda:
1. Chair’s welcome and introduction, Sonali Naik KC, chair of Equally Ours
2. Overview of the call for evidence on combined discrimination and of Section 14, Office for Equality and Opportunity
3. Combined discrimination in real life, Dr. Harvey Kennedy-Pitt, director, Unstukk and Zeenat Jeewa, CEO, Asian Peoples Disability Alliance
4. Workshops (see ‘Workshop Options’ section)
5. Legal Panel and Plenary Discussion
Panellists:
· Catherine Casserley, Barrister, Cloisters Chambers
· Prof Colm O’Cinneide, Professor of Human Rights Law, University College London
· Declan O’Dempsey, Barrister, Cloisters Chambers
· Deeba Syed, Head of Policy, Research and Advocacy, Fawcett Society
· Prof Sandra Fredman, KC (hon), Oxford Human Rights Hub
6. Chair’s summary and Close
We are seeking participants who have information about or experience of discrimination law and policy, and people and their organisations who have lived experience of combined discrimination.
To sign up, or find out more about this event, please click on this link.
Background information:
Currently, an employee or service user who is treated less favourably because of a combination of protected characteristics must bring discrimination claims based on each separate protected characteristic, even if they relate to a single alleged act of discrimination.
The Government committed to commencing section 14 of the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits direct discrimination because of a combination of two protected characteristics and are now giving careful consideration to how they bring this provision into force.
The Office for Equality and Opportunity (OEO) has issued a call for evidence in order to inform this consideration, and Equally Ours and our members have organised this summit to feed vital thinking and evidence into the review.
Some people and communities find it challenging to seek help or take action on discrimination experienced because of a single characteristic, let alone discrimination experienced because of a combination of characteristics, and in many instances people don’t seek advice or take action. This contributes to the fact that formal evidence of combined discrimination is scant.
It’s important that laws are carefully drafted so that they can work in practice for the people who need them, so that people have access to effective individual legal remedies when things go wrong. But laws also serve a wider purpose of shaping social norms and informing policies and practice.
Diversity of thought and experience lies at the heart of opening up understanding of how combined discrimination plays out day-to-day in workplaces, public services and businesses. It lies at the heart of generating thinking about how Section 14 might work or need to be adapted, and the implications for people’s access to justice.
This event will provide a platform for that thinking by bringing experts by experience and their organisations together with unions, advisers and caseworkers, lawyers, academics and policy-influencers (all of whom may or may not also have lived experience themselves).
