Equality regulations ‘cost too much’

A report from Civitas suggested that the burden on business of complying with last year’s Equality Act will hold back Britain’s growth and cost jobs.

Official assessments of the Act suggest that it will save between £102m and £134m in its first year and £25m and £87m annually after that, quickly earning back the estimated £241m to £283m one-off cost of its introduction but Civitas statistician Nigel Williams argued that many of the claimed savings were “largely imaginary”, and that the cost of introducing the changes would be far higher than predicted.

The Equality Act was one of the final pieces of legislation introduced by the Labour administration and came into effect over the past year. It streamlined existing anti-discrimination laws with the aim of banning unfair treatment and achieving equal opportunities in the workplace and society.