No plans to introduce menopause as a protected characteristic or implement dual discrimination in the Equality Act

The Minister for Work and Pensions (Lords) and Minister for Women, Baroness Stedman-Scott, has confirmed in a letter dated 25 May 2022 to the Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC), Caroline Nokes MP, that the government has no current plans to introduce menopause as a further protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. In the same letter Baroness Stedman-Scott also confirmed that the government has no plans to implement the dual discrimination provision in that Act.

Baroness Stedman-Scott stated in the letter that:

• introducing menopause as a new protected characteristic is not an actual or proposed government policy, there has not been any public consultation on it
• the ‘fit’ of menopause as a characteristic into the Act would require careful consideration. Wherever possible, the Act is intended to create protection across all the relevant areas, and menopause does not seem to align with this, being only relevant to Part 5 of the Act (Employment). With the exception of the evidence session before the WEC with members of the legal profession, this option has not been generally proposed in oral evidence to the Committee
• the government’s key objective is to ensure that women going through menopause are treated fairly at work by ensuring that employers are fully aware of the challenges faced by these women and their current legal obligations, including those under the Act
• in consultation with the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Acas, the government will assess whether existing guidance on menopause adequately reflects the growing body of relevant tribunal case law, and the good practice approaches—and whether improvements can be made to increase employer and employee understanding of the law
• there are no plans to implement the dual discrimination provision in section 14. Protection under the existing protected characteristics is adequate and enactment would introduce unwelcome regulatory complexity and place new costly burdens on businesses and the public sector
• enacting section 14 would introduce a further 20 combined protected characteristics along with ‘age/sex’, creating an unhelpful distraction for employers from what they should be doing—complying with the current law with its existing protected characteristics and being aware of the guidance.

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