Who the Equality Act 2010 protects
The Act covers England, Scotland and Wales; only a few provisions reach Northern Ireland. Section 4 lists nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
Why training matters when something goes wrong
Under section 109, anything an employee does in the course of their employment is treated as also done by the employer, whether or not the employer knew about it. The employer has a defence if it shows it took all reasonable steps to prevent it. In Acas’s guidance, training all workers on equality, diversity and discrimination is one example of those steps, and Acas recommends regular equality and diversity training and training line managers to recognise and address discrimination. For the manager side, see our line manager training.
Sexual harassment: a duty to prevent it since October 2024
Section 40A requires employers to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment of their employees in the course of their employment. Safe can be part of your answer, alongside your policy and reporting routes, which it doesn’t replace.
What the evidence says about bias training
The review published on GOV.UK concluded that bias and diversity training does not seem to improve diversity outcomes on its own, and suggests that training works better as an ongoing process with several sessions and formats. That is why we treat unconscious bias training like Together as a first step, followed by courses where people practise inclusive decisions.
Sources (checked October 2026): Equality Act 2010, section 4, section 40A, section 109 and section 217 (legislation.gov.uk); Acas, vicarious liability and what an employer can do to prevent discrimination; GOV.UK, Unconscious bias and diversity training: what the evidence says (Behavioural Insights Team, 2020); Gino and Coffman, Unconscious Bias Training That Works, Harvard Business Review, 2021.