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News from the Equality and Human Rights Commission
Friday 29 May 2026
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Welcome to our May update. In this edition, we share updates since the election period started towards the end of March.
We highlight the publication of our business plan for 2026 to 2027, the draft Code of Practice recently being laid in Parliament by the Minister for Women and Equalities, and the appointment of new Commissioners to our Board. You will also find updates on our work with the uniformed services, our senior leadership team's engagement with National Human Rights Institutions to share knowledge, as well as our marking of 50 years since the UK ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
We look forward to working with the new governments and elected representatives to advance equality and human rights across Great Britain.
Read on for the full round‑up of our work.
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Draft services Code of Practice laid in Parliament
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The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s draft Code of Practice on services, public functions and associations has been laid in Parliament by the Minister for Women and Equalities.
The Code explains how the Equality Act 2010 applies in practice and sets out clear, practical steps to help ensure people are not unlawfully discriminated against across all nine protected characteristics. The Code has been updated to reflect significant changes in legislation and case law since the previous version was published in 2011.
Parliament has 40 days from the laying date to review the Code. The Code has been laid under the negative procedure. It will come into force if neither House passes a resolution against it within 40 days. After that, we will publish it on our website.
Once in force, it will support service providers, public authorities and associations to comply with the law, assist legal advisers, and help courts and tribunals when interpreting the Equality Act.
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| Read the news on our website |
| Read the Code of Practice on the UK Government website |
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New Commissioners appointed
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Three new Commissioners joined our Board on 1 May: David Carrigan, Group Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing at Sky; Jemima Olchawski, Executive Director of Social Impact at the mental health charity Mind; and Sunder Katwala, Director of the UK‑based think tank and charity British Future.
Each brings significant experience from across the media, charity and public policy sectors, with strong expertise in equality, social impact and public debate. Their appointments will strengthen the Board’s collective insight and support its role in providing strategic oversight of our work.
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Our 2026 to 2027 business plan published
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We have published our business plan for 2026 to 2027, setting out our priorities for protecting and promoting equality and human rights across Britain. The plan highlights our continued focus on acting as an effective regulator, providing clear guidance, and using our powers to address discrimination and uphold people’s rights.
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| Read our business plan |
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Meetings and engagements
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Since the end of March, our Chair, Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive have continued to engage with a wide range of stakeholders across Great Britain and internationally, supporting delivery of our strategic plan and strengthening key relationships to advance equality and human rights.
Introductory engagements continued for our Chair with civil society organisations and government as a key priority. Recent meetings included the Trades Union Congress, Galop, Board of Deputies of British Jews and Amnesty. Our Chair met with Baroness Smith (Minister for Women and Equalities) and officials from the Office for Equality and Opportunity to discuss the development of our Code of Practice and Commissioner appointments. The Chair also held discussions with parliamentarians covering issues such as Islamophobia, online hate crime and sexual harassment.
Our Chief Executive recently attended the Association of Chief Executives and Public Chairs Forum conference and our Deputy Chief Executive has engaged with organisations on Public Sector Equality Duty including the Department of Education, Ministry of Justice and the Department for Transport along with meeting the Care Quality Commission on our shared interests.
Internationally, the Chair and Chief Executive participated in the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI) annual conference and met with counterparts from National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) worldwide through the Commonwealth Forum of NHRIs. We additionally hosted a Four Jurisdictions meeting of the National Human Rights Institutions across Great Britain and Northern Ireland to discuss shared interests. These discussions focused on strengthening collaboration, sharing best practice and advancing global approaches to human rights.
We are grateful to all stakeholders for their continued engagement and look forward to building on these conversations over the coming months.
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Marking 50 years of economic and social rights
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This month marks 50 years since the UK ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which sets out fundamental rights including work, education and health.
We are marking the milestone by highlighting the importance of making these rights a reality in practice, including through our work on accessible transport and our Human Rights Tracker, which supports accountability for progress through our recent LinkedIn blog.
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| Read our LinkedIn blog post |
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UN call for input on the rights of older persons
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We contributed to a joint submission to a United Nations call for input on a proposed legally binding instrument on the human rights of older persons issued by the Intergovernmental Working Group on Older Persons. The submission, coordinated by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, sets out key principles and a potential framework to support the development of the instrument.
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| Read more on the UN website |
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Webinar series for fire and rescue services on preventing sexual harassment
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We have launched a new webinar series for fire and rescue services to support implementation of the preventative duty under the Worker Protection Act. The series is designed for services that responded to our recent survey and focuses on practical action to prevent sexual harassment before it occurs.
The first session explored the preventative duty and the initial steps in our 8‑step approach, with a focus on policies and staff engagement. Using practical examples from across the sector, the session highlighted how services can build understanding, encourage reporting and set clear expectations of behaviour.
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Peer-to-peer learning sessions for fire and rescue services
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We have launched a peer‑to‑peer learning programme bringing together fire and rescue services to support their work on the preventative duty. Services that took part in our survey last year have been paired to share experience, explore what works, and learn from each other through a series of facilitated online sessions.
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Our 2025 to 2028 Strategic Plan
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Read more about our strategic plan to safeguard and promote equality and human rights.
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