Page 17 - Race Awareness Pocket Book
P. 17
Positive action
Measures that can be lawfully taken in England,
Scotland and Wales under the Equality Act 2010 to
encourage, train, recruit and promote people from
underrepresented groups (with ‘protected
characteristics’, see below) to help them overcome
disadvantages in competing with other applicants.
In recruitment and promotion, these measures allow
for an employer to select a candidate from a group
underrepresented within their workplace over
candidates not from that group, when the candidates
are of equal merit.
Positive discrimination
Measures which are generally unlawful for helping
under- represented groups (including those with
‘protected characteristics’, see below) overcome
disadvantages in the workforce.
In recruitment this would include hiring a candidate
because they come from an underrepresented group
when they are not the best candidate, or setting
quotas to recruit a specific proportion of staff from a
particular underrepresented group.
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