The sexual orientation regulations became law on 1 December and the religion or belief regulations on 2 December. The legislation implements strands of the European Employment Directive, which outlaws discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, religion or belief, disability and age in employment and vocational training.
Amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 will come into force next October and legislation outlawing discrimination on grounds of age by the end of 2006. The regulations apply to all employers and businesses, whatever their size and whether they are in the public or private sector.
They apply to recruitment, terms and conditions, pay, promotion, transfers and dismissals.
Jacqui Smith, deputy minister for women and equality, said discrimination in employment 'must not be tolerated' and that people should 'not be denied jobs or suffer victimisation or harassment because of prejudice'. She added, 'We have long had laws to prevent discrimination in the workplace against women and on grounds of race - these new measures bring about much wider equality.'
Childcare organisations welcomed the new law but did not expect it to have any real impact on care providers, especially with regard to the recruitment of men to the workforce. Anne Longfield, chief executive of Kids' Clubs Network, said, 'A lot of childcare providers have this sort of good practice already in place.
'More men work in out-of-school provision than any other type of childcare - about 25 per cent of staff in holiday play schemes are men. This gives out a strong message that men won't be turned back at the nursery door.'
Ian Maxwell, co-ordinator of the Edinburgh-based Men in Childcare (Scotland), said he did not think the legislation would make any difference in the number of men wanting to work in childcare, whatever their sexual orientation. 'The sort of things to change the situation will be successful examples of men in childcare. Going for a quota - a fixed percentage of men in the childcare workforce - is the wrong approach. There also needs to be a change in attitudes about having a mixed-sex workforce.'
