Save the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is an independent body responsible for enforcing equality legislation on age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender status, and encouraging compliance with the Human Rights Act.

In its first two years the Commission:

• ensured protection for 6 million carers against discrimination in employment
• answered over 70, 000 contacts a year to the Helpline
• resolved 80% of enforcement cases without the need to go to court
• advised 136,000 businesses about upholding equality during the downturn
• distributed £10 million in grants to 285 different voluntary groups delivering frontline services across the country

…to name but a few achievements, all this at a cost of less than £1 a year per person living in Great Britain.

The work of the Commission is now under threat. The government plans to slash its budget by 68% (compared to when it was set up in 2007).

It is likely to;

• lose more than half its workforce
• reduce its legal enforcement ability
• close its Helpline to the public, business and the public sector
• lose its regional offices
• end its grants to charities or projects disability groups and community organisations that are often the first port of call for victims of discrimination and harassment.

At a time of unprecedented cuts that will hit the most vulnerable in society hardest, far right politics scapegoating minority communities and a roadblock needed to restrict the worst excesses of an unregulated market, we must save the EHRC.