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Building a fairer Britain: Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission

28 June 2011

Introduction

Building a fairer Britian (Adobe Acrobat Document 85kb)

Citizens Advice welcomes the opportunity to respond to the government’s consultation “Building a fairer Britain: Reform of the Equality and Human Rights Commission”.

The Commission has a vital role to play in advancing equality and human rights in British society, now and in the future. We recognise there have been problems with the Commission’s establishment, governance and management and welcome the government’s commitment to working with the Commission and partners to explore and find solutions. It is also important to note the excellence of much of the Commission’s work and the commitment of its staff, who have produced some outstanding results despite the difficulties. The Citizens Advice service is keen to build on its partnership working with the Government Equalities Office and the Commission in order to ensure that Britain becomes a fairer place for all.

We believe the Citizens Advice service is well-placed to comment on the proposals. We helped over 2.1 million people last year through telephone and face-to-face advice in our 382 bureaux and 3,500 outreaches, including GP surgeries, Sure Starts, schools, prisons and community centres. We serve a diverse client group, across all parts of the community and including the most deprived communities.

Of our 2.1 million clients across England and Wales:

Bureaux’ relationships and partnerships with grass-roots and community groups are a vital part of this picture. Our 21,000 volunteers come from and understand these diverse communities.

In 2009/10 there were 10.6 million visits to our self-help website www.adviceguide.org.uk. A sample survey of users in 2010 showed that 5 per cent identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, 11 per cent as BAME, 24 per cent as disabled. 17 per cent were under 25 years old. Discrimination content (not including index pages) on the site received 267,830 page views, with 18,624 downloads of factsheets.

In 2010/11 Citizens Advice Bureaux responded to 28,500 discrimination enquiries, a 25 per cent increase in three years. A number of bureaux in England and Wales also provide specialist discrimination casework and representation, through a combination of Commission legal casework grants and Legal Services Commission (LSC) funding. The Citizens Advice specialist advice to advisers service, funded by the LSC, provides support to advisers and lawyers across the sector on approximately 600 discrimination cases a year.

Independent research studies by the Commission for Racial Equality (as was), Acas and others, from the1990s to the present day, show that people are more likely to first turn to a CAB for help with discrimination on racial, disability, religious and sexual orientation grounds than to any other source (details available).