Check if you've experienced discrimination

If you’ve been treated unfairly or harassed, it might be discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.

The Equality Act is the law that says discrimination is illegal.

If you want to take action about what happened, you’ll need to check if it was discrimination under the Equality Act. If it was discrimination, you can find out how to make a complaint.

If it’s not discrimination under the Equality Act, you might still be able to complain in a different way, for example by reporting it to the police.

Follow 3 steps to check if it’s discrimination

Make sure you follow all 3 steps:

Step 1: Check it was because of a protected characteristic

You’ll need to check if it was because of a characteristic that’s protected by the Equality Act - these are things like age, disability or race.

Follow step 1: Check it was because of a protected characteristic.

Step 2: Check the situation where you were discriminated against

You’ll need to check if the situation where it happened is protected by the Equality Act - for example if a colleague at work did it or a landlord.

Follow step 2: Check the situation where you were discriminated against.

Step 3: Check the type of discrimination

You’ll need to check if you experienced one of the types of discrimination - for example direct or indirect discrimination.

Follow step 3: Check the type of discrimination.