Taking legal action about discrimination

This advice applies to Scotland. See advice for See advice for England, See advice for Northern Ireland, See advice for Wales

The Equality Act 2010 says you must not be discriminated against because of these protected characteristics:

  • disability

  • gender reassignment

  • pregnancy and maternity

  • race

  • sex

  • sexual orientation

  • religion.

If you’ve been discriminated against you can take action about it under the Act. One of the things you can do is to make a discrimination claim in the sheriff court. There’s a process to follow if you want to make a discrimination claim in the sheriff court.

If you’re thinking about taking court action, you should get advice. Find out how to contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

You should consider alternatives to court action before you take action to go to court. For example, mediation. Resolving a dispute out of court is normally cheaper.

Check if you’ve experienced discrimination

If you want to take action about what happened, you’ll need to check if it was discrimination under the Equality Act.

Check if you’ve experienced discrimination.

Get information to support your discrimination case

You can ask for information about your treatment from the person or organisation you think has discriminated against you. This can help you decide if you want to take action and what action you should take.

More about getting information about your discrimination case.

Check the time limits for making a claim

There are strict time limits for going to court. You need to make your claim within 6 months of the act you’re complaining about.

Check the time limits for taking legal action about discrimination.

You might be able to get legal aid to help pay for your court action. To get legal aid you need to meet the eligibility criteria.

You can check if you can get legal aid on the Scottish Legal Aid Board website.

Contact the person or organisation who you're making a claim against

You need to inform the person or organisation against whom you want to take action why you want to take the action. You should do this by sending them a letter. Your letter should explain:

  • what happened to you

  • why you think it’s unlawful discrimination.

The person or organisation you want to take action against is called the defender. The defender should write back to you to explain their position. This will help you both decide if you can find a solution to the problem without going to court.

How to start your claim

You start court proceedings by issuing a claim form. This can be done on paper at the local sheriff court or online at the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service website. You will normally have to pay a fee.

If your case is straightforward and worth £5,000 or less you can use a procedure called the simple procedure. You do not need to use a solicitor to start court action using this procedure. You can use a lay representative to help you.

You can find a guide to simple procedure on the Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service website.

If your claim is for more than £5,000 you might have to use a court procedure called the ordinary procedure. You should get legal advice to do this.

You can get advice to help you to work out which type of procedure you are likely to have to use. Find out how to contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

How to fill out the claim form

You need to explain to the court and the defendant why you’re taking court action. You do this by filling in the details of your claim. These are called particulars of claim.

The particulars of your claim is where you say what happened to you and how you think this is unlawful under the Equality Act. You also need to say what kind of order you want the court to make to resolve the problem. This could be - for example, that you want compensation and how much money you want.

The particulars of claim start the legal case so you need to be reasonably sure that unlawful discrimination has taken place.

You might need to get advice on what you put in the claim form. Find out how to contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

What happens next

Once you’ve made your claim in the court, what happens next depends on how the defender responds to your claim.

Get more help

Equality Advisory Support Service (EASS)

If you've experienced discrimination, you can get help from the EASS discrimination helpline.

Find out more about the Equality Advisory Support Service helpline.

Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)

You can find information about discrimination on the Equality and Human Rights Commission website.