The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (Commencement No. 6, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Order 2014 SI 2014/416 has now been published. The Order brings into effect S.66 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013, which abolishes the statutory discrimination questionnaires contained in the Equality Act 2010. The change takes effect on 6 April 2014 in relation to acts of discrimination occurring on or after that date.
A complainant may still ask questions of the respondent and a court or tribunal can still draw adverse inferences from a refusal to respond or from evasive answers, despite the lack of any provision for a statutory questionnaire.
It is somewhat surprising that this has been implemented given the vast majority of those who participated in the consultation opposed the abolition. Another example of the Government’s agenda against Claimants; the Poor and the vulnerable, we wonder.