Equality Act 2010

Local authority members E+W+S

58 Official business of members E+W+S

(1) A local authority must not discriminate against a member of the authority in relation to the member's carrying out of official business—

(a) in the way the authority affords the member access, or by not affording the member access, to opportunities for training or for receiving any other facility;

(b) by subjecting the member to any other detriment.

(2) A local authority must not, in relation to a member's carrying out of official business, harass the member.

(3) A local authority must not victimise a member of the authority in relation to the member's carrying out of official business—

(a) in the way the authority affords the member access, or by not affording the member access, to opportunities for training or for receiving any other facility;

(b) by subjecting the member to any other detriment.

(4) A member of a local authority is not subjected to a detriment for the purposes of subsection (1)(b) or (3)(b) only because the member is—

(a) not appointed or elected to an office of the authority,

(b) not appointed or elected to, or to an office of, a committee or sub-committee of the authority, or

(c) not appointed or nominated in exercise of an appointment power of the authority.

(5) In subsection (4)(c), an appointment power of a local authority is a power of the authority, or of a group of bodies including the authority, to make—

(a) appointments to a body;

(b) nominations for appointment to a body.

(6) A duty to make reasonable adjustments applies to a local authority.

59 Interpretation E+W+S

(1) This section applies for the purposes of section 58.

(2) “Local authority” means—

(a) a county council in England;

(b) a district council in England;

(c) the Greater London Authority;

(d) a London borough council;

(e) the Common Council of the City of London;

(f) the Council of the Isles of Scilly;

(g) a parish council in England;

(h) a county council in Wales;

(i) a community council in Wales;

(j) a county borough council in Wales;

[F1 (ja) a corporate joint committee established by regulations made under Part 5 of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021;]

(k) a council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;

(l) a community council in Scotland.

(3) A Minister of the Crown may by order amend subsection (2) so as to add, vary or omit a reference to a body which exercises functions that have been conferred on a local authority within paragraph (a) to (l).

(4) A reference to the carrying-out of official business by a person who is a member of a local authority is a reference to the doing of anything by the person—

(a) as a member of the authority,

(b) as a member of a body to which the person is appointed by, or appointed following nomination by, the authority or a group of bodies including the authority, or

(c) as a member of any other public body.

(5) “Member”, in relation to the Greater London Authority, means—

(a) the Mayor of London;

(b) a member of the London Assembly.

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 59(2)(ja) inserted (E.W.) (1.4.2021) by The Corporate Joint Committees (General) (Wales) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/327), reg. 1(2), Sch. 3 para. 2