The purpose of the Bill is to: make Britain a fairer place where people have the opportunity to succeed whatever their race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief. Fairness  and an absence of discrimination are the hallmarks of a modern decent society, with a strong economy, which draws on the talents of all.

The main elements of the Bill are:

• Making Britain fairer through a single equality duty, which will require public bodies to consider the diverse needs and requirements of their workforce, and the communities they serve, when developing employment policies and when planning services;

• Making public bodies more transparent. If inequality remains hidden, we can't measure it and make progress;

• Enabling employment tribunals to do more to tackle unlawful discrimination by making recommendations to employers on their working practices which will benefit their wider workforce;

• Extend existing positive action measures to allow:
o Employers to make their organisation or business more representative and reflective of the people they serve; and,
o Public bodies to deliver services in a more effective way to disadvantaged groups who may otherwise miss out; and,
o political parties to use all women election shortlists until 2030;

• Making the law more accessible and easier to understand, by bringing together nine major pieces of legislation and around 100 other laws in a single Bill.

The main benefits of the Bill and related secondary legislation are:

To promote fairness and equality of opportunity; tackle disadvantage and discrimination; and to modernise or strengthn our law to make it fit for the challenges that our society faces today and in the future.