{ "rulesetId": "second-lens-hiring-ledger", "rulesetVersion": "1.0.0", "createdAt": "2026-08-16", "reviewDue": "2026-11-16", "jurisdictions": [ "GB", "NI" ], "documentTypes": [ "advert", "application_form", "assessment_brief", "monitoring_form" ], "sourceBasis": [ "Equality Act 2010", "Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023", "EHRC Employment Statutory Code of Practice", "EHRC guidance on discriminatory adverts", "EHRC guidance on section 60 pre-employment health questions", "ACAS guidance on recruitment and equality", "Employment Rights Act 2025", "Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974", "Home Office right to work checks guidance", "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as it applies in Northern Ireland", "Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978", "Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976", "Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997", "Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998" ], "note": "Seed set. Every rule is derived from public sources and is reviewed quarterly. Verify any point of law with a qualified adviser before relying on it.", "sourceRegister": { "Equality Act 2010": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Sections 9, 13, 19, 19A, 20, 21, 26, 60, 60A and 159, and Schedule 9 Part 1 paragraph 1, were each read in full. Every one carries the extent notation E+W+S, which is why Northern Ireland runs a separate set. Section 60A was found on the second pass and had been missing from this rule set: it is the provision that bites directly on a published advert, and three rules now cite it." }, "Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2023/1425/contents/made", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "S.I. 2023/1425. It inserted section 60A on discriminatory statements and section 19A on indirect discrimination where a person suffers the same disadvantage without sharing the characteristic, both in force on 1 January 2024, and regulation 4(3) added the cross reference at section 60(11)(k). Both sections were read in full, not taken from a summary." }, "Employment Rights Act 2025": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/36", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Section 20 inserts \"all\" into the section 40A duty, section 21 adds third party harassment to section 40, and section 22 inserts section 40B. The commencement date of 30 October 2026 is the one published in the government timeline, not an inference." }, "Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/53/section/4", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Section 4 read. It extends to England, Wales and Scotland, which is why Northern Ireland cites its own Order." }, "Home Office right to work checks guidance": { "publisher": "UK Visas and Immigration and Immigration Enforcement, gov.uk", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/right-to-work-checks-employers-guide", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Two documents. \"Right to work checks: an employer's guide\", version of 16 July 2026, and \"Code of practice for employers: avoiding unlawful discrimination while preventing illegal working\", version of 30 June 2026 applying from 1 October 2026. Both landing pages were read. The bodies are PDFs that were not opened, so no wording is quoted from either." }, "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as it applies in Northern Ireland": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/50", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Sections 4 and 4A read. Both were repealed for England, Wales and Scotland on 1 October 2010 and remain in force for Northern Ireland, which is exactly what this rule set relies on." }, "Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1976/1042/contents", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Article 8 covers applicants and employees, article 39 covers discriminatory advertisements." }, "Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1997/869/article/5", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Article 5 read in full. Racial grounds means colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins, and expressly includes the Irish Traveller community. Article 6 covers applicants and employees." }, "Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1998/3162/contents", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Article 19 applicants and employees, article 34 discriminatory advertisements, articles 52 to 54 monitoring." }, "Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2006/261/contents", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Regulation 7 covers applicants and employees." }, "Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978": { "publisher": "The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1978/1908/article/5", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Article 5 read in full. It is the Northern Ireland equivalent of section 4 of the 1974 Act, not an application of it." }, "EHRC Employment Statutory Code of Practice": { "publisher": "Equality and Human Rights Commission", "url": "https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/employment-statutory-code-practice", "status": "not-reachable", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "equalityhumanrights.com answers any request that does not run JavaScript with a 403 and a browser challenge page, so it cannot be read here at all. It was not re-read and nothing here is quoted from it. No rule depends on it: every rule that once leaned on it was rewritten to stand on statute that was read." }, "EHRC guidance on discriminatory adverts": { "publisher": "Equality and Human Rights Commission", "url": "https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/guidance-discriminatory-adverts", "status": "not-reachable", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Refused with a 403 and a browser challenge page, like the rest of that site. Listed because it is relevant reading, not because anything here was taken from it." }, "EHRC guidance on section 60 pre-employment health questions": { "publisher": "Equality and Human Rights Commission", "url": "https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance", "status": "not-reachable", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Refused with a 403 and a browser challenge page. The section 60 rules rest on the text of section 60, which was read, and on the ACAS guidance, which was also read and says an applicant must not be asked about health or disability at any stage before the exceptions apply." }, "ACAS guidance on recruitment and equality": { "publisher": "Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service", "url": "https://www.acas.org.uk/recruitment/how-to-advertise-a-job", "status": "confirmed", "checkedAt": "2026-08-16", "note": "Two pages read in full, \"Advertising a job\" and \"Following discrimination law\", both last updated 30 June 2026. They corroborate four rules directly: recent graduate and highly experienced as age coded, barmaid and handyman as gendered titles, specifying a nationality where a language is what the job needs, an application form that must be completed by hand as a disability barrier, keeping the monitoring form separate from the application, and that an applicant must not be asked about health or disability at any stage before the exceptions apply. Marked unreachable on an earlier pass, which was wrong: the block was in one fetching tool, not in the network." } }, "jurisdictionNotes": { "GB": { "framework": "Equality Act 2010", "regulator": "Equality and Human Rights Commission", "sourceBasis": [ "Equality Act 2010", "Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Regulations 2023", "EHRC Employment Statutory Code of Practice", "EHRC guidance on discriminatory adverts", "EHRC guidance on section 60 pre-employment health questions", "ACAS guidance on recruitment and equality", "Employment Rights Act 2025", "Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974", "Home Office right to work checks guidance" ], "note": "Great Britain: England, Wales and Scotland. Two provisions in force since 1 January 2024 matter to every rule here. Section 60A makes a discriminatory statement directed to the public unlawful in itself, whether or not anybody was affected by it, which is what an advert is. And section 19A extends indirect discrimination to a person who suffers the same disadvantage without sharing the characteristic, so a requirement that excludes a group also reaches people outside it who are shut out the same way." }, "NI": { "framework": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as it applies in Northern Ireland", "regulator": "Equality Commission for Northern Ireland", "sourceBasis": [ "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as it applies in Northern Ireland", "Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976", "Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997", "Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998", "Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006", "Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978", "Home Office right to work checks guidance" ], "note": "The Equality Act 2010 does not extend to Northern Ireland for these purposes. Disability is governed by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 as amended in Northern Ireland, and sex, race and religious belief by separate Orders. There is no Northern Ireland equivalent of the Equality Act 2010 section 60 restriction on pre-offer health questions, so the section 60 rules are carried as good practice rather than as law. There is no equivalent of section 60A either, and none is needed: Northern Ireland has had provisions aimed squarely at discriminatory advertisements since 1976, at article 39 of the Sex Discrimination Order and article 34 of the Fair Employment and Treatment Order, which Great Britain only acquired in 2024." } }, "scoring": { "start": 100, "weights": { "high": 18, "medium": 9, "advisory": 3 }, "lowConfidenceMultiplier": 0.5, "opportunityWeight": 0, "horizonWeight": 0, "bands": [ { "min": 90, "label": "No flags outstanding", "tone": "clear" }, { "min": 75, "label": "Minor items to decide", "tone": "ok" }, { "min": 50, "label": "Decisions needed before publishing", "tone": "warn" }, { "min": 0, "label": "Significant exposure", "tone": "bad" } ] }, "rules": [ { "id": "EQA-S19-PHYSICAL", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Whether the physical requirement is genuinely needed for the work is a fact about the role that only the employer holds.", "plainLabel": "Physical requirement that may not be genuine", "family": "Indirect discrimination", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.19", "basisLabel": "Indirect discrimination", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form", "assessment_brief" ], "detect": "Physical descriptors or posture requirements applied to a role that is not genuinely physical. Examples: \"on your feet all day\", \"hands-on\" used literally, \"able-bodied\", \"must be able to lift\", \"high energy\", \"fast paced environment\" used as a stamina requirement.", "whyItMatters": "If the physical requirement is not genuine, the wording puts disabled applicants at a substantial disadvantage and deters them before they apply.", "rewriteGuidance": "Describe the actual task, not the posture. \"You will move between three floors during a shift\" rather than \"you must be on your feet all day\".", "suppressWhen": "roleContext.deskBased === false", "suppressEffect": "downgrade", "suppressNote": "The role was marked as not desk based, so the physical demand may be genuine. Carried as advisory with a prompt to record why the requirement is intrinsic to the job.", "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4", "basisLabel": "Discrimination in recruitment arrangements", "citationPrecision": "section", "note": "In Northern Ireland the duty sits under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 rather than the Equality Act 2010. The wording test is the same in substance." } }, { "id": "EQA-S19-DRIVING", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Whether driving is genuinely needed, or whether the travel can be done another way, is a fact about the role.", "plainLabel": "Driving licence requirement", "family": "Indirect discrimination", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.19", "basisLabel": "Indirect discrimination", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form" ], "detect": "A driving licence requirement, especially \"full clean UK driving licence\", \"must hold a valid driving licence\", \"own car essential\", \"access to own vehicle\".", "whyItMatters": "One of the most common indirect discrimination flags in UK adverts. Where driving is not a genuine requirement of the job, the criterion excludes disabled applicants who do not drive, and often those who cannot afford a car.", "rewriteGuidance": "State it only if the role genuinely requires driving, and say why. Otherwise \"you will need to travel to three sites each week, and we can discuss how\".", "suppressWhen": "roleContext.drivingRequired === true", "suppressEffect": "downgrade", "suppressNote": "Driving was marked as genuinely required. Carried as advisory so the justification is recorded rather than assumed.", "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4", "basisLabel": "Discrimination in recruitment arrangements", "citationPrecision": "section" } }, { "id": "EQA-S19-CONTINUOUS-SERVICE", "fixMode": "auto", "plainLabel": "Continuous service or employment gap criterion", "family": "Indirect discrimination", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.19", "basisLabel": "Indirect discrimination", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form" ], "detect": "Continuous employment or unexplained-gap criteria. Examples: \"no gaps in employment\", \"five years continuous experience\", \"must currently be in work\", \"please explain any gaps\".", "whyItMatters": "Disproportionately excludes disabled candidates, who are more likely to have breaks in employment, and carers, who are more likely to be women.", "rewriteGuidance": "Test the skill, not the shape of the CV.", "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4", "basisLabel": "Discrimination in recruitment arrangements", "citationPrecision": "section" } }, { "id": "EQA-S19-DEGREE", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Whether a degree is genuinely needed, or is standing in for something that could be demonstrated another way, is a judgement about the role.", "plainLabel": "Qualification stated as essential", "family": "Indirect discrimination", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.19", "basisLabel": "Indirect discrimination", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "medium", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form" ], "detect": "A degree or specific qualification stated as essential where equivalent experience would suffice. Examples: \"degree essential\", \"2:1 minimum\", \"must be educated to degree level\".", "whyItMatters": "Not everyone has had equal access to higher education. Where the qualification is not genuinely necessary, the requirement narrows the pool without justification.", "rewriteGuidance": "Use \"degree or equivalent practical experience\" where that is true.", "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4", "basisLabel": "Discrimination in recruitment arrangements", "citationPrecision": "section" } }, { "id": "EQA-S20-ADJUSTMENT-ROUTE", "fixMode": "auto", "plainLabel": "No route to request an adjustment", "family": "Reasonable adjustments", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 ss.20-21", "basisLabel": "Duty to make reasonable adjustments", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form", "assessment_brief" ], "detect": "No stated route for an applicant to request an adjustment to the recruitment process, at the point of application. This is an absence rather than a phrase. Quote the closest passage where the route should have appeared, normally the how-to-apply or closing section.", "whyItMatters": "The duty applies to applicants, not only employees, and it is anticipatory. Offering the route only after shortlisting is too late.", "rewriteGuidance": "Add, at the point of application: \"If you need any adjustment to the application or interview process, tell us here and we will arrange it.\"", "absenceRule": true, "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4A", "basisLabel": "Duty to make reasonable adjustments", "citationPrecision": "section" } }, { "id": "EQA-S20-TIMED-ASSESSMENT", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Whether working at speed is a genuine requirement of the job, rather than a convenience of the assessment, is a judgement about the role.", "plainLabel": "Timed or fixed-format assessment with no alternative", "family": "Reasonable adjustments", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 ss.20-21", "basisLabel": "Duty to make reasonable adjustments", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "assessment_brief", "application_form" ], "detect": "A timed test, timed online assessment, one-way video interview, or telephone stage with no stated alternative format or extension route.", "whyItMatters": "Timed assessments and formats incompatible with assistive technology are among the most common barriers, often where the adjustment would not affect core job demands at all.", "rewriteGuidance": "State that extra time and alternative formats are available on request, before the assessment is taken.", "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4A", "basisLabel": "Duty to make reasonable adjustments", "citationPrecision": "section" } }, { "id": "EQA-S60-HEALTH-Q", "fixMode": "auto", "plainLabel": "Health or disability question before an offer", "family": "Pre-employment enquiries", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.60", "basisLabel": "Pre-employment health questions", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form", "monitoring_form" ], "detect": "Any question about health, disability, sickness absence or medical conditions asked before a conditional offer. Examples: \"how many days were you absent last year\", \"do you have any medical conditions we should know about\", \"are you in good health\".", "whyItMatters": "Section 60 makes it generally unlawful to ask about disability or health before an offer. This is an area where employers frequently get caught. The narrow lawful version asks only whether an adjustment is needed for the recruitment process itself.", "rewriteGuidance": "Replace with \"Do you need any reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process?\" Never ask about conditions.", "exceptions": "Narrow. Functions intrinsic to the role, an occupational requirement, positive action schemes, national security, and diversity monitoring collected separately. Where an exception is relied on, the record must say which one and why.", "ni": { "applies": true, "severityOverride": "advisory", "basis": "Good practice, no Northern Ireland equivalent in force", "basisLabel": "Pre-offer health questions, good practice only", "citationPrecision": "instrument", "note": "There is no Northern Ireland equivalent of Equality Act 2010 section 60. The question is not prohibited in the same way, so this is carried as good practice rather than as law. Asking it can still produce evidence of disability discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 if an applicant is then treated less favourably." } }, { "id": "EQA-S60-MONITORING-MIX", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Separating monitoring from selection is a change to the process, not to the wording. The document cannot carry the fix on its own.", "plainLabel": "Monitoring data mixed with selection data", "family": "Pre-employment enquiries", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.60", "basisLabel": "Pre-employment health questions", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "application_form", "monitoring_form" ], "detect": "Diversity monitoring questions collected in the same form or the same data flow as selection information, or no statement that monitoring answers are hidden from shortlisters.", "whyItMatters": "EHRC guidance says monitoring information should be collected separately from other application information, and that using monitoring data on health and disability to shortlist is a breach of section 60.", "rewriteGuidance": "Separate the monitoring form from the application, state why it is collected, and confirm it is not visible to shortlisters.", "ni": { "basis": "Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998, arts.52 to 54", "basisLabel": "Monitoring duties, Northern Ireland", "citationPrecision": "section", "note": "Northern Ireland runs a separate statutory monitoring regime for community background under the Fair Employment and Treatment Order. The separation principle still holds. The specific article has not been pinned in this rule set." } }, { "id": "EQA-SCH9-OCC-REQ", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "The exception is narrow. Either the restriction goes, or the specific occupational requirement and why it is proportionate has to be recorded, and only the employer can supply that.", "plainLabel": "Applicants restricted by a protected characteristic", "family": "Occupational requirements", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.60A and Schedule 9 Part 1 paragraph 1", "basisLabel": "Discriminatory statement, and the occupational requirement exception", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form" ], "detect": "The advert restricts applicants by a protected characteristic, explicitly or by implication. Examples: \"female applicants only\", \"we are looking for a Christian youth worker\", \"this post is open to men\".", "whyItMatters": "Section 60A, in force since 1 January 2024, makes it unlawful to make a discriminatory statement directed to the public in connection with a decision about offering work. Subsection (7) says it does not matter whether any individual has been affected or whether the employer has even made arrangements to recruit. The published wording is the wrong, on its own. Schedule 9 Part 1 paragraph 1 is the way out and it is narrow: the characteristic must be an occupational requirement, applying it must be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim, and the applicant must not meet it. All three have to hold and the employer carries the burden.", "rewriteGuidance": "Either remove the restriction or record the specific occupational requirement relied on and why it is proportionate. The justification belongs in the record, not only in the advert.", "ni": { "basis": "Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 art.8, Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 art.6, Fair Employment and Treatment (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 art.19", "basisLabel": "Occupational requirement exceptions, Northern Ireland", "citationPrecision": "section", "note": "Northern Ireland runs separate Orders for sex, race and religious belief. The exception is narrow under each. The specific article has not been pinned in this rule set." } }, { "id": "EQA-S159-POSITIVE-ACTION", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Offering a guaranteed interview scheme is a commitment the employer has to be willing to keep, not a sentence to paste in.", "plainLabel": "Guaranteed interview scheme not offered", "family": "Positive action", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.159", "basisLabel": "Positive action in recruitment", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "advisory", "polarity": "opportunity", "appliesTo": [ "advert" ], "detect": "No guaranteed interview scheme, no positive action statement and no Disability Confident statement anywhere in the document. This is an absence rather than a phrase. Quote the closest passage where it should have appeared.", "whyItMatters": "It is lawful to treat disabled people more favourably in recruitment, and an advert saying so is not unlawful. Employers frequently avoid this out of misplaced caution.", "rewriteGuidance": "Consider a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria, and say so plainly in the advert.", "absenceRule": true, "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995", "basisLabel": "More favourable treatment of disabled people is permitted", "citationPrecision": "instrument", "note": "The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 does not prohibit treating a disabled person more favourably. A guaranteed interview scheme is available in Northern Ireland on the same reasoning." } }, { "id": "EQA-S13-NATIONALITY-NOT-RTW", "fixMode": "auto", "plainLabel": "Nationality required where the right to work is the real requirement", "family": "Direct discrimination", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 ss.9, 13 and 60A", "basisLabel": "Discriminatory statement, and race includes nationality", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form" ], "detect": "A nationality, citizenship, passport or settled status requirement standing in for the right to work. Examples: \"must be a British citizen\", \"UK passport holders only\", \"no visa sponsorship, British nationals only\", \"must have British or Irish nationality\".", "whyItMatters": "Nationality is part of race under section 9, so requiring one is direct discrimination and cannot be justified. Since 1 January 2024 section 60A makes the published statement unlawful in itself, with no need for anyone to have applied or been turned away. What an employer actually needs to establish is the right to work in the UK, which is a different question and is held by many people who are not British citizens. The Home Office right to work check is the lawful route and it does not ask for nationality.", "rewriteGuidance": "State the right to work, not the nationality. \"You must have the right to work in the UK\" is the whole of it, and the check itself happens after an offer. Where a language is what the job actually needs, name the language: ACAS gives German speaking sales rep rather than German sales rep.", "ni": { "basis": "Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 arts.5 and 6", "basisLabel": "Direct discrimination on racial grounds, Northern Ireland", "citationPrecision": "section", "note": "Article 5 defines racial grounds as colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origins, so nationality is expressly within them. Article 6 covers applicants and employees." } }, { "id": "ROA-BLANKET-CONVICTIONS", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Whether this post is exempt from the Act, and so may lawfully ask about spent convictions, is a fact about the role that only the employer holds. Deleting the question would be wrong for an exempt post and keeping it is wrong for every other one.", "plainLabel": "Blanket criminal record question", "family": "Criminal records", "basis": "Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 s.4", "basisLabel": "Spent convictions may not be required to be disclosed", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form" ], "detect": "A criminal record question with no exemption stated and no scope limit. Examples: \"you must have no criminal convictions\", \"have you ever been convicted of any offence?\", \"applicants with a criminal record will not be considered\", a tick box asking about convictions with no wording about spent convictions or filtering.", "whyItMatters": "Outside an exempt post a person is entitled to treat a spent conviction as though it never happened, and an employer may not require them to disclose it or refuse them for it. Blanket exclusions also fall harder on some ethnic groups, so the same question tends to raise an indirect discrimination point alongside the Act. Whether the post is exempt turns on the work itself.", "rewriteGuidance": "Decide first whether the post is exempt under the Exceptions Order and eligible for a standard or enhanced check. If it is, say so and name the level of check. If it is not, ask only about unspent convictions, and say that a conviction is not an automatic bar.", "ni": { "basis": "Rehabilitation of Offenders (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 art.5", "basisLabel": "Spent convictions, Northern Ireland", "citationPrecision": "section", "note": "Northern Ireland runs the equivalent regime under its own Order, with AccessNI rather than the Disclosure and Barring Service. The specific article has not been pinned in this rule set." } }, { "id": "EQA-S13-CODED-LANGUAGE", "fixMode": "auto", "plainLabel": "Age-coded or gender-coded wording", "family": "Direct discrimination", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 ss.13 and 60A", "basisLabel": "Discriminatory statement, and direct discrimination", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "high", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form", "assessment_brief" ], "detect": "Age-coded or gender-coded terms and gendered job titles. Examples: \"young\", \"mature\", \"recent graduate\", \"highly experienced\", \"digital native\", \"barmaid\", \"handyman\", \"salesgirl\", \"postman\", \"Saturday boy\", \"native speaker\", \"he will be responsible for\". ACAS names recent graduate and highly experienced as age coded, and barmaid and handyman as implying a sex.", "whyItMatters": "A gendered job title, or an age-coded phrase about energy or digital nativeness, is less favourable treatment because of a protected characteristic under section 13, and unlike indirect discrimination it has no justification defence. Where the wording is an express statement about a protected group, a gendered job title being the clearest case, section 60A applies as well and the statement is unlawful on its own. That matters here more than anywhere: an advert deters people before they ever apply, so there is usually no complainant and, before section 60A, often no route to challenge it.", "rewriteGuidance": "Describe the skill. \"Comfortable learning new software quickly\" rather than \"digital native\".", "ni": { "basis": "Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 arts.8 and 39, Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 reg.7", "basisLabel": "Direct discrimination, Northern Ireland", "citationPrecision": "section", "note": "Article 8 and regulation 7 cover applicants and employees. Article 39 deals with discriminatory advertisements specifically, which is the one that bites on a published advert." } }, { "id": "EQA-S26-CULTURE-LANGUAGE", "fixMode": "auto", "plainLabel": "Culture wording or culture fit as a criterion", "family": "Harassment and culture", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 s.26", "basisLabel": "Harassment", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "medium", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "assessment_brief" ], "detect": "Culture descriptions implying an environment a protected group could reasonably find hostile, or \"culture fit\" as a stated criterion. Examples: \"work hard play hard\", \"banter\", \"family feel\", \"must fit our culture\".", "whyItMatters": "\"Culture fit\" is unmeasurable and functions as a route for unexamined bias. From 30 October 2026 employers must take all reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment, and advertised culture is evidence of the environment they hold out.", "rewriteGuidance": "Describe how the team works, not who fits in.", "ni": { "basis": "Sex Discrimination (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 art.8", "basisLabel": "Harassment, Northern Ireland", "citationPrecision": "section", "note": "Article 8 covers applicants and employees. The Employment Rights Act 2025 duty to take all reasonable steps amends the Equality Act 2010, which does not extend to Northern Ireland, so it does not apply here." } }, { "id": "ACCESS-FORMAT", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Restructuring the document, or opening a second route to apply, is a change to the process rather than to a phrase.", "plainLabel": "Document structure creates a barrier", "family": "Document accessibility", "basis": "Equality Act 2010 ss.20-21", "basisLabel": "Duty to make reasonable adjustments", "citationPrecision": "section", "severity": "medium", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form", "assessment_brief", "monitoring_form" ], "detect": "Structural accessibility problems in the document itself: a table used for essential and desirable criteria, dense unbroken text, a PDF-only or post-only application route, no alternative way to apply.", "whyItMatters": "Tables used for criteria are one of the most common accessibility failures in job descriptions, and PDF-only routes exclude some assistive technology users entirely.", "rewriteGuidance": "Use lists rather than tables for criteria. Offer an alternative route to apply and say what it is.", "ni": { "basis": "Disability Discrimination Act 1995 s.4A", "basisLabel": "Duty to make reasonable adjustments", "citationPrecision": "section" } }, { "id": "PAY-TRANSPARENCY", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "Only the employer knows the range. Nothing can invent a salary and put it in an advert.", "plainLabel": "No pay information stated", "family": "Pay information", "basis": "Not law in Great Britain as at the rule set date", "basisLabel": "Pay transparency, horizon item", "citationPrecision": "instrument", "severity": "advisory", "polarity": "horizon", "appliesTo": [ "advert" ], "detect": "No pay figure or pay range stated, \"competitive salary\" used in place of a figure, or salary history requested.", "whyItMatters": "Not currently unlawful in Great Britain. The UK government consulted on requiring pay information in adverts, with the consultation closing 27 October 2026. It is already an obligation for the same employer’s EU roles under the EU Pay Transparency Directive, whose member state implementation deadline was 7 June 2026.", "rewriteGuidance": "State a range now and be ready either way. Never ask for salary history.", "absenceRule": true, "ni": { "basis": "Not law in Northern Ireland as at the rule set date", "basisLabel": "Pay transparency, horizon item", "citationPrecision": "instrument" } }, { "id": "POLICY-CONSISTENCY", "fixMode": "decide", "fixWhy": "A contradiction with your own published commitment is resolved by deciding which of the two is right, and that is not a wording choice.", "plainLabel": "Contradicts the employer’s own published commitments", "family": "Internal consistency, Layer 1", "basis": "The employer’s own published commitments", "basisLabel": "Internal policy consistency", "citationPrecision": "instrument", "severity": "medium", "appliesTo": [ "advert", "application_form", "assessment_brief", "monitoring_form" ], "tier": "enterprise", "requires": "customer-supplied policy documents", "detect": "Document content contradicting the employer’s own published inclusion commitments or stated Disability Confident level.", "whyItMatters": "A contradiction between what the organisation claims to stand for and what it publishes in recruitment materials is both a credibility problem and supporting evidence in a claim.", "rewriteGuidance": "Align the document with the commitment, or reconsider the commitment.", "ni": { "basis": "The employer’s own published commitments", "basisLabel": "Internal policy consistency", "citationPrecision": "instrument" } } ] }