Positive action

Measures under the Equality Act 2010 that promote equality of opportunity and inclusion. It allows extra help to be given to people who share a protected characteristic to create fair access to an opportunity. It includes action that intends to increase participation, reduce disadvantage and meet different needs. For example, in recruitment, a candidate with a protected characteristic may be hired over another equally qualified candidate without a protected characteristic. This particular protected characteristic may be under-represented in the workforce.

It shouldn’t be confused with positive discrimination, which means that discrimination in favour of a particular group takes place. For example, a candidate with a protected characteristic may be hired over a more highly scoring candidate without this characteristic.

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