The British Equality Act 2010, which came into force on 1 October 2010, combined all previously separate regulations pertaining to equality in Great Britain in one law. Simultaneously, for the sake of simplification and coherence, a single equality duty was introduced for all groups affected by discrimination. This focus shift from processes to concrete results was supposed to improve the designing of measures and provision of services so that public authorities would aim more at equality and its facilitation. This is meant to prevent discrimination from happening in the first place.

This single equality duty came into force on 5 April 2011 in Great Britain by means of the Equality Act 2010 and contains two components: the general equality duty according to Section 149 and the separately regulated so-called specific duties according to Section 153 for England, Scotland and Wales.