Material scope

Discrimination in the provision of goods and services, housing, education, social protection including social security and health care, social advantages and the performance of public functions is also now prohibited across all the equality grounds except age. Having said this, UK law does not contain any clear definition of social advantage, and whether the existing legislation is adequate to implement EU law will not be known until a body of case law has been developed, both within the UK and in the European Court of Justice. The Equality Act 2010 contains provisions extending protection against age discrimination for GB to the provision of goods and services, health care, social advantages and the performance of public functions. These would not apply to children under the age of 18. The Coalition Government began consultations in March 2011 on how these provisions might be implemented.