The government’s proposals for a Single Equality Bill fails to go far enough to achieve either the simplification or consistency necessary to achieve real progress, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) response to the government’s consultation.

The CIPD says it also fails to reduce the burden on employers in dealing with or understanding the complexities of diversity.

Dianah Worman, CIPD diversity adviser, says: “This green paper runs the risk of delivering a compliance based model that will entrench a box-ticking approach to produce minimum standards in diversity. If government is serious about stopping the marginalisation of people in the labour market then it must show a greater willingness to work with employers to develop a piece of legislation that will actually work.

“There are many employers already fully embracing diversity and reaping the benefits in terms of a well motivated, diverse workforce better able to meet business objectives and the needs of their customer base. Much more can and should be done to promote this good practice and encourage organisations to focus on the ways in which embedding diversity into other operational activities, such as marketing, can add value to business performance.”