This information applies to England, Wales and Scotland
It is against the law to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. This applies:
when you buy or use goods and services
You are protected by law from discrimination because of your religion or belief if you:
The law against discrimination because of religion or belief does not cover purely political beliefs unless they are also philosophical beliefs.
You are protected if someone discriminates against you because they think you are a certain religion, when you are not. For example, it's against the law for someone to discriminate against you for wearing a headscarf because they think you are a Muslim, even if you are not actually Muslim.
Discrimination by association is also against the law. For example, it is against the law to refuse to let you into a restaurant because of the religion of someone who is with you.
It is discrimination to treat you unfairly compared to someone else, because of your religion or belief. This is called direct discrimination and is illegal. Examples include:
You may be able to make a complaint if you have suffered direct discrimination because of your religion or belief.
It is also illegal for someone to have a rule, policy or practice which someone of a particular religion or belief is less likely to be able to meet than other people and this places them at a disadvantage. This is called indirect discrimination.
Examples of indirect discrimination might include:
If you have suffered indirect discrimination because of your religion or belief, you may be able to make a complaint about it. However, if the person or organisation you are complaining about can show there are genuine reasons for the rule, policy or practice and that it has nothing to do with your religion or belief, this won't count as discrimination.
For example,it might not be discrimination if your employers need you to dress in a particular way for health and safety reasons, such as wearing protective headwear, even though it might be against your religion to remove your turban.
Discrimination can take the form of victimisation. This is where you're treated worse than someone else because you've complained or taken legal action about religious discrimination. It is also victimisation if you're treated unfairly because you've supported someone else taking action, for example, if you act as a witness in someone else's discrimination case.
It's a criminal offence to attack you because of your religion or belief, or because of your lack of religion. This includes both physical and verbal abuse.
Someone is also committing a criminal offence if they stir up hatred of a particular religious group. For example, if they publish or distribute racist information or information designed to stir up religious hatred.
If one of these criminal offences is committed against you or your family, you should report it to the police.
For more information about crimes involving physical and verbal abuse because of your religion, see Racially and religiously motivated attacks.
You are protected from religious discrimination in your workplace. This means you are protected:
Discrimination at work because of your religion or belief could include:
If you experience discrimination at work because of your religion or belief, you may be able to make a complaint. This includes raising a grievance with your employer or making a claim to an employment tribunal.However, in some circumstances, it might be possible for your employer to show that there were genuine business, or health and safety reasons for the way you have been treated which have nothing to do with your religion or belief. If this is the case, it won't count as discrimination.
For example
I'm Jewish and need to take Friday afternoons off work in winter to get home before dark and prepare for the Sabbath. At the moment, my boss is happy to let me do this and make up the time during the rest of the week. However, he is thinking of introducing a new shift pattern, which means I will not be able to do this any more. Can he do this?
It is against the law to discriminate against a worker because of their religion or belief. So, if your employer is introducing a new shift pattern which will be difficult for you because of your religion, it may be that you are the victim of discrimination because of religion. Your employer would have to justify why it is essential for you to work on Friday afternoons. He must be able to show that he has tried to meet your needs but that for business reasons you still need to work on Friday afternoons. Otherwise, his behaviour towards you may count as discrimination because of your religion.
Victimisation happens when you are treated worse than someone else at work because you've complained, or taken legal action, about religious discrimination. It is also victimisation if you are treated unfairly because you've supported someone else taking action, for example, if you act as a witness in someone else's discrimination case.
Examples of victimisation at work could include:
People at work are always making fun of one of my colleagues who is a Jehovah's Witness and always reading the Bible in her coffee breaks. I tried to tell them to stop and now they are saying spiteful things about me too. My life at work has become a misery. Is there anything I can do?
If the reason you are being victimised is because you complained about religious discrimination, this is against the law. You should get expert advice about how to tackle the problem.
It is against the law for someone to bully you at work because of your religion or belief. This is known as harassment. The person bullying you may be your employer or it may be a colleague. Someone is bullying you if you find their behaviour towards you offensive, frightening, degrading, humiliating or in any way distressing. It may be intentional or unintentional.
It is also against the law for someone to bully you at work because of your religion or belief, even if they are mistaken about what it is. For example, if you are attacked at your workplace by someone who has assumed, wrongly, that you are a Muslim because of your appearance. You will not have to say what your religion actually is in order to do something about this.
If you are being treated unfairly or bullied at work because of your religion or belief, take action as quickly as possible. You could try:
If none of these things work, you may wish to raise a grievance and think about making a claim to an employment tribunal.
There are strict time-limits and procedures for making a claim to an employment tribunal. If you think you may need to do this, you should get advice, for example, from a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
For more information about what you can do about discrimination because of your religion at work, including making a claim to an employment tribunal, see What can I do if my employer treats me unfairly because of religion or belief? In Employment fact sheets.
For more information about taking out a grievance at work, see Sorting out problems at work.
It's against the law to refuse to provide training opportunities to you because of your religion or belief, or to provide them in a way which puts you at a disadvantage to other people because of your religion or belief. This includes:
It's against the law for anyone providing goods, facilities or services directly to the public to discriminate because of religion or belief.
Examples of organisations which provide goods, facilities or services include:
For example, it's against the law for a pub or restaurant to refuse to serve you, or for a hotel to refuse to give you a room because of your religion or belief, or what they think your religion or belief is.
For more examples of organisations which provide goods, facilities and services, see the Equality and Human Rights Commission website at: www.equalityhumanrights.com.
Someone providing goods, facilities or services must not:
It is illegal to discriminate regardless of how the goods and services are provided or whether you have to pay for them or not.
For example, it’s illegal for someone to discriminate against you when you’re buying something in a shop or over the internet, when you’re making a telephone enquiry or when someone gives you written information.
I'm an Asian man. Recently, I booked a room in a B&B, but when I arrived, the receptionist told me the room was no longer available. She told me about a hotel nearby that could probably take me. When I asked the receptionist why she didn't have a room for me when I'd booked two weeks in advance, she told me that the B&B owner doesn't like Muslim people staying there as they could be terrorists.
This is religious discrimination and it's against the law. The owner could be prosecuted in court. Get advice about what you can do from a solicitor, law centre or Citizens Advice Bureau.
With a few limited exceptions, it's illegal to publish an advert for goods, facilities or services which discriminates because of religion or belief, or which advertises discriminatory services.
If an advertisement like this is published, the Equality and Human Rights Commission can take court action against the publisher.
It is not illegal for a charity to provide services and benefits only to people of a certain religion or belief.
This means that they can exclude people of other religions or beliefs. The aims of the charity must be set out in their constitution or rules.
For example, a charity may be set up to provide day-care services for members of the Jewish community. This isn't illegal as long as this is what the charity's constitution says they are there for.
Certain religious organisations may be allowed to discriminate against people of different religions. This includes faith schools. The organisation must not be commercial, that is, it must be non-profit-making. The discrimination must be necessary:
I run a church youth club. Am I allowed to restrict membership of the club to practising Christians or is this discrimination?
As long as your club isn’t a commercial business and if your aims are to further the Christian belief amongst young people, you are allowed to refuse membership to young people who are not Christians.
Religious organisations are allowed to discriminate by stopping people of other religions or of no religion:
In certain circumstances, some organisations are allowed to provide welfare services only to people of a particular religion or belief. This includes things like:
Organisations are allowed to do this where it can be shown that it leads to a greater take-up of the service, or improves service delivery.
The quickest way to sort out your problem is to put your concerns in writing to the company or organisation involved. Find out if there is a complaints department and send your letter or email there. If there's no complaints department, find out the name of a manager or other senior person responsible for the service which discriminated against you and write to them. Your letter or email should include:
If this doesn't work, you could try:
For more information about Ombudsmen, see How to use an Ombudsman.
Any course of action may be complicated and may make your life more uncomfortable in the short-term. There may also be costs involved, particularly if you use a solicitor to represent you. If you are thinking about taking legal action, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
It's against the law for a school or college to discriminate because of religion or belief when it decides on who should be accepted as a pupil or student. This applies to both state and independent schools and colleges. However, it doesn't apply to faith schools. Once you have been accepted as a pupil or student at the school or college, it's against the law for them to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. For example, you can't refuse to let someone be a prefect, give them detention or extra homework just because of their religion or belief.
Rules about school uniform must not discriminate against you because of your religion. For example, if you're a young Sikh man, you must be allowed to wear a turban at school as this is part of your faith.
However, this doesn't mean that a school has to allow all items of religious dress. Schools can have a uniform policy which prevents pupils wearing certain things. They might, for example, do this for health and safety reasons.
The law about religious discrimination does not apply to what is taught in schools (the curriculum). For example:
My family is Hindu. I am upset because my daughter has to go to religious education classes at school where Hinduism is hardly mentioned. This seems to be discrimination against Hindus as Christianity is mentioned a lot.
The classes have to reflect the fact that religious tradition in this country is mainly Christian. However, they also have to take into account the other main religions and individual classes can be about other religions. Try talking to your child's teacher about the problems you are experiencing. But if you can't manage to sort out the problem, there is probably no legal action you can take.
In a community or foundation school, acts of collective worship, such as assemblies, must be of a general Christian nature. However, they must not reflect any one particular type of Christianity, for example, Catholicism.
In a faith school, which is a voluntary or foundation school, collective worship must reflect the faith of the school.
There are certain areas of the law about discrimination because of religion and belief which don't apply to faith schools or colleges.
For example, faith schools and colleges have the right to discriminate because of religion when they decide who to accept as a pupil or student. They can choose to give priority to pupils who share their own faith over other pupils. However, it's against the law for them to leave places unfilled if there aren't enough pupils of their own faith to fill them.
Once you have been accepted as a pupil or student at the school or college, it's against the law for them to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. For example, a Catholic school is not allowed to exclude a pupil who started off as a Catholic and then converts to a different faith.
However, faith schools and colleges are allowed to restrict certain services and benefits that they offer to pupils sharing the faith of the school or college, or can offer them in a different way. For example, faith schools are allowed to:
You can make a complaint about discrimination by a school, college or university in your local county court (sheriff court in Scotland).If your complaint is about a school, you should first try to resolve your complaint by talking to the school's headteacher. If you are still unhappy, you can then take your complaint to the school's governing body.
For more information about how to complain about a school, see Problems at school.
If your complaint is about a college or university, you should first use the institution's own complaints procedure. If you are complaining about a further education college funded by the Skills funding Agency you could also complain to the Agency. Information about how to do this is available on the Agency's website at: www.skillsfundingangency.bis.gov.uk.
If your complaint is about a university in England or Wales, you could take your complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (the OIA).The OIA can be contacted at:
Third Floor
Kings Reach
38-50 King's Road
Reading
RG1 3AA
Tel: 0118 959 9813
Website: www.oiahe.org.uk.
If you have a complaint about a university in Scotland, you should complain to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman at: www.spso.org.uk.
For more information about how to use an ombudsman in Scotland and when to use one, see How to use an ombudsman or commissioner in Scotland.
If you want to make a complaint about discrimination by a school, college or university, you should get advice from an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
In general, it is illegal for someone selling or letting property to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief.
Landlords and letting agencies must not discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. This includes private landlords and social housing landlords such as local councils and housing associations. This means that a landlord or letting agency will probably be acting illegally if, because of your religion or belief they:
If your landlord lives in the same property as you, these rules may not apply. If your landlord lives in the same property as you and you think they are discriminating against you, you should get advice from an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
For more information about what you can do if a landlord or letting agency discriminates against you because of your religion or belief, see under heading What you can do about religious discrimination by someone providing goods, facilities or services.
In the block of flats where I live, most of the tenants are Bangladeshi. We never seem to be able to get our repairs done even though a lot of work is needed to our building. We know that there's another block in the area where mostly white people live and they never seem to have to wait for repairs. Both blocks are owned by the council. Is this discrimination? Is there anything we can do about this situation?
There might be good reasons why the other block of flats seems to get things done more quickly. For example, the people in the other block may just need small repairs done, whereas your building may need major repairs. But it may also be the case that your local authority could be discriminating against you whether intentionally or not. You need to get advice from an experienced adviser who will help you decide what action should be taken.
If someone is selling their home through an estate agent, it would be illegal for them to refuse an offer from someone just because of their religion or belief, or to offer to sell it to them on less favourable terms.
However, under the law, someone selling a property directly to you without going through an estate agent can decide they don't want to sell to you because of your religion or belief, as long as they don't advertise the property. This may seem unfair, but it is not illegal.
Estate agents aren't allowed to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. For example, they must not refuse to show you a certain property because the owner doesn't want to sell to someone of a particular religion or belief.
If an estate agent discriminates against you because of your religion or belief, you can complain to the estate agent's company. If you aren't happy with the outcome, you may be able to make a complaint to the Property Ombudsman or the Ombudsman Services: Property, depending on which scheme the estate agent belongs to.
For more information about the Property Ombudsman and the Ombudsman Services: Property, see How to use an Ombudsman.
For more information about what you can do if an estate agent discriminates against you because of your religion or belief, see under heading What you can do about religious discrimination by someone providing goods, facilities or services.
It's illegal for a mortgage lender to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. For example, a lender must not refuse to give you a mortgage because of your religion or belief, or give you a mortgage on worse terms than other people of a different religion or belief.
If a mortgage lender discriminates against you because of your religion or belief, you can make a complaint to the company concerned. If you aren't happy with the outcome, you may be able to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
For more information about the Financial Ombudsman Service, see How to use an Ombudsman.
For more information about what you can do if a mortgage lender discriminates against you because of your religion or belief, see under heading What you can do about religious discrimination by someone providing goods or services.
As well as discrimination because of your religion, you could be treated unfairly for other reasons.
For example, you're a Turkish Muslim woman and you're sacked because you're pregnant. You may have a claim for race and pregnancy discrimination as well as religious discrimination. If you think you've been treated unfairly for more than one reason, make sure you mention all the reasons if you make a complaint.
For more information about discrimination, see our discrimination pages.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC)doesn't take individual cases, but should be able to give you some advice. You can contact the EHRC at:
Equality and Human Rights Commission Helpline England
Freepost RRLL-GHUX-CTRX
Arndale House
Arndale Centre
Manchester
M4 3AQ
Tel: 0845 604 6610 (Mon-Fri 8.00am-6.00pm)
Textphone: 0845 604 6620
Fax: 0845 604 6630
E-mail: englandhelpline@equalityhumanrights.com
Website: www.equalityhumanrights.com
Equality and Human Rights Commission Helpline Wales
Freepost RRLR-UEYB-UYZL
3rd Floor
3 Callaghan Square
Cardiff
CF10 5BT
Tel: 0845 604 8810 (Mon-Fri 8.00am-6.00pm)
Textphone: 0845 604 8820
Fax: 0845 604 8830
E-mail: waleshelpline@equalityhumanrights.com
Website: www.equalityhumanrights.com
Equality and Human Rights Commission Helpline Scotland
Freepost RRLL-GYLB-UJTA
The Optima Building
58 Robertson Street
Glasgow
G2 8DU
Tel: 0845 604 5510 (Mon-Fri 8.00am-6.00pm)
Textphone: 0845 604 5520
Fax: 0845 604 5530
E-mail: scotlandhelpline@equalityhumanrights.com
Website: www.equalityhumanrights.com
The EHRC has published a number of guides on discrimination to do with employment, goods, facilities and services, public authorities, housing and education on the EHRC website at: www.equalityhumanrights.com.
A law centre can offer free legal advice if you want to take a case for religious discrimination. If a solicitor from a law centre represents you, you may be entitled to legal aid.. In England and Wales, details of the nearest law centre are available from the Law Centres Federation, and in Scotland from the Scottish Association of Law Centres.
Law Centres Federation
PO Box 65836
London EC4P 4FX
Tel 020 7842 0720
Fax 020 7842 0721
Email: info@lawcentres.org.uk
Website: www.lawcentres.org.uk
Scottish Association of Law Centres
c/o Govan Law Centre
47 Burleight Street
Govan
Glasgow G51 3LB
Tel: 0141 440 2503
E-mail m@govanlc.com
Website: www.govanlc.com/salc
The Free Representation Unit (FRU) can provide representation for people on a low income and living in the London area. However, the FRU is a voluntary organisation and representation in cases cannot be guaranteed. If you want help from the FRU, you must be referred in writing by an advice agency once the date of a hearing has been set. The agency must be an FRU subscriber. Some Citizens Advice Bureaux (CABx) in the London area are subscribers to the FRU. To search for your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
The FRU can be contacted at:-
6th Floor
289 – 293 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7HZ
Tel: 020 7611 9555
Fax: 020 7611 9551
Email: available through a form on the website
Website: www.thefru.org.uk
There is some free representation available in Scotland for tribunals and courts. It is only available for certain cases and for people on a low income. It is only available through a Citizens Advice Bureau.
To search for your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.
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