Discriminatory abuse

Discrimination against someone’s protected characteristics.

What is discriminatory abuse?

In UK law, it’s illegal to discriminate against anyone based on these protected characteristics:

  • Age

  • Gender reassignment

  • Marriage status (including civil partnerships)

  • Being pregnant or on maternity leave

  • Disability

  • Race (including skin colour, nationality, or a person’s ethnic or national origin)

  • Religious belief

  • Sex, and sexual orientation

Discrimination may take on a number of forms

  • Direct Discrimination. Treating someone with a protected characteristic less favourably than others.

  • Indirect Discrimination. Putting rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, but that put someone with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage.

  • Harassment. Unwanted behaviour linked to a protected characteristic that violates someone’s dignity or creates a hostile environment for them.

  • Victimisation. Treating someone unfairly because they’ve complained about discrimination or harassment.

Discriminatory abuse can overlap many other forms of abuse, which may make it more hidden.

What does discriminatory abuse look like?

  • Verbal abuse, derogatory remarks or inappropriate use of language related to a protected characteristic

  • Denying access to communication aids, not allowing access to an interpreter, signer or lip-reader

  • Harassment or deliberate exclusion on the grounds of a protected characteristic

  • Poor quality service relating to a protected characteristic, or being refused access to a service

  • Lack of disabled access

  • Acts or comments motivated to harm and damage others

  • Lack of effective communication provision e.g. interpreters

  • The adult being subjected to racist, sexist, ageist, gender-based abuse

  • Abuse specifically about their disability

  • The person appears withdrawn and isolated

  • The person expresses anger, frustration, fear or anxiety

Hate incidents/crimes can be a form of discriminatory abuse. A hate incident is any incident which is perceived by the person, or any other person as being motivated by prejudice or hatred in terms of the protected characteristics above.

‘Mate Crime’ is a form of disability hate crime in which the victim is abused and manipulated by someone they believed to be their friend.

The local authority cannot determine if a hate crime or a non crime hate incident has occurred, these are matters for the police and CPS.

Resources

See our ‘Resources’ section for strategies, tool kits and other assets.

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