The Government has published three sets of Regulations relating to the Equality Act 2010. The Regulations are relevant to the meaning of disability, provision of auxiliary aids and adjustments to physical features, as well as continuing existing exceptions for occupational and personal pension schemes in respect of age and sex. The Government is also separately consulting on statutory guidance to aid interpretation of the definition of disability in the Act.

The Equality Act 2010 (Disability) Regulations 2010 SI 2010/2I28 contain supplementary technical provisions deemed inappropriate for inclusion in the Equality Act. The Regulations prevent addictions and other conditions, such as a tendency to steal, from constituting impairments protected by the Act. The excluded conditions are the same as those that are currently excluded from the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The Regulations also enable small children to qualify as disabled where their impairment, although not impacting on their day to day activities, would have a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the ability of a person aged 6 years or over to carry out normal day-to-day activities. This may make it easier for a parent or carer to make an associative discrimination claim. A person is also deemed to be disabled under the Regulations where they are certified blind, severely sight impaired, sight impaired or partially sighted. The Regulations also set out provisions on provision of auxiliary aids and the employer's duty to make reasonable adjustments to physical features of his premises.

The definition of a disabled person in the Equality Act is slightly different to that used in the DDA. Consequently, the Office of Disability Issues has produced updated statutory guidance on what constitutes a disability. The Government is consulting on the updated guidance until 31 October 2010.

The Equality Act 2010 (Sex Equality Rule) (Exceptions) Regulations 2010 SI 2010/2132 and the Equality Act (Age Exceptions for Pension Schemes) Order 2010 SI 2010/2133 provide for exemptions, in respect of sex and age, from the sex equality and non discrimination rules incorporated into occupational pension schemes by the Equality Act. For example, allowing the use of different actuarial factors for men and women, or a minimum or a maximum age for admission to a scheme.

The Regulations, Guidance, and Consultation can be found via the links below.

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20102128_en_1
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20102132_en_1
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20102133_en_1
http://www.officefordisability.gov.uk/docs/wor/new/ea-consult.pdf