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Section 21A: Public authorities

Sex Discrimination Act 1975 · 1975 c. 65View on legislation.gov.uk

This provision is repealed
It is retained for historical reference and may not reflect the law currently in force.

Part II: EMPLOYMENT FIELD

REPEALED on 2010-10-01 by Equality Act 2010.

The text below is from the dated revised snapshot immediately preceding this status change. It is historical and is not current law. View the historical source.

It is unlawful for a public authority exercising a function to do any act which constitutes—

discrimination, or
harassment within the meaning of section 4A(1) and (2), (5) and (6).

In subsection (1)—

“ public authority ” includes any person who has functions of a public nature (subject to subsections (3) and (4)), and
“ function ” means function of a public nature.

The prohibition in subsection (1) shall not apply to—

the House of Commons,
the House of Lords,
the Security Service,
the Secret Intelligence Service,
the Government Communications Headquarters, or
a part of the armed forces of the Crown which is, in accordance with a requirement of the Secretary of State, assisting the Government Communications Headquarters.

The prohibition in subsection (1) shall not apply to the functions and actions listed in the Table of Exceptions in subsection (9) (but nothing in that Table permits anything which is prohibited by virtue of any Community law relating to discrimination).

The Secretary of State may by order amend the Table of Exceptions.

In an action under section 66 in respect of a contravention of this section—

the court shall not grant an injunction or interdict unless satisfied that it will not prejudice criminal proceedings or a criminal investigation, and
the court shall grant any application to stay or sist the section 66 proceedings on the grounds of prejudice to criminal proceedings or to a criminal investigation, unless satisfied that the proceedings or investigation will not be prejudiced.

Section 74(2)(b) shall not apply in relation to a respondent's reply, or a failure to reply, to a question in connection with an alleged contravention of this section—

if the respondent reasonably asserts that to have replied differently or at all might have prejudiced criminal proceedings or a criminal investigation,
if the respondent reasonably asserts that to have replied differently or at all would have revealed the reason for not instituting or not continuing criminal proceedings,
where the reply is of a kind specified for the purposes of this paragraph by order of the Secretary of State,
where the reply is given in circumstances specified for the purposes of this paragraph by order of the Secretary of State, or
where the failure occurs in circumstances specified for the purposes of this paragraph by order of the Secretary of State.

In this section “ criminal investigation ” means—

an investigation into the commission of an alleged offence, and
a decision whether to institute criminal proceedings.

The following is the Table of Exceptions referred to in subsection (4).

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.