Journey Folki > Community > Help & Resources > Commission For Racial Equality (CRE)

The Commission for Racial Equality has the responsibility for:

Working towards the elimination of discrimination.

Promoting equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups generally.

Keeping under review the working of the Race Relations Act and, when required by the Home Secretary or when it otherwise thinks it necessary, to draw up and submit to the Home Secretary proposals for amending it.

Its powers include;

Undertaking formal investigations into discriminatory practices which are unsuitable to be dealt with on an individual basis.

Supporting individuals taking up complaints of discrimination.

To issue Codes of Practice on employment. The first Code was approved by Parliament in 1984. It is not legally binding, but can be used in evidence at an Employment Tribunal.

To examine areas of policy outside the scope of the RRA.

To issue non-discrimination notices.

To fund research and other projects.

To apply for an injunction if it believes someone has broken the law and is likely to go on doing so. In the following circumstances, it is the Commission for Racial Equality alone which can take action, such as applying for an injunction, if discrimination has taken place:

(a) if an advertisement demonstrates an intention to discriminate unlawfully.

(b) if someone instructs an employee or agent to discriminate unlawfully.

To enforce the specific duties introduced by the Race Relations Act 2000.

Commission for Racial Equality investigations

The Commission for Racial Equality can conduct ‘formal investigations’ into any subject it chooses

The Commission must give notice of its intention to hold a formal investigation and draw up terms of reference. If it is investigating a particular organisation or person, and states in the terms of reference that it believes they are discriminating unlawfully, then it will be able to require them to give evidence or produce information.

Either during or at the end of an investigation, the Commission for Racial Equality can make recommendations for changes which would promote equality of opportunity. These recommendations will not be legally binding, but could be used to bring pressure on the organisation or person, or as evidence in an individual case against them.

Non-discrimination notices

The Commission for Racial Equality will be able to issue a non-discrimination notice if it decides, during a formal investigation, that an organisation or individual has discriminated unlawfully.

The non-discrimination notice requires the organisation or person named in it to stop discriminating unlawfully and, if necessary, to let the people concerned know what changes have been made in their procedures or arrangements in order to obey the non-discrimination notice.

Before issuing the notice, the Commission for Racial Equality must warn the organisation or person concerned that it is thinking of issuing a non-discrimination notice, and give them 28 days to make representations. Once the notice is issued, the organisation or person named can appeal to the Employment Tribunal (in an employment case) or the County Court. The appeal must be made within six weeks of the issue of the notice.

If the appeal fails, or no appeal is made, the non-discrimination notice becomes final; in other words, it can be enforced. The Commission for Racial Equality keeps a register of notices that have become final and anyone is entitled to inspect this register and take a copy of any notice in it.

Injunctions

A non-discrimination notice can only be enforced if the Commission for Racial Equality goes to court and gets an injunction. It can do this at any time within five years of when the notice becomes final if it thinks that the organisation or person named in the notice will continue to discriminate unlawfully.

An injunction is an order by a County Court or the High Court ordering someone to stop acting in a particular way. If the organisation or person does not obey the injunction, they will be in contempt of court and the Commission for Racial Equality can apply to the court to have the people involved fined or imprisoned.

The Commission for Racial Equality may also apply to the County Court for an injunction without issuing a non-discrimination notice in the following circumstances:

If someone has successfully brought a complaint against an individual or organisation and the Commission considers that the individual or organisation will go on discriminating unlawfully.

If the Commission considers that someone has discriminated unlawfully and is likely to go on doing so; in this case, the Commission must itself apply to the Employment Tribunal or County Court to get a finding that the person concerned has in fact discriminated unlawfully.

If the Commission considers that someone has published an unlawful advertisement, instructed an employee or agent to discriminate unlawfully, or put pressure on anybody else to discriminate unlawfully. Only the CRE can take action on these kinds of unlawful acts.
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Gypsy's & Travellers: The Facts
There are not enough authorised sites for Gypsies and Travellers

Local authorities used to have a legal duty to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers. In 1994 this obligation was removed following the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act and, as a result, and along with 05 April 2006 a change in the use of land and more land being identified for housing, there are now too few sites to accommodate all Gypsies and Travellers.

The lack of permanent and transit sites throughout the country has forced Travellers to camp wherever they can.

The latest figures from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) for the number of caravans show that there are about 15,000 in the UK(1)

72% or 10,836 of these are on authorised sites (5,946 on local authority sites and 4,890 authorised private sites).

28% or 4,232 are on unauthorised developments or encampments - 12% or 1,855 on unauthorised developments (where Gypsies and Travellers own the land but do not have planning permission) and 16% or 2,377 on unauthorised encampments (where Gypsies and Travellers do not own the land and planning consent has not been given for use as a Gypsy and Traveller site).

Since 1996 the number of Gypsy and Traveller caravans has remained fairly constant, but the number of caravans on unauthorised developments has increased, while those on unauthorised encampments has decreased.

The majority of Gypsies and Travellers, living on authorised sites or houses, do abide by the planning laws

90% of Gypsy and Traveller planning permission applications are initially rejected compared to 20% overall (2).

As a result, some Gypsies and Travellers, certain that their applications will be initially turned down, set up sites before obtaining – or even applying for – planning permission.

Gypsies and Travellers do work

Traditionally finding work as licensed hawkers or pedlars, basket makers, horse dealers and seasonal argricultural labourers, many Gypsies and Travellers are now landscape gardeners, tarmacers, motor trade workers, scrap metal dealers, tree fellers, and so on.

Some Gypsies and Irish Travellers are employed as teachers, academics, and health workers, while others work in the financial sector and in the sport, leisure and entertainment industries.

Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised ethnic groups for the purposes of the Race Relations Act (1976), identified as having a shared culture, language and beliefs

Roma are recorded in Greece and Turkey around 1000AD and in Scotland in 1505.

'Gypsy' is thought to be a derivative of Egyptian, which is what the settled population believed the Roma to be.

Irish Travellers have been known as a distinct group since 400AD.

Case law established Gypsies as a recognised ethnic group in 1988 (CRE v Dutton) and Irish Travellers in England and Wales in August 2000 (O'Leary v Allied Domecq).

Gypsies and Travellers are nomadic people

Planning law defines Gypsies and Irish Travellers as people with a nomadic way of life.

Whilst this is historically true, 90% of Gypsies across the world now live in houses.

Some groups are highly mobile, moving on when work opportunities have been exhausted and others reside permanently in one area or only travel for several weeks or months of the year, returning to their home base for the winter months.

Nomadism is more prevalent in Western Europe but even here only 50% of Gypsies live in caravans.

Even when Gypsies and Irish Travellers live in houses their culture and heritage stays with them.

The romantic view of horse-drawn caravans has long since passed. Gypsies and Irish Travellers now use modern, good quality vehicles and caravans and visit districts to ply their various trades.

It is estimated that there are between 200,000 and 300,000 Gypsies and Travellers living in the UK (3)
The majority of Gypsies and Irish Travellers live perfectly legally in trailers (caravans) on local authority owned or privately owned sites

A minority live on the road-side and in unauthorised encampments as a result of too few legal sites.

There are also many Gypsies and Irish Travellers living in privately owned houses or in council housing.

Gypsies and Travellers do pay taxes

All Gypsies and Irish Travellers living on a local authority or privately owned sites pay rates, rent, gas, electricity and all other associated charges, measured and charged in the same way as neighbouring houses.

Those living on unauthorised encampments do not pay rates, but they also don’t receive services.

All Gypsies and Irish Travellers are charged VAT on everything they buy.

The vast majority of Gypsies and Travellers seek to cause as little disruption to the lives of the settled community as possible

Although the majority of Gypsies and Irish Travellers remove their rubbish before they move on, it has been found that where there has been a Traveller encampment there has, on occasion, been refuse and discarded household items left.

Many councils have found that it is cost effective to provide skips and portable toilets.

Gypsy culture is built upon strict codes of cleanliness learnt over centuries of life on the road. Concepts such as mokadi and mahrime(4) include strict guidelines. For example, dogs are not allowed in trailers or anywhere near plates or cutlery.

There is no evidence to suggest that incidence of crime is far higher amongst Gypsies and Travellers

Criminal justice agencies do not ethnically monitor Gypsies and Irish Travellers, so accurate statistics are not available.

Gypsies and Travellers are more prone to ill-health

For Gypsies and Travellers, levels of prenatal mortality, stillbirths and infant mortality are significantly higher than the national average.

It is estimated that, on average, Gypsy and Traveller women live 12 years less than women in the general population and Gypsy and Traveller men ten years less than men in the general population.(5)

Gypsy and Traveller pupils in England are the group most at risk of failure in the education system

In 2003, 23% of Roma Gypsy pupils and 42% of Irish Traveller pupils in England obtained five or more A*-C GCSEs, compared with an overall average of 51%. 22% of Roma Gypsy pupils and 17% of Irish Traveller pupils obtained no passes, compared with 6% on average. (6)

Gypsy and Traveller children, particularly those of secondary age, have much lower levels of school attendance than pupils from other groups. By Key Stage 3, it is estimated that only 15-20% of Traveller pupils are registered or regularly attend school. (7)
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