Ensuring people have equal access to the work

We received evidence that Elite Careplus Ltd was asking pre-employment health questions during its recruitment process.  This is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010, unless allowed by relevant legal exceptions.   

We received evidence that a care agency, Elite Careplus Ltd, was asking pre-employment health questions during its recruitment and registration process. The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful for employers to ask about an applicant’s health or disability before they have been offered the job, or before including them in a pool of successful candidates to be offered a role at a later date, except in specified situations.

People in Britain should have equal access to the labour market and should be treated fairly at work. 

We opened a formal investigation, using our powers under the Equality Act, after receiving evidence that Elite Careplus Limited was asking pre-employment health questions on its job application form.

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful, unless allowed by a relevant legal exception, for employers and employment agencies to ask questions about a job applicant’s health or disability:

• before it has made a conditional or unconditional offer of employment
• before including them in a pool of successful applicants to be offered a job when a position becomes available

Our investigation found that Elite Careplus Limited asked pre-employment health questions on its job application form, between 21 November 2018 and 20 June 2019. It failed to show that there was a lawful reason for asking the questions. It therefore committed an unlawful act that breached section 60 of the Equality Act 2010.

The care agency has now removed the questions from its job application form and confirmed that it uses the updated version of the form in its recruitment process. We have reviewed the form and acknowledge that the questions have been removed.