Proposed reforms to EHRC

6th August 2012

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is to have its budget halved to £26m by 2015 and will see its staff numbers cut from 400-plus to 180.

The EHRC has previously been criticised by MPs for ‘financial mismanagement’ after the National Audit Office (NAO) refused to sign off the Commission's accounts for three consecutive years, and last year the NAO found that Commission staff were "paid too much" and that the EHRC had spent £1.6m "without authority".

Lynne Featherstone, Minister for Equality, said that the Commission would be looking to appoint a new chair to replace Trevor Phillips, the former television executive and presenter, and conduct a review of the commission's budget.

The new chair will be paid £56,000 a year for working two days a week compared with the current £112,000 for a three-and-a-half day week.

Ministers have brought forward a key review of how the EHRC discharges its core functions, warning that fundamental structural changes could be made to the EHRC's remit, including some functions being carried out elsewhere, or splitting its responsibilities across new or existing bodies.