The Human Rights Act protects people from unlawful discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services to the public.
Unlawful discrimination can be direct or indirect.
Discrimination occurs when a person is treated unfairly or less favourably than another person in the same or similar circumstances. The discrimination is unlawful if it is based on one of the grounds set out in Factsheet 4, in the areas set out in Factsheet 5. Of those areas this Factsheet deals only with goods and services. Protection against discrimination on the grounds covered by the Human Rights Act applies to most goods, services and facilities supplied to the public, for example in shops, transport, health services provided by GPs, and restaurants. The definition of facilities includes banking and insurance, grants, loans, credit or finance.