About Us

Welsh Athletics continues its commitment to making the sport as accessible as possible to participants from all social and ethnic backgrounds. We continue to increase opportunities and reduce barriers for participation. Following the awarding of our Intermediate equality standard, we have been progressing with colleagues from UK Athletics and the other Home Countries towards the Advanced standard.

James Williams, Chief Executive

Our annual members' equality survey continues to show progress in many areas, in particular, significant progress in female membership. This was identified as a key development area for Welsh Athletics as part of our Intermediate submission. Following the success of a number of programmes, we now have more Female members (50.2%) than male for the first time ever. Despite this positive growth, we acknowledge that further work is required in increasing female participation in Coach Education. From a governance perspective, we are proud to have a diverse Board and continue to lead the way within the sector on female and BME membership. Our aim is that the standard set at Board level will be replicated across the entire Governance structure of the Sport in the years to come.

• Two key areas identified through the members survey as future priorities are Mental Health and Disability.

Within our new strategy, we have committed to: "To increase the number of athletes engaging with licensed competitions across Wales, specifically targeting under-represented groups"

What is the Equality Act 2010?

A new Equality Act came into force on 1 October 2010 and brings together over 116 separate pieces of legislation into one single Act. Combined as a new Act they provide the legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all.

The Act simplifies, strengthens and harmonises the current legislation to provide Britain with a new discrimination law which protects individuals from unfair treatment and promotes a fair and more equal society.

The nine main pieces of legislation that have merged are:

• the Equal Pay Act 1970
• the Sex Discrimination Act 1975
• the Race Relations Act 1976
• the Disability Discrimination Act 1995
• the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
• the Equality Act 2006, Part 2
• the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007

Equality Act guidance