Nearly all of it is banter that carried on after somebody asked it to stop, and nearly all of it is witnessed by people who said nothing.

The short answer

Nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation. Older material, including some papers, names six of them. Treating somebody worse for any of them is unlawful — in recruitment, pay, promotion, training, dismissal and in day-to-day treatment.

Our Level 1 lesson covers the six and what they mean. This is about what actually happens on sites and what to do about it.

What it really looks like

Key figures for discrimination at work
The examinable numbers from this article, in one place.

Almost none of it is somebody announcing they will not employ you. It is:

The legal test is not whether it was meant unkindly. It is whether somebody is being treated worse for a reason on that list. Intent is not the test, and "it was only a joke" is not a defence.

The bit the syllabus does not cover: what to do

If it is happening to you

Write it down as it happens. Date, what was said, who was there. Do it the same day. This is the single most useful thing you can do, because these situations are almost always one person's word against another's, and a contemporaneous note is evidence in a way that a memory six months later is not.

Say clearly that you want it to stop, if you safely can. A lot of it does stop at that point, and if it does not, the fact that you asked matters a great deal afterwards.

Raise it formally, in writing. Your employer should have a grievance procedure. Writing it down starts a process with a record, where a conversation in a van does not.

Get advice early. ACAS is free, independent and confidential, and it is what they are there for. If it ever goes to an employment tribunal there are strict time limits — much shorter than people assume — and ACAS conciliation is a required step before a claim. Early advice keeps your options open; late advice sometimes cannot.

You are also protected from being punished for raising it. Being treated worse because you complained is victimisation, and it is unlawful in its own right.

If you are watching it happen

This is most people, most of the time, and it is where sites actually change.

You do not have to make a speech. "Leave it out" from one other person is usually enough, because most of this behaviour depends on the room going along with it. Not laughing is itself a response. If you cannot say anything in the moment, say something to the person afterwards, or to a supervisor.

Apprentices are the least powerful people on any site and this is genuinely harder for you than for anyone else. Telling your college or training provider is a legitimate route when telling the site is not.

Reasonable adjustments, which get missed

Disability is the one ground that carries a positive duty. An employer must not only avoid treating a disabled worker worse — they must make reasonable adjustments so the person can do the job.

In this trade that is more relevant than it sounds. Dyslexia is common and adjustments for written assessment are routine. So are adjustments after a back injury or for hearing loss — both occupational injuries this industry produces in quantity. Asking for one is not asking for a favour.

Why this is on a plumbing course

Construction is one of the least diverse industries in the country, and the people who leave it early are disproportionately the ones who were made unwelcome. Every firm complains about the skills shortage; a fair number are part of the reason for it.

You will spend your career in small teams, in vans and in people's homes. What gets tolerated in those teams is set by what the people in them let pass.

What comes next

The obligations do not change at Level 2 — the nine are the nine. What changes is your position: supervising an apprentice makes you responsible for what happens on your job, not just for what you do yourself.

🔢 The numbers worth memorising

6
grounds of discrimination to name at Level 1
1
extra duty for disability — making reasonable adjustments
0
process makes a dismissal fair if the reason is a protected characteristic

⚠️ Where people go wrong

  • Thinking discrimination only means refusing someone a job. Day-to-day treatment counts, and that is where most of it happens.
  • Confusing redundancy with dismissal. Redundancy is the job ending; dismissal is the person being let go.
  • Treating age discrimination as only affecting older workers. It applies in both directions.
  • Forgetting that religion includes having no religion.
  • Not knowing that being punished for complaining is itself unlawful.
Want to work through this properly? Unit 101 on PlumbMate is 1 lessons with quizzes, flashcards, key facts, AI-marked short answers and interactive tasks — written against the City & Guilds standards.
Open Unit 101 →

📝 8-Question Self-Test

Straight from the Level 1 course question bank. Click an option to see whether you got it right — the explanation appears instantly, and there is nothing to submit.

Your score: 0 / 8
Question 1 of 8
Which of these is NOT one of the protected characteristics named in the standard?
Question 2 of 8
Which of these is one of the protected grounds it is unlawful to discriminate against?
Question 3 of 8
What is the difference between redundancy and dismissal?
Question 4 of 8
Passing over a woman for a job that she is qualified for, because she is a woman, is discrimination on which ground?
Question 5 of 8
Which of the nine protected characteristics covers whether someone is heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual?
Question 6 of 8
Refusing to take on an apprentice because they are 45 rather than 18 is discrimination on which ground?
Question 7 of 8
Which of the nine protected characteristics covers a person's colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origin?
Question 8 of 8
Refusing to make a reasonable adjustment for a worker with a long term impairment is discrimination on which ground?

Going deeper: the same ground at Level 2

Level 1 gives you the shape of this. The Level 2 guides below take it considerably further — the regulations, the calculations and the detail you will need next. Free to read, same as these.

Met a word you did not know? Every term in the Level 1 Diploma, explained in plain English and free to read. The dotted words above link straight into it.
Open the glossary →