Explanatory note

This Order designates sixth-form colleges in England and Wales as institutions with a religious ethos to which paragraph 5 (1) of Schedule 12 to the Equality Act 2010 applies.

Section 91 of the Equality Act 2010 provides that it is unlawful for an institution to discriminate in relation to the admission of students to further and higher education. The effect of the designation is that an institution will be permitted, in relation to the admission of students, to give preference to persons of a particular religion or belief in order to preserve the institution’s religious ethos. This exception does not apply to admissions to courses of vocational training.