Guides · Updated 23 October 2026

Equality monitoring questions on job applications

What the equality and diversity questions on UK application forms are for, and your choices when answering them.

Many UK applications include an equality and diversity section asking about things like age, sex, ethnicity, disability, religion and sexual orientation — characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010.

Why employers ask

Employers use the anonymous totals to check whether their recruitment is fair — for example, whether people from some groups drop out at a particular stage. This section is usually kept separate from your application and not seen by the people shortlisting.

Your choices

• These questions are normally voluntary, and most include a “Prefer not to say” option.
• Answering, or not answering, should not affect your application.
• Read the form’s privacy notice if you want to know exactly how the data is stored and used.

Disability and the Guaranteed Interview Scheme

Some employers, including many in the public sector, offer an interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria (often called the Disability Confident or Guaranteed Interview Scheme). This question is separate from equality monitoring — read it carefully if it applies to you. You can also ask for reasonable adjustments for interviews or tests.

Snapply never fills equality, disability or other personal questions for you — you always answer those yourself.