Summary 5 Application process There was virtually no net discrimination (one per cent)for sets of applications where the employer's own form had been used.This compared to 38 per cent where a CV had been sent.This difference was statistically significant.This result may relate to employer forms often being designed so that the section containing personal details(including name)can be detached before the sifting process.This is in addition to the standardisation of applications in favour of characteristics pertinent to the job.Further,these measures may be associated with organisations with dedicated human resources functions and well-developed procedures Part of the explanation for the absence of net discrimination among public sector employers may be the widespread use of standard application forms.Forms were used in 79 per cent of public sector applications compared to six per cent of those to private sector employers. Conclusions The random assignment of names to convey ethnicity in applications in this correspondence test mean there are no plausible explanations for the difference in treatment found between white and ethnic minority names other than racial discrimination. High levels of name-based net discrimination were found in favour of white applicants.This is consistent with the high levels of discrimination found in studies in other countries in recent years.This relates only to the early stage of the recruitment process,and there are limitations with the approach in terms of the occupations and vacancies that it was possible to cover.Nevertheless,candidates were denied access to a range of jobs in a range of sectors across British cities as a result of having a name associated with an ethnic minority background. The level of discrimination was consistent across the ethnic minority groups included in the study,suggesting that it accounts for a proportion of ethnic penalties for all ethnic groups.However,it does not appear to account for the difference between minority groups. The findings point to the potential effectiveness of a practical lever for tackling the problem.No discrimination at the first stage of recruitment was found where employers were using their own forms for the process(as opposed to CVs).5 Application process There was virtually no net discrimination (one per cent) for sets of applications where the employer’s own form had been used. This compared to 38 per cent where a CV had been sent. This difference was statistically significant. This result may relate to employer forms often being designed so that the section containing personal details (including name) can be detached before the sifting process. This is in addition to the standardisation of applications in favour of characteristics pertinent to the job. Further, these measures may be associated with organisations with dedicated human resources functions and well-developed procedures. Part of the explanation for the absence of net discrimination among public sector employers may be the widespread use of standard application forms. Forms were used in 79 per cent of public sector applications compared to six per cent of those to private sector employers. Conclusions The random assignment of names to convey ethnicity in applications in this correspondence test mean there are no plausible explanations for the difference in treatment found between white and ethnic minority names other than racial discrimination. High levels of name-based net discrimination were found in favour of white applicants. This is consistent with the high levels of discrimination found in studies in other countries in recent years. This relates only to the early stage of the recruitment process, and there are limitations with the approach in terms of the occupations and vacancies that it was possible to cover. Nevertheless, candidates were denied access to a range of jobs in a range of sectors across British cities as a result of having a name associated with an ethnic minority background. The level of discrimination was consistent across the ethnic minority groups included in the study, suggesting that it accounts for a proportion of ethnic penalties for all ethnic groups. However, it does not appear to account for the difference between minority groups. The findings point to the potential effectiveness of a practical lever for tackling the problem. No discrimination at the first stage of recruitment was found where employers were using their own forms for the process (as opposed to CVs). Summary