Not for the first time in its history, the UK Higher Education sector finds itself in a position of significant financial constraint. The current coalition Government's actions to address the budget deficit have led to sweeping cuts across many public sector departments, but it is higher education that has seen the most draconian reduction in public financial support. The combined impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review (Treasury 2010), the Browne Review (Browne 2010) and the changes to tuition fee structures from 2012 onwards have left higher education institutions (HEIs) unsettled. In these austere times it is easy to see how some HEIs, especially those for whom widening participation (WP) is no more than a value-added extension of student recruitment activity, may consider WP to be one of the first belt loops to be tightened. It is in this context, of imposed financial constraint and differential engagement with the broader philosophies of WP activity, that this paper approaches the topic of whether the introduction of the Equality Act will help or hinder efforts to widen participation. Viewing the Equality Act through a WP-tinted lens encourages a reflective mindset as a way of auditing one's own institution and (hopefully) ensuring that WP remains (or for some, becomes) embedded within institutional cultures.