The Equality Act

The Equality Act 2010 has replaced the previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, providing greater fairness, consistency and protection against many forms of discrimination.

The Act applies to services and public functions, premises, employment, education and associations, including political parties.

The Act covers the following protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender Reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion and belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

The Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Duty is a duty on public bodies and others carrying out public functions. It consists of a general duty and specific duties.

The General Duty has three aims where all public bodies are required to have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010;
• Advance equality of opportunity between different groups; and
• Foster good relations between different groups.

There are also Specific Duties imposed by Parliament where we are required to demonstrate our compliance to the three aims of the General Duty by:

• Publishing equality data of our workforce and service users who share a relevant protected characteristic on how they are affected by our policies and practices; and
• Setting equality objectives with clear equality outcomes.