Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is not just about compliance with legislation, it’s about leading change, improvement initiatives, engaging, motivating and improving the potential of staff. The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) brings this into law for all public bodies in the United Kingdom.
According to ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) the Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies and others carrying out public functions to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, to advance equality of opportunities and foster good relations. The duty applies to all nine areas of discrimination listed in the Equality Act 2010.
As such, it’s about ensuring all stakeholders are at the centre of the services offered to the public and positively impacting upon the context and culture of the organisation whilst supporting public sector staff to design and deliver great service.
The role of the Public Sector Equality Duty is to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010. To advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
It is a requirement in law that public bodies such as the NHS, local government, police, fire brigades, schools, colleges, universities and others carrying out public functions follow the Public Sector Equality Duty. The full list of employers required to follow the PSED can be found in Schedule 19 of the Equality Act 2010.
The duty applies to individual employees, workers, contractors and customer and all nine areas of discrimination listed in the Equality Act 2010 – referred to as protected characteristics – meaning that employers need to consider:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- pregnancy and maternity
- race
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
- marriage and civil partnership
Note: For marriage and civil partnership, the Public Sector Equality Duty only requires employers to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination.
This ensures that public bodies consider the needs of all individuals in their day to day work – in shaping policy, in delivering services, and in relation to their own employees.
JD
The Equality Blog 