Equality & diversity

Most of the provisions of the Equality Act came into force on 1 October 2010.

Its aim is to:

• reform and harmonise discrimination law
• strengthen the law to support progress on equality
• replace all existing equality legislation.

Protected characteristics

Under the Equality Act 2010 the nine protected characteristics are as follows:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief (including lack of belief)
• Sex
• Sexual orientation.

Useful guidance and further information on each point can be found on the protected characteristics page.

For further information about the act, visit the Equality & Human Rights Commission website.

Public Sector Equality Duty

The equality duty consists of a general duty, with three main aims (set out in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010); and specific duties (set out in the secondary legislation that accompanies the Act). The specific duties are intended to assist public bodies to meet the general duty.

The general duty has three aims. It requires us 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 people from different groups. This involves considering the need to:
  • remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics
  • meet the needs of people with protected characteristics
  • encourage people with protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is low

• foster good relations between people from different groups. This involves tackling prejudice and promoting understanding between people from different groups

In order to demonstrate due regard, we are required to consider the three aims of the general duty when making decisions; for example, when:

• developing, evaluating and reviewing policies
• designing, delivering and evaluating services, including education provisions
• commissioning and procuring services from others

To comply with the general duty, we may treat some people more favourably than others, as far as this is allowed by UK and European anti-discrimination law. The general duty also explicitly recognises that disabled people’s requirements may be different from those of non-disabled people. Universities are required to take account of disabled people’s impairments and must make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

Specific duties

The specific duties aim to help us perform better in meeting the equality duty.
The focus of the specific duties is transparency in how we are responding to the equality duty. It is important to note that we must meet both the equality duty and the specific duties – it is not enough to meet the specific duties alone.
There are three specific duties:

• publication of information
• equality objectives
• manner of publication

Equality Scheme

The aim of this scheme is to bring together all the equality strands and comply with the new legislative requirements.

The Equality & Diversity Service welcomes the comments/involvement of interested parties in continued development of the scheme; please email us if you wish to be involved.