Public Sector Equality Duty

Insight

Specific Equality Duties: England

The English Specific Equality Duties are the least onerous in the UK. There are two requirements, namely publishing information to demonstrate compliance, and developing equality objectives.

Publishing Information

Listed authorities must publish information demonstrating how they pay due regard to each element of the Public Sector Equality Duty, namely the elimination of discrimination, the advancement of equality and the fostering of good relations. This information should be published annually. In essence, the information will cover how the listed authority mainstreams equality.

Public authorities who have more than 150 employees are obliged to publish equality information about staff and “other persons affected by its policies and practices”.

Staff Information

There are no specific categories of required information, and it is up to individual public bodies to decide which information should be published to demonstrate compliance. Many public bodies do publish staff data about each protected characteristic, but this is not obligatory.

Listed authorities may consider publishing equality information about:

• the composition of the overall workforce;

• the gender pay gap

• recruitment and retention rates

• flexible working applications

• continuous professional development

• career progression

• disciplinary and grievances.

Equality Information about “Other Persons”

This does not mean that listed authorities are legally obliged to collect and publish equality data about service users. This can be done of course, and can be very effective in demonstrating equality evidence is used to develop action to better meet the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The approach should be proportionate and relevant to the service. For example, a request for equality data from someone who wishes to join an NHS GP Surgery is more likely to be appropriate (and effective) than a request for equality data from someone who wants to arrange a special refuse collection from his or her local authority.

“Other sources” include Census data, Health Survey information,  and employment data.

Equality Objectives

Every four years listed authorities must publish one or more Equality Objectives which aim to achieve the elements of the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Regulations state that the Objectives must be specific and measurable, and published in an accessible manner.

The number of Equality Objectives is up to each organisation; it is suggested that between 4-8 is an appropriate ballpark. Any higher than this and you risk having a list of “action points” as opposed to Objectives. In practice, many public bodies have separate action points which relate to each Objective.

Equality Objectives could be designed to achieve improvements in service delivery, and it is best if they are based on evidence of need. Guidance from the EHRC suggests that the following criteria should help identify priorities:

• Does information at a local or national level highlight this as an important equality issue?

• Are these priorities for staff and service users themselves?

• Would this objective stretch the organisation to perform better on equality issues in key areas?

• How would achieving this objective improve the experience for people with a relevant protected characteristic?

• How does this objective contribute to the aims of the general equality duty?

• What are the views of your stakeholders?

• How many people with relevant protected characteristics are affected by the issue, and what is the severity of the effect?

Measuring Equality Objectives

Again, how Equality Objectives are measured is up to each individual public body. It will not always be possible to measure quantitative progress, and it can be challenging to benchmark qualitative information.

Think about how you are going to measure progress when you are developing the Objectives, and if you are unable to think of how an Objective can be measured then you may need to rethink the Objective. You should try to demonstrate that there has been change since the Objective was introduced, and articulation of the change should complement the measurement obligation.