These slides outline the English regulations in terms of the public sector equality duties.

1. [ERRIGAL consulting on Equality & Diversity]
The Public Sector Equality Duty
[English regulations]
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

2. The general and public sector duties
• The general duties apply across all of the 3 GB nations
and the purpose of the specific duties are to assist public
authorities meet the general duty.
• However meeting the specific alone is not sufficient to
meeting the general duty requirement to have ‘due
regard’.
• The public sector duty differs in England it is:
– Publish equality information
– Prepare and publish equality objectives
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

3. The General Duty
• The advice for English authorities in terms of the general duty
is to consider:
• Assessing the relevance of functions to the general duty
(there is no prescribed process / documentation for this)
• Making use of equality information to assess relevance;
set objectives; planning engagement exercises and for
• Assessing the impact of polices on equality and good
relations – referencing the importance of case law which
has determined that assessments be carried out before
decisions are made and that a written record of the
assessment and decision is made
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

4. Case law principles
• These principles will aid the assessment process:
– Decision makers must be fully aware of the implications of the
general duty when making decisions
– To comply with the duty implications must be considered at the
time a policy is under consideration and decisions are being
taken.
– The duty must influence the final decision
– Where 3rd parties carryout public functions the duty will apply to
them
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

5. Commissioning and procurement
• The general duty applies regardless of the value of the
contract.
• The general duty applies to organisations procuring /
commissioning who are delivering public functions.
• Future guidance is expected from the E&HRC.
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

6. The Specific Duties
• The public sector duties in England are:
• Publish equality information
– The information will include employees and people affected by
its policies and practices
– By 31st January 2012 and annually thereafter
– For schools and PRU this is 6th April 2012
– Public authorities with less than 150 employees are not required
to publish equality information – they are required to capture this
information to develop their equality objectives and assess the
impact of their employment policies on equality
– Information to be accessible and either published separately or
as part of an authority document
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

7. The Specific Duties
• Prepare and publish equality objectives:
– Authorities including schools and PRU’s to publish one or two
equality objectives it should achieve to meet the general equality
duty
– Objective/s to be published by 6th April 2012 and every 4 years
thereafter.
– Objectives should be SMART
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

8. Monitoring and enforcement
• The E&HRC will monitor and enforce the equality duty.
The means open to the E&HRC are:
– Compliance notices
– Judicial review
– Section 31 assessments
– Section 23 agreements and legal interventions
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk

9. [ERRIGAL consulting on Equality & Diversity]
www.errigalconsulting-equality.co.uk