Government guidance on the specific public sector equality duties

The Government Equalities Office has published guidance on the specific public sector equality duties. The "quick start guide" covers the specific duties that apply to public bodies in England and to the non-devolved public functions of public bodies operating in Scotland and Wales. The guide gives examples of the kind of information that public bodies should publish and issues that they should consider when setting equality objectives. It also aims to clarify what public bodies are not required to do under the specific duties. 

The Equality and Human Rights Commission will publish a statutory code of practice on the general equality duty and the specific equality duties, which will provide more detailed guidance than the Government's quick start guide. 

The specific duties in England

The specific public sector equality duties came into force on 10 September 2011. The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/2260), which apply to public bodies in England and to the non-devolved public functions of public bodies in Scotland and Wales, provide for two specific duties: the duty to publish equality information and the duty to publish equality objectives. The specific duties are aimed at assisting public authorities in the better performance of the general public sector equality duty contained in the Equality Act 2010, which has been in force since 5 April 2011. 

Under the specific duty to publish equality information, a public authority must publish information to demonstrate its compliance with the general equality duty, including, in particular, information relating to persons who share a relevant protected characteristic who are: its employees; and other persons affected by its policies and practices. The requirement to publish information about employees does not apply to public authorities with fewer than 150 employees. 

The Regulations provide that public authorities (except schools) must publish this information no later than 31 January 2012, and subsequently at intervals of no more than one year. Schools have until 6 April 2012 to publish the information. 

Under the specific duty to publish equality objectives, a public authority must prepare and publish one or more objectives that it thinks it should achieve to comply with any part of the general equality duty, no later than 6 April 2012, and subsequently at intervals of no more than four years. 

The specific duties in Wales and Scotland

Separate Regulations relating to specific duties for public bodies in Wales in relation to their devolved public functions came into force on 6 April 2011. The specific duties for relevant Welsh public bodies are significantly more detailed than those proposed for English public bodies, and include duties to carry out impact assessments on policies and practices, to publish strategic equality plans and to report on compliance with the general equality duty. 

The Scottish Government is consulting on specific duties in relation to relevant Scottish public bodies. 

Also

The following questions on the public sector equality duty are included in the XpertHR FAQs section:

The XpertHR quick reference section provides links to approved codes of practice and guidance on employment law.