Draft regulations for the public sector equality duty announced

The draft regulations for the public sector equality duty (PSED) can be found in full here: The Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) Draft Regulations 2011

The regulations will come into effect on 6 April 2011.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) should continue to meet the requirements of the current duties on race, gender and disability until the new regulations are implemented.

Please note that the duties apply to England only.

Summary

The new regulations cover the following eight protected characteristics:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

In relation to marriage and civil partnership status, HEIs will only have a duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination that is prohibited by the Act.

Publishing information

An HEI will need to publish sufficient information to demonstrate its compliance with the general PSED, including:

• the effect the institution's policies and practices have had on its employees, or other people affected, who share a relevant protected characteristic
• any evidence of analysis undertaken to establish whether the institution's policies and practices would further, or had furthered, the aims set out in the general PSED
• details of the engagement that has been undertaken with people the institution considered to have an interest in furthering the aims set out in the general PSED

This information must be made accessible to the public.

Preparing and publishing equality objectives

HEIs must prepare and publish equality objectives to further one or more of the aims set out in the general PSED. This must include details of the engagement that has been undertaken when developing the objectives.

Objectives must be specific and measurable. They must also set out how the institution will measure progress towards these objectives.

This information must be made accessible to the public.

Timelines

Individual HEIs and HEFE must publish information by 31 July 2011, and then at intervals not greater than one year.

Equality objectives must be set before 6 April 2012 and subsequently at intervals not greater than four years beginning with the last date of publication.

Further information and support

ECU will produce guidance for the higher education sector on the PSED. We will also run events to develop and share existing knowledge within the sector on how to meet the duties. Further details will follow shortly.

Information relating to the specific duties and how institutions are responding will be added to the ECU Equality Act webpage.

Scotland and Wales

ECU will communicate within the sector when the draft regulations for Scotland and Wales are announced.

Alongside regionally specific guidance, we will also run regional events.

Additional resources

The GEO and Equality and Human Rights commission have both produced guidance to help public bodies understand and prepare for the PSED:

• Equality Act 2010: public sector equality duty what do I need to know? A quick start guide for public sector organisations
• New public sector equality duty guidance