What does the Equality Act 2010 mean for our planned single equality scheme?

The Public Sector Equality Duty within the Equality Act 2010 will apply to higher education institutions (HEIs). It will require them to have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by the Equality Act;
• advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it;
• foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.
  

Similarly to the Gender, Disability and Race Equality Duties, the Public Sector Equality Duty will also contain specific duties. The government has published its proposals for the specific duties of the Public Sector Equality Duty in its policy statement Equality Bill: Making it work policy proposals for specific duties. However, they still need to be introduced in secondary legislation before they can become law. 

The government's proposals for the specific duties do not include a requirement to produce a Single Equality Scheme (SES). Instead, the government proposes that HEIs develop equality objectives, without requiring any particular process to implement those objectives. However, as the secondary legislation goes through parliament changes may be made to the government's proposals.

The Equality Act is being introduced by a series of commencement orders and the Public Sector Equality Duty is likely to come into force in April 2011. In the meantime, ECU advises that HEIs ensure that they are compliant with the existing Race, Gender and Disability Equality Duties and consider how prepared they are for the introduction of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The eight protected characteristics covered by the Public Sector Equality Duty are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
  

Marriage and Civil partnership is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act but it is not covered by the Public Sector Equality Duty.

If HEIs feel it appropriate to their circumstances they can explore the feasibility of covering some or all of the new protected characteristics in their SES. Actions relating to the new protected characteristics can be simple. For example, they may include improving available data on pregnant students or establishing what policies and practices they already have in place to advance equality of opportunity and tackle discrimination in relation to pregnancy and maternity.

At present HEIs are only required to cover race, disability and gender in an SES but many HEIs schemes already cover some of the new protected characteristics. The inclusion of other equality areas in addition to race, disability and gender should enable HEIs to better meet the needs of their staff and students as well as preparing them for the introduction of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

To find out more about the Equality Act and its implications for the higher education sector please visit our dedicated Equality Act 2010 section.