Public sector equality duty

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) places a positive obligation on public bodies and private sector bodies providing public services to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations across the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation (section 146, EA 10). The PSED is a powerful tool for unions.

The scope of the PSED is wider in Scotland and Wales than in England. The equivalent duty in Northern Ireland, the statutory equality and good relations duty, is found in section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. There is information about the PSED in Chapter 19.