The Public Sector Equality Duty 



The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is found in section 149 of the EA 10. Detailed guidance is available on the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) website. What follows is a short summary.


The PSED duty requires public bodies – and private bodies when carrying out public functions – to have “due regard” to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and to foster good relations across the following protected characteristics:


• age;



• disability;



• gender reassignment;



• pregnancy and maternity; 



• race; 



• religion or belief;



• sex; and



• sexual orientation.



The duty applies to the public bodies listed in Schedule 19 of the EA 10. These are local authorities, higher and further education institutions, schools, health bodies, police, fire and transport authorities and government departments. It also applies to public, private or voluntary organisations that carry out public functions (including on behalf of local authorities).



In England, a smaller group of public bodies with more than 150 employees must also comply with the following “specific duties”:


• to publish information showing compliance with the PSED at least annually, including information relating to employees with a protected characteristic; and


• to publish one or more “specific and measurable” equality objective to advance the PSED, and to renew that objective(s) every four years.


The specific duties on devolved public authorities in Wales and Scotland are much more tightly defined that those for England.


Public bodies that are not covered by the “specific duties” (and private and voluntary sector bodies that are performing public functions) still need to collect appropriate information, so that they can demonstrate compliance with the PSED.


The EHRC has produced guidance – The Essential Guide to the Public Sector Equality Duty – available from its website (https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/psed_essential_guide_-_guidance_for_english_public_bodies.pdf).


The PSED is a powerful tool in the hands of anti-discrimination activists and advocates of a fair and tolerant society. For more information on the duty, see the TUC Equality Duty Toolkit and other resources available from the TUC website.



In April 2013, the TUC published evidence compiled on its behalf by LRD demonstrating the positive impact of the PSED, and repeated calls for statutory equality reps, proper resourcing of the EHRC and a statutory Code of Practice on implementing the PSED. 



The legal regime is much stronger in Scotland. New Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015 have implemented the EU Public Procurement Directive. For more information, see Chapter 12. 



In addition, under the Scotland Act 2016, the Scottish government now has the power to enact the public sector socio-economic equality duty (Part 1, EA10), which has never been brought into force by the Westminster government.



In Scotland and Wales, there is a legal requirement to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) as part of the PSED. In England, the specific legal requirement to carry out an EIA was removed in April 2011. However, by law, public bodies in England must be able to demonstrate compliance with the PSED in their decision making, and both the EHRC and the TUC suggest that a proper EIA is the best way to achieve this. Judicial rulings support this view (see R (D) v Worcestershire County Council [2013] EWHC 2490).