Equality legislation

The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation on the basis of protected characteristics.

The protected characteristics are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion and belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

Our commitment to equality goes beyond the protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act to include:

• socioeconomic status (poverty)
• care experienced people (people who have spent part of their childhood in the care system)
• carers
• armed force veterans
• people with an offending history

We also recognise that people can have multiple characteristics and may face increased disadvantage and have different needs because of this.

The Public Sector Equality Duty

The Public Sector Equality Duty is a legal duty under the Equality Act. The general duty requires public authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other unlawful conduct prohibited by the act
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share and people who do not share a relevant protected characteristic
• foster good relations between people who share and people who do not share a relevant protected characteristic

Under the Public Sector Equality Duty specific duties, public authorities are required to:

• publish information to show their compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty, at least annually
• set and publish one or more equality objectives at least every four years