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Equality Act - Legal Duty for Schools

The Equality Act (2010) introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) which imposes certain duties on public sector organisations (including schools).

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) for schools is comprised of a general duty and specific duties. These are outlined below.

General Duty

The PSED General duty has three main elements (sometimes called the three ‘arms’). In carrying out their functions, public bodies (including schools) are required to have 'due regard' to the need to:

  1. Eliminate discrimination, harassment and other conduct that is prohibited by the Act,

  2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it,

  3. Foster good relations across all characteristics - between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.

'Due regard' has been defined in case law and means that consideration of these three elements must be embedded in the work of the school and whenever a major decision is taken or a new policy is developed, schools need to consider the implications for equality. These considerations must be based on a serious analysis of equality factors and should not be a tick box exercise. They need to be considered at the time and not as an afterthought.

Specific duties

There are two specific duties that schools must comply with

  1. to publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the Public Sector Equality Duty, and

  2. to prepare and publish equality objectives.

Schools need to update the published information at least annually and to publish objectives at least once every four years.

Exemplar Equality Policy

You can use this exemplar policy to develop your own school policy

Equality Act for Schools Summary Sheet

Equality Toolkit

This toolkit is designed to support schools to meet their legal duties under the current equality legislation. It contains a straightforward explanation of what is required by law and some suggestions as to how schools can put this into practice. The duties for schools under the current legislation should not represent an extra burden for schools; instead they can serve to support and enhance good practice.