Equality and Human Rights Commission
Creating a fairer Britain
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Public Sector Duties
Please note: This page is for archive purposes only. From 5 April 2011 a new public sector equality duty came law. View the new public sector equality duty content.
Current Public Sector Duty guidance
General guidance
Information on equality impact assessments, collecting and using information, ethnic monitoring, consultation, involvement, partnerships, developing objectives, equality schemes, equality in employment, and procuring goods and services.
Sectoral guidance
The guidance is set out for different sectors such as health, education, local government, central government, the voluntary and criminal justice and offers practical and helpful ways on meeting the duties.
Update: New public sector equality duty
The government has announced changes to Public Sector Equality Duty dates and requirements.
Consultation response
Read our response to the UK Government's draft regulations for the specific duties and the list of public bodies that will be subject to the general and specific duties.
Public sector duties booklet (PDF)
Download our quick start guide to the public sector duties currently in force.
Guidance about the new Public Sector Equality Duty is also now available.
More on the Duties
The new public sector equality duty
The new duty comes into force in April 2011, view updates, links to key documents and questions and answers on issues about the duty.
Background to the public sector duties
Find out why the duties were introduced and how they have progressed over the years.
What are the existing duties?
Do you know the difference between the general duty and the specific duties?
Case studies
Read real life examples of how organisations are using the duties.
Codes of Practice
The Code of practice is the statutory guidance on the legal requirements of each duty. It must be used by public authorities to make sure they are complying with the law.
Enforcement toolkit
A toolkit to enable you to check whether a public authority is complying with the duties and, if not, to call for the authority to comply.
Using the equality duties to make fair financial decisions
We have produced a number of resources to guide public authorities in making fair financial decisions, particularly in light of the recent economic downturn and reductions in overall public spending.