The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)
The Equality Act 2010 introduced a Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) that applies to public bodies, including maintained schools and Academies. The purpose of the Act is to ensure that public authorities and organisations carrying out public functions think about how they can improve society and promote equality in every aspect of their day-to-day business.
There are two parts to the Public Sector Equality Duty
- The general duty
- Specific duties
The General Duty
The three aims of the general duty are to make sure that public authorities have due regard to the need to:
- put an end to unlawful behaviour that is banned by the Equality Act 2010,including discrimination, harassment and victimisation
- advance equal opportunities between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not
- foster good relations between people who have a protected characteristic and those who do not
Specific Duties
Public authorities must publish information that shows how we comply with general duties.
We must show how we are performing in the area of equality and give the public information they need to hold us to aacount on our performance on equality.
What is meant by a 'protected characteristic'?
Under the Equality Act 2010, there are nine protected characteristics.
These are: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.
Equality Objectives 2024 - 2025
The Equality Act 2010 requires schools to publish at least one equality objective.
Our current objectives, each based on an aim of the general duty, are as follows:
- Put an end to discriminatory and prejudiced language
- Advance extra-curricular opportunities for pupils on our Special Educational Needs register
- Embrace opportunities to share role models who have a protected characteristic