Public Sector Equality Duties 

Incorporated into the Equality Act 2010 are the Public Sector Duties. These duties outline the responsibilities of a variety of organisations, including the NHS.  Principally there are 2 duties that organisations need to adhere to. These are known as The General and Specific Duties.

The General duties set out the key elements that all public authorities must consider (pay due regard) when carrying out its functions. These include:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010

• Advance equality of opportunity between people from different groups

•  Foster good relations between people from different groups

This means that consideration of equality issues must influence the decisions we make:   

• in how we act as employers;

• how we develop, evaluate and review policy;

• how we design and evaluate services, and

• how we commission and procure from others.

Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity involves considering the need to:

•  remove or reduce disadvantage suffered by people due to their protected characteristics;

•  meet the needs of people with protected characteristics; and

• encourage people with protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is low.

• meet the needs of disabled people that are different from the needs of persons who are not disabled including, in particular, taking steps to take account of disabled peoples impairments