Specific duties in England and for non-devolved public authorities in Scotland and Wales

As well as the general duty, the public sector equality duty (PSED) regulations sets out additional specific duties that are different in England, Scotland and Wales.

This page is about the specific duties that apply in England and to non-devolved and cross-border public authorities in Scotland and Wales, as listed in Schedule 2 of the Specific Duties Regulations 2017.

 The purpose of the specific duties is to help public authorities improve their performance on the general duties. However, complying with the specific duties does not necessarily mean that you are having due regard to the aims of the general duty in all the work that you do.

To comply with the specific duties, public authorities must publish accessible information that shows how they are complying with the general duty.

The equality information you publish should:

• be enough to allow us, as well as service users, staff, regulators and other interested parties, to assess how your organisation is performing in the area of equality
• help you to explain how and why you have made certain decisions
• provide a clear picture of how you have complied with the general duty
• give the public the information they need to hold you to account for your performance on equality

What you need to include

Your equality information must include data about the protected characteristics of your employees and others affected by your work, such as those who use your services.

The nature of the information you need to publish will depend on the size and purpose of your organisation. It should give a full picture of your performance in the three aims of the general duty and cover all the functions of your organisation.

For example, small organisations, like primary schools, could publish an outline of their equality priorities, and how this relates to the protected characteristics of their teaching staff and students.

Larger organisations, like government departments, will need to publish a more detailed account of their equality considerations and how these considerations are being put into place in all of their functions.

Your equality information will usually fall into two main categories:

1. information that helps your organisation identify equality issues
2. information about steps your organisation has taken to have due regard to the aims of the general duty

An example of information that helps your organisation identify equality issues could be data about the protected characteristics of your employees and service users.

Examples of information about how your organisation has given due regard to the aims of the general duty could be:

• records showing due regard in decision-making
• research that was considered in that decision-making
• consideration of steps to reduce negative effects on people with protected characteristics
• details of policies that address equality concerns

An equality objective is a goal that your organisation aims to achieve to make progress on the aims of the general duty.

Your objectives must be specific and measurable to help focus attention on the priority equality issues for your organisation. This should lead to improvements in policy-making, service delivery and employment, including resource allocation.

In choosing your priorities, consider issues of harassment, discrimination, equality and good relations across all of your policy, service delivery and employment functions, including any functions you contract out.

What you need to include

The number of objectives you set will depend on the size and role of your organisation. Larger organisations, like government departments, need to set more equality objectives than smaller ones. 

Your objectives should focus on the biggest equality challenges you face. Objectives based on evidence of the effect of your organisation’s activities on people with protected characteristics are more likely to help you meet the aims of the general duty.

The measurable progress you make towards these objectives is likely to be an important piece of evidence to demonstrate you have paid ‘due regard’ to the aims of the general duty and to help the public assess your equality performance.

The gender pay gap is the difference in average and median pay, and bonuses, between men and women in your workforce. It is different to equal pay, which means you must pay men and women the same for equal or similar work.

What you need to include

Public authorities need to publish six calculations showing:

• mean gender pay gap in hourly pay
• median gender pay gap in hourly pay
• mean bonus gender pay gap
• median bonus gender pay gap
• proportion of males and females receiving a bonus payment
• proportion of males and females in each pay quartile

Mean is the average hourly rate of pay, calculated by adding the hourly pay rate for employees then dividing by the number of employees.

Median is the middle hourly pay rate, when you arrange your pay rates in order from lowest to highest.

Go to our guidance on gender pay gap reporting.