Public sector equality duty

Public sector organisations and others who carry out work on their behalf must have what the Equality Act calls “due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity” between people who have a disability and people who don’t. This requires public bodies such as local authorities, NHS organisations, the police and central government to take active steps to promote equality (rather than just deal with acts of discrimination that have already occurred).

It is known as the public sector equality duty.

More specifically, public bodies must try to minimise the disadvantage experienced by people with disabilities, take steps to meet the particular needs of people with disabilities and encourage people with disabilities to participate in activities.

Under the previous legislation, the Disability Discrimination Act, public bodies were required to produce a Disability Equality Scheme (and similar schemes for racial and gender equality). While this requirement was welcomed by campaigners, there were concerns that the needs of people with HIV were not always fully considered in Disability Equality Schemes.

Under the Equality Act, public bodies are required to advance equality in relation to age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief and sexual orientation. There is clearly a danger that the specific issues around HIV and other disabilities which are either ‘hidden’ or stigmatised may get lost in amongst all the other equality concerns.

The new equality duty will not come into force until 2011 (probably at different times in England, Wales and Scotland). The precise nature of public sector bodies’ requirements will depend on the detail of the regulations and the codes of practice for the duty, which are being drafted at the time of writing.

When the situation is clarified, further information will be available from NAT (www.nat.org.uk), the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (www.equalityhumanrights.com) and the Government Equalities Office (www.equalities.gov.uk).