General Duty
The general duty has three aims; it requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010
- Advance equality of opportunity between people from different groups; and
- Foster good relations between people from different groups.
This means that consideration of equality issues must influence the decisions reached by public bodies – in how they act as employers; how they develop, evaluate and review policy; how they design, deliver and evaluate services, and how they commission and procure services from others.
Having due regard to the need to advance equality of opportunity involves considering the need to:
- Remove or minimise disadvantages 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.
Fostering good relations involves tackling prejudice and promoting understanding between people from different groups. Complying with the general duty may involve treating some people different to others, as far as this is allowed by discrimination law.
Specific Duty
The specific duties require public bodies to set specific, measurable equality objectives and to publish gender pay gap information and information about their compliance with the general equality duty. Public bodies covered by the specific duties must publish sufficient information to show that they have considered the three aims of the general duty across their functions. Information must be published at least annually.
Workforce profile and Gender Pay Gap
This document shows how the council's workforce reflects the community we serve. You can read the workforce profile report for 2023/24. The Gender Pay Gap information can be found here.
Equality objectives
Public bodies covered by the specific duties must publish equality objectives that will help them to further the aims of the general duty. These must be based on published equality evidence and analysis, and they must be specific and measurable.
Objectives and accompanying information must be prepared and published at least every four years. Erewash Borough Council agreed a Corporate Equality Policy for 2020 – 2024 which incorporates the following objectives:
- Provide a welcoming and safe place for our communities, visitors and businesses which embraces equality and is free from discrimination.
- Provide relevant services that are free from discrimination and delivered in a way that is responsive and accessible.
- Foster an accessible and inclusive working environment for all our staff and strive to achieve a workforce that is representative and diverse.
Equality Policy in Accessible Format
We have provided our Equality Policy in an Accessible format.