The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), part of the Equality Act, came into force in April 2011. It requires organisations to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations. The duty has a key role to play in making sure that fairness is at the heart of public bodies’ work and that public services meet the needs of different groups. It covers a range of public bodies, including academies, schools, government departments, local authorities, and police authorities.

The duty replaces the three former duties that required government departments, local authorities and other public bodies to take into account gender, race and disability equality both as employers and when making policy decisions and delivering services. The duty standardises this requirement and also extends it to cover age, marriage and civil partnership, religion or belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment.

Section 149(1) of the Equality Act 2010 puts various requirements on academies when exercising their functions. The general duty requires academies to have due regard to:

• Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited under the Act

• Advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

• Foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

Having “due regard” means consciously thinking about the three aims of the PSED as part of the process of decision-making. This means that consideration of equality issues must influence the decisions reached by academies, such as:

• How they act as employers

• How they develop, evaluate and review policy

• How they design, deliver and evaluate services

• How they commission and procure from others

Oak Trees Multi Academy Trust is committed to adopting the aims of the PSED in all schools and workplaces. The Public Sector Equality Duty introduces legislation in the form of specific duties. The duties require schools to:

• Publish information to demonstrate how they are complying with the PSED. This information must include, in particular, information relating to people who share a protected characteristic

• Prepare and publish equality objectives

In addition to our Equality Statement, each academy school is required to publish its Equality Policy and Objectives, specific to the individual settings and pupil make up.