Implementing the public sector equality duty - UCU

IMPLEMENTING THE PUBLIC SECTOR EQUALITY DUTYSensitive informationIf you work somewhere where employees arereluctant to disclose their sexual orientation,gender identity, disability or religion or belief,your employer will not be able to properlyanalyse equality issues in your workplace.UCU is currently producing guidance ondisclosing a disability at work. To have confidencein disclosing, people need to know:l why the information is being collectedl what it will be used forl how privacy will be protected.The Gender Recognition Act 2004 provides,that where a person holds a gender recognitioncertificate, they must be treated accordingto their acquired gender and it is a criminaloffence to disclose their status. A transsexualperson may consent to disclosing the informationbut the consent must be explicit and notassumed.Interpreting monitoring on religion and beliefcan be an issue as there will be varying levelsof commitment that people who identify themselvesas belonging to a particular religionhave. For instance there may be significantdifferences between someone who may identifythemselves as Christian and a person towhom Christianity influences every aspect oftheir lives.EQUALITY OBJECTIVESYour employer must prepare and publish oneor more specific and measurable objective/sthat it thinks it should achieve to meet any ofthe three aims of the equality duty. Theobjective/s must be published no later than6 April 2012 and subsequently at intervalsno greater than four years.The revised regulations introduce much greaterflexibility to the previous duties. The revisedregulations simply require public bodies topublish their equality objectives andinformation to demonstrate their compliancewith the duty (this is a lesser requirementthan the previous equality schemes). Althoughthere is now no requirement to produce anequality scheme, it is a useful way to presentequality information and for communicatingthe objectives.Employers need to demonstrate that they havecollected appropriate information in settingtheir objectives. This should not be a ‘tick box’exercise but one where the employer reviewswhat information it holds and whether additionalinformation is needed by undertakingequal pay audits or improving members confidencein monitoring. Monitoring the objectiveswill be key in holding the employer to account.The college/university has to commit to theobjectives which can be selected according totheir own discretion, but which focus on theissues that have the greatest importance andimpact on equality. The objectives should alsobe based on evidence and to make them effective,state what steps are to be taken toachieve them, listing who is responsible inparticular areas. Branches should encouragetheir employer to include equality objectiveson workforce issues.The inclusion of additional protected characteristicssuch as sexual orientation and genderreassignment gives the branch an opportunityto progress issues that their employer mayhave disregarded as too challenging. Thistoolkit includes a model sexual orientationchecklist. Branches can use this as a basisfor developing checklists for any of the newlyincluded characteristics.The objectives need to be reviewed no laterthan four years after publication but publicbodies do need to set out how progressagainst the objectives will be measured.Branches should monitor progress andchallenge their employer when it is clearinsufficient progress is being made.8