Legal duties

Legal duties

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There are a number of legal duties which apply to equality and human rights. The Equality Act 2010 and its associated regulations are the basis for equality and diversity law. The Human Rights Act is the basis for human rights legislation in the UK; the UK is also a signatory to a number of international human rights instruments. Other legislation, such as employment law may also have equality or human rights provisions.

On this page you will find resources which will help you to understand and implement legal duties.

Equality impact assessments (EQIAs)

This section provides resources related to Equality impact assessments (EQIAs).

This eLearning module provides information and guidance on the purpose of EQIAs and how to plan and complete them: Introduction to Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA).

The Public Sector Equality Duty includes a requirement to assess the impact of new or revised policies and practices.

The Specific Duties require public authorities to:

where and to the extent required, fulfil the general equality duty, assess the impact of applying a proposed new or revised policy or practice against the needs of the general equality duty;
in making the assessment, consider relevant evidence relating to persons who share a protected characteristic (including any evidence received from those persons);
in developing a policy or practice, take account of the results of any assessment in respect of that policy or practice;
publish, within a reasonable period, the results of any assessment where it decides to apply the policy or practice in question;
make arrangements to review and where necessary revise any policy or practice that it applies in the exercise of its functions.

The videos below answer some frequently asked questions about EQIAs.

Other legal duty resources