The Equality Act 2010 came into effect on 1 October 2010 and covers the following protected characteristics of equalities:
• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation
The Equality Act includes a Public Sector Duty to integrate equality into the day-to-day business of public authorities. These duties mean authorities need to:
• publish relevant, proportionate information, at least once a year, that demonstrates compliance with the Equality Duty
• set specific equality objectives every four years.
Southampton City Council’s Equality Scheme 2009-12 brings together the protected characteristics under three priority objectives:
• to eliminate discrimination, hate crime and harassment
• to tackle long-standing issues of equality
• to promote greater equality and increase people’s participation in communities and across communities.
Our annual reports, based on the actions we committed to in our Equality Scheme, demonstrate what we have been doing on equalities and also include information about our workforce. We are currently working on our objectives for 2012 – 2016 and these will be published shortly.
If you have any questions, or would like equalities information in a different format, please let us know.
Southampton City Council
