General Equality Duty
Under the Equality Act 2010, public authorities like County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service have a legal obligation to comply with the general equality duty. This incorporates nine protected characteristics age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation.
In summary, to meet our statutory obligations, when exercising our functions, we must aim to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act;
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not;
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
Public Sector Equality Duty
In addition to the general duty, all public sector bodies are required to meet specific duties which are incorporated into the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires us to:
- Publish diversity information annually to demonstrate our compliance with the general duty
- Prepare and publish specific and measurable equality objectives
Collecting and analysing equality data is an important way of developing our understanding about our employees and communities. We produce an annual equality report that allows us to identify who is accessing our services and employment opportunities. Please see our most current report:
Annual Equality Report
Related documents (PDF)