The Council is committed to putting 'customers first' and to providing equality and respect to the whole of the community, its employees and its potential employees. The Council is therefore committed to treating everyone who it comes into contact with fairly and we will not discriminate against anyone because of their age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or whether they are married or in a civil partnership.
The Council is committed to meeting the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty and to meeting the 'three aims' of the duty. These are to have due regard to the need to:
- eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under act
- advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it, and
- foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it
The Council therefore takes equality and diversity into account during its work. One of the ways that this is achieved is by carrying out an equality analysis at appropriate times to look at who is affected by a decision and to check whether the Council is meeting the three aims. This is done by carrying out Equality Impact Assessments which the Council publishes on this website.
Equality Act 2010
We are subject to the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and the specific duty for the public sector.
Under these duties we have to publish equality information every year, starting from 2012.
This information has to include equality information on the Council’s staff, customers and residents as well as general equality information for the District.
The documents also need to highlight steps that we have taken to show how we have dealt with equalities.
- 2024 Equality Information Document
- 2023 Equality Information Document
- 2022 Equality Information Document
- 2021 Equality Information Document
- 2019 Equality Information Document
- 2018 Equality Information Document
- 2017 Equality Information Document
- 2016 Equality Information
- 2015 Equality Information
- 2014 Equality Information
- 2013 Equality Information
- 2012 Equality Information
Equality Impact Assessments
An equality impact assessment is carried out to assess the impact of a policy, service or decision on the community and particularly on the protected characteristics of:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender
- Gender Reassignment
- Marriage/Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy and Maternity
- Race
- Religion or Belief
- Sexual Orientation
The assessments also check that the Council is continuing to meet the three aims of the equality duty. These are to have due regard to the need to:
- eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Act
- advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it, and
- foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it