The Equality Act legally protects people from discrimination at work and in society in general.
The Act covers 9 protected characteristics, these are:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
- race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour and nationality
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
GOV.UK provides more information on the Equality Act
Our Equality, Diversity and Human Rights strategy
We believe in promoting equality, diversity, human rights and community cohesion because they’re an important part of making sure everyone is treated fairly.
The strategy sets out our promise for working on this within Leicestershire between 2020 -2024. It includes information about our aims, how we will measure progress and who is responsible for monitoring the work.
Equality action plan
The strategy is supported by an Equality action plan which sets out in more detail what we will do over the next year to stop discrimination, increase equality of opportunity and encourage good relations in the way that we deliver our services, to our communities and in our workforce.
Employment Equality Monitoring
We collect information about the make up of our workforce. The Workforce Equalities Profile shows the current target and a summary of this information for the last 5 years.
Equality & Human Rights Impact Assessments (EHRIA)
Equality & human rights impact assessments are used to see what effect changes to services or policies will have on people with protected characteristics.
The assessments also help us to understand whether our services are meeting everyone’s needs.