Our equality objectives

The Public Sector Equality Duty of the Equality Act 2010 requires public bodies to:

• have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• promote equality of opportunity
• foster good relations between those who share protected characteristics and those who don’t.

Certain public bodies, including the Equality and Human Rights Commission, need to publish equality objectives as part of meeting this duty.

We monitor how organisations follow the Public Sector Equality Duty, so we must show best practice when we set our own equality objectives.

Equality Objective 1: We will promote equality and tackle discrimination by achieving the priorities set out in our strategic plan.

We exist to promote equality, so our first equality objective is to achieve our strategic priorities.

Our priorities are described in our strategic plan and are aimed at creating a society that is fair and where people live well together.

These priorities are:

• equality in a changing workplace
• equality for children and young people
• upholding rights and equality in health and social care
• addressing the equality and human rights impact of digital services and artificial intelligence
• fostering good relations and promoting respect between groups
• ensuring an effective legal framework to protect equality and human rights

Equality Objective 2: We will seek to address under-representation of people with different protected characteristics in the Equality and Human Rights Commission, including at senior levels.

Like other organisations, we treat our staff fairly and well. Our second equality objective relates to our corporate improvement and specifically our people. It focuses on increasing the diversity of our workforce, including at senior levels.

Equality Objective 3: We will make sure our evidence is robust, impartial and enables understanding of the different needs and experiences of protected characteristic groups.

Our third equality objective focuses on the evidence we use to achieve our strategic priorities and on encouraging others to collect and use data to make evidence-based decisions to protect and promote equality for all.

We will measure progress against our equality objectives through performance monitoring and will publish information in our annual reports.