Public sector equality duty - taking action

Summary

When deciding what action to take, you’ll need to think about what you’re trying to achieve. For example, do you want an apology or things put right? You will also need to think about how quickly you need to get a result. It’s often best to try to resolve your problem informally first. It may stop the problem getting worse and avoid the expense of taking legal action. You should, however, be aware that there are strict time limits for taking legal action. It’s therefore best to act as early as possible. If you want to take action about the public sector equality duty, you may need to get specialist advice - talk to an adviser. You can only use the public sector equality duty to challenge a decision or policy if you're someone who's protected under the Equality Act. You could write a letter to tell the public authority you think it has breached the duty. This is also a good way to get information to support your complaint or court action. Public authorities must publish information about how they meet their public sector equality duty. To support your complaint you can ask the public authority to send you information about how they’ve complied with their duty. Public authorities.

Key information

• More about who's protected under the Equality Act
• identify the policy or decision which has affected you - this should be clearly stated in the letter so that the public authority knows the relevant issue
• write down when you expect a reply
• consider the time limits for any other action - for example, making a complaint or taking legal action.
• More about asking questions about your treatment
• More about making a complaint
• More about taking legal action and judicial review
• More about taking action about discrimination
• Complaining about the public sector equality duty
• Taking legal action about the public sector equality duty
• When can you use the public sector equality duty?
• More about the EASS helpline

Practical guidance

• Source: Public sector equality duty - taking action

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