Are you on track to publish new four-year equality objectives by 6 April 2016?

Your new four-year equality objectives must be published by 6 April 2016. When the Equality and Human Rights Commission sampled college websites, they found that not all had published their equality objectives, and for those that had, a significant number were not legally compliant. For example, many were not sufficiently specific or measurable. What will your new equality objectives look like?

There are two specific duties within the Equality Act 2010. These duties require colleges and universities to publish:  

• equality information by 31 January 2012 and then annually
• equality objectives by 6 April 2012, and then every four years.

This means that your new set of four year equality objectives must be published by 6 April 2016.

In 2013, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) sampled a number of organisations to see how education providers were meeting their second specific duty to publish equality objectives. They evaluated, for example:

• whether the provider’s equality objectives were explicitly linked to the general duty aims
• what protected characteristics they covered
• the functions they covered
• whether there was a rationale given for the chosen objectives
• whether the objectives were specific and measurable
• whether the objectives were available in alternative formats.

All Universities (130) were assessed, with a random sample of colleges (189 out of 341), secondary schools (383 out of 6592) and primary schools (390 out of 20,569). Although aspects of good practice were displayed by some organisations in each sector, the overall assessment was that many were not, at the time of sampling, meeting their legal duties. For example, of the colleges sampled, 32% were not publishing equality objectives on their website. Of those that published, only 23% of colleges had objectives that made clear reference to the general duty. Less than half had objectives that covered both staff and students. And a common finding for many - objectives were not sufficiently specific or measurable.

The EHRC published their findings and you can download the report here

Many organisations have used the EHRC sampling exercise as a key learning tool. As you prepare to publish your new equality objectives in the New Year, it’s worth remembering that the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011 state ‘An objective…must be specific and measurable’. Specific, measurable objectives are:

• ambitious
• explicit about the outcome that they are trying to achieve
• clear about how success will be measured
• based on robust information and evidence of need, rather than merely being a collection of ideas from a few members of staff and senior leaders

If you haven’t seen it already, you might find my national guidance helpful. This contains a one page overall summary of the duties, five pages of essential reading, and further pages answering frequently asked questions about the specific duties. The guidance also includes a suggested process for establishing and publishing robust equality objectives

You can download the guidance here