Code of Practice on the Gender Equality Duty laid before Parliament

PUBLIC SECTOR

Code of Practice on the Gender Equality Duty laid before Parliament

The final text of the Code of Practice on the Gender Equality Duty (GED) for England and Wales has now been laid before Parliament and is available to be downloaded from the EOC website.

The gender equality duty comes into force in April 2007 and is the biggest change in sex equality legislation in 30 years, since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act itself. The Code gives practical guidance to public authorities on how to meet the legal requirements of the gender equality duty.

Those affected include local councils, government departments, national public bodies, health councils and primary care trusts, education boards and governing bodies, police, housing and transport authorities, and private or voluntary sector bodies when they are carrying out public functions on behalf of a public body.

What is the gender equality duty?

The Equality Act 2006 amends the SDA to place a statutory duty on all public authorities, when carrying out their functions, to have due regard to the need:

• to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment
• to promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

Public authorities will also have to look at their employment policies to see how they affect women and men. Some gender issues they may have to think about are:

• Is there a pay gap between men and women doing the same job or jobs of similar value?
• How could flexible working help staff and how will it benefit men and women?
• How do we recruit staff and are we likely to get a good gender balance of candidates?
• Do we have a gender imbalance? If so, how could we try and rectify the situation?
• Do we have a good return rate from maternity leave? If not, why and how can we improve?

The gender equality duty does not require public authorities to undertake equal pay reviews. It says: “No specific course of action is prescribed to tackle pay discrimination. The statutory Code of Practice on Equal Pay recommends, however, that the most effective way of establishing whether a public authority's pay policies and pay systems are discriminatory is to undertake an equal pay review.” 

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What is the Code of Practice?

• The Code is the statutory guidance on the legal requirement of the duty and will help public authorities to make sure they are complying with this new law.
• It's worth noting that although the Code is still technically a “draft” until it has been before parliament for 40 sitting days, this is the final text and will not change.
• This Code is a “statutory” code and has been laid before Parliament before taking effect. This means that the Code is admissible in evidence in any legal action under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 or the Equal Pay Act 1970, in criminal or civil proceedings before any court or tribunal. 
• A court or tribunal must take into account any part of the Code that appears to them to be relevant to any question arising in the proceedings. This includes the question of whether public authorities have breached the law. 
• A tribunal or court may draw an adverse inference that a breach of the law has occurred if a public authority has failed to follow relevant provisions in the Code. If a public authority does not follow the Code’s provisions, it will need to show how it has otherwise met its legal obligations under the general duty and any specific duties.

Want to know more?

Read more about Gender Equality Duty and download the Code of Practice from the policy and campaigns section of the Equal Opportunities Commission’s web site at www.eoc.org.uk//default.aspx?page=17686