The Equality Act
The Equality Act 2010, which was passed to harmonise and replace previous equalities legislation, introduced the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) in 2012, which were subsequently amended in 2016. This introduced specific duties for HEI’s and public bodies to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
Protected Characteristics
There are nine ‘protected characteristics’ under the Equality Act:
- Age
- Disability
- Gender Reassignment
- Marriage & Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy & Maternity
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation
Institutional Gender Action Plan (iGAP)
The iGAP sets out the actions the university will take to address gender imbalance in severely gender imbalanced subject areas and to address the gap between male and female participation in undergraduate study. The iGAP also contains activities to:
- Improve the support we provide for our gender diverse and trans students and staff;
- Address staff gender imbalance including the gender pay gap;
- Monitor the gender balance on our Board of Governors;
- Continue work to eliminate gender based violence.
A new Institutional Gender Action Plan is in progress and will be available in the New Year.
PSED Reports
Efforts to deliver equality and eradicate discrimination at RGU are mainstreamed across all our functions. In meeting our duties of the Equality Act 2010, RGU has published these reports:
The Mainstreaming Report outlines our approach to mainstreaming equality and diversity across the activities of the university since 2021. This includes information on how our statutory obligations under the Equality Act 2010 are reflected and integrated within the university’s strategy, how senior leadership around equality is provided, what support is provided to staff and students in relation to equality and diversity and the enhancements we have made to our approach to mainstreaming.
This interim progress report provides an overview of the progress made by the University to achieve its 2021 – 2025 equality outcomes and includes a range of activities that have been undertaken between in the past two years towards this achievement.
This final progress report provides an overview of the progress made by the University to achieve its 2017 – 2021 equality outcomes and includes a range of activities that have been undertaken in the past two years towards this achievement.
This report shows the gender pay gap at the university along with the reasons that it exists and actions to address it.
This report includes a range of data on the protected characteristics of staff at the university. This includes information on the composition of our employees and recruitment, development and retention.