The Equality Duty (2012) provides a single, consolidated source of discrimination law, covering all the types of discrimination that are unlawful. The term ‘protected characteristics’ is used as a convenient way to refer to the categories to which the law applies.

The eight protected characteristics are:

• Race
• Disability
• Sex
• Gender Reassignment
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Age (as an employer)
• Religion or belief
• Sexual orientation

The Public Sector Equality Duty 2011 has three aims under the general duty for school and academy settings:

• To eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act, by removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics.
• To advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, by taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people.
• To foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, by encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low.