Current legislation and guidance relating to equality is available by expanding the boxes below.


The Equality Act 2010 brought together previous and separate pieces of anti-discrimination legislation into one Act of Parliament. The Act covers the following “protected characteristics”:

  • age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex and sexual orientation.

It consists of a general duty and specific duties for public sector organisations. The Public Sector Equality Duty came into force in April 2011. It requires NHS Gloucestershire (NHSG), in the exercise of its functions, to have due regard to the need to:

  • Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the 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.

As a public body NHSG must publish information to demonstrate how we fulfil these requirements.

Find out more via the gov.uk website.



The Equality and Human Rights Commission sets out guidance for employers on all areas of human resource management practice. See here for more information.


The Health and Social Care Act 2012 enshrines in legislation for the first time, explicit duties on the Secretary of State for Health, NHS England and commissioners to have regards to the need to reduce health inequalities in the benefits which can be obtained from health services. The duty on the Secretary of State extends to functions in relation to both the NHS and public health. The duties on NHS England and commissioners incorporate both access to, and benefits from, healthcare services.

NHS England’s Statement on Information on Health Inequalities is designed to help relevant NHS bodies understand their duties and powers and how they can be exercised. It notes the key responsibility of ICBs to have regard to reducing inequalities in the exercise of functions and details other duties some of which are shared with local authorities, e.g. to produce joint strategic needs assessments, and health and wellbeing strategies.

Further information is available here.



Public sector organisations also need to have due regard to the Human Right Act 1998 [HRA]. There are five principles of human rights which are: fairness, respect, equality, dignity and autonomy, called the FREDA principles which also form part of the NHS Constitution.

In commissioning and delivering services which are compatible with the HRA, the CCG commits to undertaking human rights based approach in line with PANEL principles: Participation, Accountability, Non-discrimination, Empowerment and Legality.

Further information is available here.



The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC, CROC, or UNCRC) is a human rights treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children. The Convention defines a child as any human being under the age of eighteen, unless the age of majority is reached earlier under a state’s own domestic legislation.

Article 12 of the convention states that ‘parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child’.

Further information is available here.



The NHS constitution revised in March 2012 contains seven principles that guide the NHS as well as a number of pledges for patients and the public. A number of these demonstrate the commitment of the NHS to the requirements of the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act.

The first of the seven principles requires that the NHS “provides a comprehensive service, available to all irrespective of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity or marital or civil partnership status”.

There are also a number of rights contained in the constitution which underpin the NHS’s commitment to equality and human rights and which include:

  • the right not to be unlawfully discriminated against in the provision of NHS services including on grounds of gender, race, disability, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity or marital or civil partnership status.
  • the right to be treated with dignity and respect, in accordance with your human rights.
  • the right to be involved in discussions and decisions about your healthcare, and to be given information to enable you to do this
  • the right to accept or refuse treatment that is offered to you, and not to be given any physical examination or treatment unless you have given valid consent
  • the right to be involved, directly or through representatives, in the planning of healthcare services, the development and consideration of proposals for changes in the way those services are provided, and in decisions to be made affecting the operation of those services.

Further information is available here or via the constitution page of our website here.



The NHS Equality Delivery System 2022 is an accountable improvement tool for NHS Organisations in England. Updated EDS Technical Guidance was published August 2022. This is the third version, commissioned by NHS England and supported by the Equality Diversity Council and is a simplified version of EDS2. The EDS comprises eleven outcomes spread across three Domains:

Commissioned or provided services
Workforce health and well-being
Inclusive leadership.

Outcomes are evaluated, scored, and rated using available evidence and are designed to provide assurance or point to the need for improvement. NHS Gloucestershire undertakes an annual assessment against the EDS22 framework. A copy of the outcome of the process and the report that we shared with our ICB is available here.

Further information about the Equality Delivery System is available on the NHS England website.



Recent research has demonstrated that the treatment and experience of BME staff within the NHS is very significantly worse, on average, than that of NHS white staff. The publication of “The Snowy White Peaks of the NHS” (2014) demonstrated that BME staff were absent from the leadership of many organisations even where the workforce had substantial numbers of BME staff and where the organisation provided services to communities with large number of BME patients.

The report also summarised research over recent years showing that BME staff were treated less favourably by every measure, including promotion, grading, discipline, bullying, and access to non-mandatory training. It demonstrated that such evidence as exists showed little or no progress in recent years despite the growing number of BME staff employed as doctors, nurses and other staff.

The NHS Equality and Diversity Council announced on 31 July 2014 that it had agreed action to ensure employees from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds have equal access to career opportunities and receive fair treatment in the workplace. Implementing the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) is a requirement for NHS commissioners and NHS healthcare providers including independent organisations, through the NHS standard contract.

This is important because studies shows that a motivated, included and valued workforce helps deliver high quality patient care, increased patient satisfaction and better patient safety.

Further information about the WRES is available here. The latest WRES report and action plan for NHS Gloucestershire is available here.



The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific measures (metrics) which enables NHS organisations to compare the workplace and career experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. NHS organisations use the metrics data to develop and publish an action plan, building on high impact actions shared in the first ever EDI improvement plan. Year on year comparison enables NHS organisations to demonstrate progress against the indicators of disability equality to create the cultures of belonging and trust which improve retention, recruit from the widest possible talent pool and provide sustainable careers.

Further information about the WDES is available here. The latest WRES report and action plan for NHS Gloucestershire is available here.



From 1 August 2016 onwards, all organisations that provide NHS care and/or publicly-funded adult social care are legally required to follow the Accessible Information Standard. The Standard sets out a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss.

The aim of the accessible information standard is to make sure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss get information that they can access and understand, and any communication support that they need.

The accessible information standard tells organisations how they should make sure that patients and service users, and their carers and parents, can access and understand the information they are given. This includes making sure that people get information in different formats if they need it, for example in large print, braille, easy read or via email.

The accessible information standard also tells organisations how they should make sure that people get any support with communication that they need, for example support from a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, deafblind manual interpreter or an advocate.

Further information is available here.