Public Sector Equality Duty
What Schools Need to Publish Online
Whether you're a maintained school, an academy, or an FE college, understanding your obligations is crucial. Here’s what you need to know.
The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)
The PSED requires your institution to demonstrate how it is actively working to promote equality. This involves publishing specific information on your website.
Core Requirements for All Institutions:
Compliance Details: You must publish details of how your institution complies with the Public Sector Equality Duty. This information needs to be updated every year.
Equality Objectives: You must publish your equality objectives. These must be reviewed and updated at least every four years.
Additional Requirements Specifically for FE Colleges:
If you are an FE college, there are further requirements to meet:
Annual EDI Review: You must publish an annual Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion review. This should include data on protected characteristics for your board, leadership, staff, and students.
Summary of Actions: You must publish a summary of the actions you have taken to address any identified disparities.
Gender Pay Gap Reporting
The rules for gender pay gap reporting are consistent across all types of schools and colleges, but they only apply to larger employers.
Who Needs to Report?
This is mandatory for any school, academy, trust, or college with 250 or more employees.
What You Must Publish:
If this applies to you, you are required to:
Report to the Government: Submit your gender pay gap information directly to the government's reporting service.
Publish on Your Website: Publish this information in a prominent and accessible place on your website. This must be done within one year of your 'snapshot date' (for most public authorities, this is the 31st of March).
Recommended Best Practices (For all employers):
While not mandatory, government guidance strongly suggests including:
A Supporting Narrative: A written statement to explain your gender pay gap figures, providing context and insight.
An Action Plan: A clear plan setting out how you intend to address and close the pay gap.
For Institutions with Fewer Than 250 Employees:
You are not legally required to report. However, the official guidance suggests that you should give serious consideration to doing so voluntarily. It is considered a healthy and transparent exercise that demonstrates a commitment to equality and can bring business benefits.
Ensure Your School is Compliant
Staying on top of these legal requirements can be challenging, especially when policies need annual or quadrennial reviews. Outdated documents or missing information can easily be overlooked, leaving your institution at risk of non-compliance.
At Acuity AI Education, we provide an AI-powered audit of your school's website to give you complete peace of mind. Our tool instantly checks for every DfE requirement, flags outdated policies, and provides a clear report on your compliance status.
Get your free, no-obligation website audit today to see how Acuity can help you.