UK a Public Sector Disability Equality Duty: Trade Union Responses

In the UK a Public Sector Disability Equality Duty has been drawn up which gives advice on how the law can be used by trade unions to strengthen their negotiating position with employers subject to the Disability Equality Duty.

The Duty, known as the general duty, requires every public authority, in carrying out its functions, to have due regard to the need to:
• Promote equality of opportunity

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination

• Eliminate disability related harassment

• Promote positive attitudes towards disabled people

• Encourage participation by disabled people in public life

• Take steps to take account of disabled person’s disabilities, even where that involves treating disabled people more favourably than others.

Regulations made under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in the UK require certain listed public authorities to produce disability equality schemes which set out how the authority is going to meet its general duty and its duties under the regulations.

The Disability Equality Scheme includes:

• A statement of how disabled people have been involved in the development of the scheme

• The authority’s methods for assessing the impact of its policies and practices, or likely impact of its proposed policies and practices, on equality for disabled people (impact assessment)

• The steps which the authority proposes to take towards fulfilling its general duty (the action plan)

• Arrangements for gathering information on the effect of its policies and practices on disabled people and in particular its arrangements for gathering information on:

• Their effect on recruitment, development and retention of disabled employees

• Their effect, in relation to an educational body or local education authority, on the educational opportunities available to, and on the achievements of, disabled pupils and students, and

• The extent to which in the case of other authorities the services it provides and other functions it performs take account of the needs of disabled persons

• The authority’s arrangements for making use of the information it has collected, in particular for reviewing the effectiveness of the steps in the action plan; and preparing subsequent schemes.

The key to making the duties successful in organization around the UK is to ensure that disability is truly mainstreamed throughout the organization. Unions in the UK have played a key role in keeping up the pressure on this.

The way these schemes work is, when bargaining around, for example, pay, terms and conditions for employees, introduction of new HR policies etc, Unions use the duties to ensure that proper regard is had to disability equality. Any new practices policies or procedures are subject to disability equality impact assessments. These identify any potential adverse impact, as well as any missed opportunity to actively promote equality, and indicate how it is proposed that any adverse impact be dealt with. They consider every aspect of the duty - so not just promoting equality of opportunity generally, and eliminating discrimination and harassment, but also promoting positive attitudes, and public participation.

If a trade union discovers for example that a local authority employer has failed to have ‘due regard’ to the matters set out in the general disability duty - as evidenced by the absence of any proper impact assessment - in developing a ‘capability’ or sickness procedure, or in respect of recruitment and promotion policies; flexible working policies; pay and bonus policies, reasonable adjustment policies; and potentially in procurement, unions are able to seek judicial review of their decision.

Disability Rights Commission of the United Kingdom 2006