# 2.5 The Public Sector Equality Duty

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is a legal obligation under the Equality Act 2010 that requires public bodies in England, Scotland, and Wales to consider how their decisions and actions affect people with protected characteristics.

It applies to:

- Public bodies (e.g. schools, hospitals, police)
- Private or voluntary organisations carrying out public functions (e.g. a private company running a prison or a train service franchise).

Watch this video from the Equality and Human Rights Commission for an overview of the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Video 4 What is the Public Sector Equality Duty? | Equality law: discrimination explained, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Public bodies must have ‘due regard’ to the need to achieve three main aims, as can be seen in Figure 9.

Figure 9: The three aims of the Public Sector Equality Duty (The Equality and Human Rights Commission, 2022)

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