Equality legislation
The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.
The Act covers nine protected characteristics and every person has one or more of these protected characteristics, so the Act protects everyone against unfair treatment.
The nine 'protected characteristics' are:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
- race
- religion/belief
- sex
- sexual orientation.
Watch this EHRC video to learn more about the protected characteristics.
As part of the Equality Act 2010, public authorities must comply with the Public Sector Equality Duties and Scotland Specific Duty. Public authorities must consider how their policies or decisions affect people who are protected under the Equality Act.
Public Authorities must work 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.
The launch of Equal Edinburgh, our new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Framework 2026-2030, will support us in meeting the general and specific duties placed on us as part of the Equality Act 2010.
As the Council and Education Authority, we remain committed to our duties under the Equality Act 2010 (Section 149) and the need to:
- eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
- advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not;
- and foster good relations between those groups.
Until 2025, the Council’s Equality Outcomes for Education were published with the Local Authority Outcomes. Read Theme 4: Health, Wellbeing and Attainment for Children and Young People in the Equality and Diversity framework 2021 to 2025 for more information.
As an Education Authority, we engaged with children and young people and used data and national priorities to create the following outcomes which we are working towards:
1. There is increased representation of people from minority ethnic backgrounds in the teacher workforce
2. Children and young people experience a curriculum that is inclusive, diverse and decolonised
3. Children and young people have improved health and wellbeing because there is a reduction in bullying and prejudice-based incidents
Our progress towards these goals is reported through the Education Children and Families Committee. The next report is due in November 2026, and you can read the reports for the 2021-2025 period at the following links: