The Equality Act 2010

There is a statutory duty for police forces to meet the general and specific duties under the Equality Act 2010. It is our intention to not only continue to meet statutory obligations but to improve the way we serve our communities and build an inclusive workforce culture which reflects the diverse communities we serve via clear objectives and measurement of progress.

The Equality Act 2010 protects from discrimination, harassment and victimisation. It places a duty on us as a public authority in carrying out our functions to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment or victimisation
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share protected characteristics and people who do not share them
• foster good relations between people who share protected characteristics and people who do not share them.

The Equality Act protects people against discrimination because of the protected characteristics that we all have. Under the Equality Act, there are nine protected characteristics:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender re-assignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Race
• Religion
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Sex
• Sexual orientation.

In our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy, we set out our commitment and plans for looking critically at all that we do, through the transformative lens of inclusion to deliver a high quality service that puts people first and protects communities from harm in alignment with our three force priorities: safer people; safer homes and safer roads. It outlines three key elements or aspects for our focus, providing a broad framework for our DEI policy and Equality Objectives here in West Mercia.