Disability Equality Duty

45,000 public bodies across Great Britain are covered by the Disability Equality Duty (DED), which came into force in December 2006. The DED is meant to ensure that all public bodies - such as central or local government, schools, health trusts or emergency services – pay ’due regard‘ to the promotion of equality for disabled people in every area of their work.

The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) produced a range of information on the duty, some of which is available to download here. The DRC closed at the end of September 2007, and was replaced in October 2007 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. You can find more information on the duty and the work of the new Commission at: www.equalityhumanrights.com

For introductory information, including the Code of Practice, and guidance on key elements of the duty, such as involving disabled people and impact assessments, see below. The sectoral guidance page contains information written for public bodies across the different sectors. The putting the duty into practice page contains reports and assessments by the DRC on how the public sector had responded to the duty before the end of September 2007.