Equality, Diversity and Human Rights 

The information we produce is available in English and Welsh and in a range of accessible formats upon request including:

• Audio - web and CD versions
• Braille documents
• British Sign Language DVD
• Electronic information
• Easy-read and pictorial documents
• Large Print (Arial 18+) documents
• Languages other than English and Welsh

Please contact us if you would like our information in one of the above formats.

For customers who would like to communicate with us in other languages we can arrange for an interpreter.

We can also arrange a range of face-to-face communication support such as British Sign Language interpreters.

The Equality Act 2010 brought together the previous 116 separate pieces of legislation into one single Act. It simplifies and strengthens the law on equality, and makes it easier for people to understand and abide by it.

Everybody is included in the Act. The nine protected characteristics are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage or civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation

The Act covers employment and the provision of goods and services, and includes both staff and members of the public who use our services.

The Welsh language is not included in the Equality Act because it is covered by the Welsh Language Act 1993.

Find out what we're doing to protect and promote the Welsh language.

In addition to the protected characteristics above, there is a Duty under the Equality Act 2010, effective from March 2021, to consider those people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage / poverty. This is referred to as the Socio-economic Duty; it encourages better decision making, ensuring more equal outcomes for people, reducing inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage.

Socio-economic disadvantage could mean:

• Low/no wealth
• Socio-economic background (sometimes referred to as 'class')
• Low/no income
• Material deprivation (inability to afford goods and services, such as a car, public transport, digital equipment)

These disadvantages can, and often do, result in unequal outcomes, such as:

• Being a victim of crime
• Lower healthy life expectancy
• Lower paid work
• Poorer skills and attainment

The Council must take due regard to ensure this Duty is considered for all strategic decisions that are taken within the authority from 31 March 2021.

Please read the general information from Welsh Government to raise awareness of the Duty, contributing to a more equal Wales.

A More Equal Wales: The Socio-economic Duty (Welsh Government website).

What are our responsibilities?

The Equality Act sets out three main principles that public bodies like Denbighshire County Council must follow. This is known as the General Duty. Public bodies must.

• eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• advance equality of opportunity
• foster good relations between people of different protected characteristics

As well as the General Duty, public authorities in Wales have some additional specific duties, which are set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011. The specific duties are:

• accessibility
• annual reporting
• assessing impact
• employment information
• engagement
• equality information
• pay differences
• procurement
• publishing
• review
• setting objectives
• staff training
• strategic equality plans
• Welsh ministers' reporting

We also have responsibility, when making strategic decisions and policies, for taking into account the Socio-economic Duty which encourages better decision making, ensuring more equal outcomes for people, reducing inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage / poverty.

Please read the general information from Welsh Government to raise awareness of the Duty, contributing to a more equal Wales.

A More Equal Wales: The Socio-economic Duty (Welsh Government website).

We have established a new and innovative approach to impact assessment. We want to be sure that we consider the impact of proposals on a range of issues. Our new approach, the ‘Well-being Impact Assessment’, has been designed to assess the likely impact of proposals on the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Denbighshire, Wales and the world. It integrates requirements to assess impact on equality, the Welsh language, environment, economy, health, and so on.

The Well-being Impact Assessment highlights any areas of risk and maximises the benefits of proposals across all of these issues, including equality. It helps us to ensure we have considered everyone who might be affected by the proposal. It also helps us to meet our legal responsibilities under the general equality duties (Equality Act 2010, inclusive of the Socio-economic Duty, within this Act), the Welsh Language Standards, the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and access to information legislation. There is also a requirement under Human Rights legislation for Local Authorities to consider Human Rights in developing proposals.

Our approach to impact assessment will help us to strengthen our work to promote equality. It will also help to identify and address any potential negative or disproportionate impacts before introducing something new or changing the way we work.

In Wales, the Equality Act 2010 (Wales) Regulations 2011 place upon public authorities in Wales a specific legal duty that requires the Council to have effective arrangements in place to monitor equality and have effective arrangements in place to gather, analyse and publish employment monitoring data.

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) requires that all public authorities covered under the specific duties in Wales should produce an annual equality report each year.

The report explains how the Council is compliant with the Equality Act 2010 general duty across our employment functions. It summarises the equality employment monitoring data for employees at the Council from 1 April to 31 March each year. Our report also includes commentary to explain the information, including discernible trends against national published external data where identified.

Denbighshire County Council is a member of the North Wales Public Sector Equality Network. We have worked with other public bodies across North Wales to develop a NWPSEN Action Plan and to identify equality objectives.

Equality plan

Our Corporate Plan (2022 to 2027) also serves as our Wellbeing Plan and our Strategic Equality Plan. We believe we are able to take this integrated approach because the Plan equips the Council to deliver significant progress for all, by addressing current inequalities. The principles of equality are embedded throughout the council's functions and services.

The integrated plan is intended to ensure fair treatment for all, and to eradicate the risk of unfair or unequal treatment, such as harassment, victimisation or unlawful discrimination, in our work and service delivery. This includes our internal processes and treatment of employees, as well as services delivered to the public, and treatment of the public. We aim to foster good relations and equality of opportunity, and contribute to positive outcomes for all the people of Denbighshire.

During the lifetime of the Corporate Plan and beyond, we will ensure that all new projects and areas of work will:

• engage, where appropriate, with groups that represent people with protected characteristics
• consider limitations to physical access, in particular with new builds, but also with regard to access to information and services
• consider the appropriateness of the facilities that we have available within the council’s estate for use by those people with protected characteristics
• engage, challenge and, where possible, remove barriers to opportunities (including work) for those with protected characteristics
• condemn hate related bullying and harassment

Read our Corporate Plan in full.

Equality objectives

In April 2011 a new single public sector equality duty (the PSED) was implemented and in the same month the Welsh Government introduced regulations putting in place a series of specific duties to underpin the general duty of the Equality Act 2010.

As part of our duty, we are required to produce a Strategic Equality Plan for a four year term and report annually against progress. This does not necessarily have to be a single standing document, thus we have opted to incorporate it within our Corporate Plan 2022 – 2027 which strengthens the value of our diversity and equality work and underpins the goal within the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

Our Corporate Plan Annual Performance Review document focusses on all our activities and meets our statutory requirements in terms of publishing an annual document which reports upon how we have met our equality duties.

In addition to aligning our activities to the Wellbeing goals, our activities broadly align to the proposed regional public sector objectives and to the national challenges published in the Equality and Human Rights Commission 'Is Wales Fairer?' report (external website) produced in October 2018.

Our research will be aligned with the Well-being Assessment for the Conwy and Denbighshire Public Service Board (PSB), and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

How we developed our Corporate Plan objectives through engagement

Equality and diversity within the Council (PDF, 629KB)

We have a duty under the Human Rights Act 1998 (external website) to act compatibly with the rights under the European Convention for the Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. In the courts the Equality Act 2010 (and all other primary UK legislation) is interpreted in ways that are compatible with the Human Rights Act.

The Human Rights Act is derived from the European Convention on Human Rights and became law in November 1998. It enabled any person who considers they have been a victim of a human rights violation to challenge a public authority in the courts or tribunals.

The purpose of the Human Rights Act is to support a culture of respect for everyone’s human rights and a feature of everyday life. The convention rights include:

• Abolition of the death penalty
• Freedom of assembly and association
• Freedom of expression
• Freedom of thought
• Prohibition of discrimination
• Prohibition of slavery and forced labour
• Prohibition of torture

• Protection of property
• Restriction on political activity of aliens
• Right to a fair trial
• Right to an effective remedy
• Right to education
• Right to free elections
• Right to liberty and security
• Right to life
• Right to marry
• Right to respect for private and family life

At Denbighshire County Council we support the principle of diversity and equality as we need people from diverse backgrounds to help ensure that we are representative of the County we serve. We are committed to providing equal pay for work of equal value and aim to provide an equitable pay structure. Public Services are required to regularly audit their pay systems and assess the equality of pay.