13.1 Diversity Characteristics and the Equality Act

APM Project Management Qualification PMQ

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1 Introduction & Exam Overview

1.1 Current Exam Facts 1.2 Exam Format & Question Types 1.3 How to Study for APM PMQ

2 Life Cycles

2.1 Linear Life Cycles and Why Work Is Phased 2.2 Iterative and Hybrid Life Cycles 2.3 Project Life Cycles and Extended Life Cycles 2.4 Choosing a Life Cycle: Context, Culture, Strengths and Limitations

3 Governance Arrangements

3.1 Functional, Matrix and Projectised Structures 3.2 Governance Frameworks, Policies and Delegated Responsibility 3.3 Life-Cycle Impact on Governance and Limits of Financial Authority 3.4 Project Roles and Responsibilities 3.5 Project Manager and Project Sponsor Through the Life Cycle 3.6 Linking Projects to Organisational Objectives

4 Sustainability

4.1 Sustainability Responsibilities, Principles and Impact 4.2 Monitoring and Reporting Sustainability Measures

5 Business Case

5.1 Business Case Fundamentals and Analysis Tools 5.2 The Business Case as Baseline and Reviewing Change

6 Procurement

6.1 Procurement Strategy: Purpose and Contents 6.2 Supplier Selection and Negotiation 6.3 Features of Different Contractual Relationships 6.4 Supplier Reimbursement Methods

7 Reviews & Assurance

7.1 Reviews, Decision Gates, Benefits Reviews and Audits 7.2 What Gets Reported and Informing Decisions 7.3 Why Activities Are Re-Planned After a Review 7.4 Project Assurance

8 Transition & Benefits Management

8.1 Transition Requirements and Business-as-Usual Readiness 8.2 Knowledge Transfer and Agreeing the Transition Plan 8.3 Benefits Management: Identification to Realisation 8.4 Aligning and Communicating Benefits

9 Stakeholder Engagement & Communication

9.1 Stakeholder Analysis, Influence and Engagement 9.2 The Communication Management Plan and Its Benefits 9.3 Managing Stakeholder Expectations 9.4 Communication Methods and Tailoring the Message 9.5 Factors That Help and Hinder Communication

10 Conflict Resolution

10.1 Sources and Impacts of Conflict 10.2 Addressing Conflict and the Thomas-Kilmann Model

11 Leadership

11.1 Leadership, Motivation and Team Performance 11.2 Changing Leadership Styles for the Situation 11.3 Coaching, Mentoring and Emotional Intelligence

12 Team Management

12.1 Team Development Stages and Models 12.2 Characteristics and Benefits of Effective Teams 12.3 Leading Virtual and Hybrid Teams

13 Diversity & Inclusion

13.1 Diversity Characteristics and the Equality Act 13.2 Incorporating Diversity and Diverse Thinking 13.3 Conscious and Unconscious Bias and Fair Treatment

14 Ethics, Compliance & Professionalism

14.1 Continuing Professional Development and Competence 14.2 Sources of Specialist Advice and Standards 14.3 The Legal and Regulatory Landscape

15 Requirements & Solutions

15.1 Establishing Scope Through Requirements Management 15.2 Managing Scope Through Configuration Management 15.3 Solutions Development and Prioritisation

16 Quality Management

16.1 Quality Planning, Indicators and the Business Case 16.2 Quality Control and Success Criteria

17 Integrated Planning

17.1 The Integrated Project Management Plan: Format and Contents 17.2 Why an Integrated Plan Matters

18 Schedule Management

18.1 Defining Scope and Breakdown Structures 18.2 Dependencies and What Drives the Schedule 18.3 Re-Estimating and Schedule Optimisation

19 Resource Management

19.1 Determining Resource Requirements and Availability 19.2 Organisational Breakdown Structure and RACI 19.3 Categorising and Allocating Resources 19.4 Resource Smoothing and Resource Levelling

20 Budgeting & Cost Control

20.1 Creating a Budget and Cost Types 20.2 Earned Value and Cost Forecasting 20.3 Monitoring and Reporting Financial Performance 20.4 Closing Down Project Finances

21 Risk & Issue Management

21.1 Benefits of Risk and Issue Management and Contingency Planning 21.2 The Risk and Issue Management Processes 21.3 Proactive and Reactive Risk Responses 21.4 Governance in Risk and Issue Management

22 Change Control

22.1 The Change Control Process and Its Stages 22.2 What a Change Request Must Capture 22.3 Assessing Options and the Impact of a Change 22.4 Recommending Decisions and Updating Plans

13.1 Diversity Characteristics and the Equality Act

Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI

The UK Equality Act 2010 protects nine characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation.

Approximate lists fail: candidates commonly drop marriage and civil partnership or pregnancy and maternity, or add non-statutory items such as accent or social class.

The protected characteristics define where the law applies, reaching project recruitment, development opportunities, procurement, output accessibility, and community consultation.

Diversity is the mix of differences present; inclusion is whether people can participate, contribute, and progress fairly — an organisation can be diverse and non-inclusive.

Legal compliance is the floor and inclusive performance is the goal; professional discipline, cognitive style, neurodiversity, and language also matter even though they are not statutory characteristics.

Last updated: August 2026

Why diversity and inclusion matter on the APM PMQ

Diversity and inclusion is learning objective 14 in Area C ( People and behaviours ). You must know characteristics of diversity , including the protected characteristics under the UK Equality Act 2010 ; how to incorporate diversity into a project environment; how diverse thinking supports innovative solutions and a positive working environment ; and how conscious and unconscious bias affect fair treatment, plus how to adapt behaviours accordingly.

On the PMQ, diversity is not a side essay on corporate policy. Examiners look for professional project practice : legal awareness, team performance, stakeholder engagement quality, and ethical conduct. Weak answers recite “diversity is good.” Strong answers name protected characteristics accurately , show inclusion mechanisms , diagnose bias , and link actions to better decisions and a healthier climate .

Diversity characteristics and the Equality Act

Diversity means variety among people — visible and less visible differences in identity, background, experience, thinking style, and circumstance. In UK employment and service contexts, the Equality Act 2010 defines nine protected characteristics . Discrimination, harassment, and victimisation related to these characteristics are unlawful in the situations the Act covers. Project managers must not memorise slogans that invent a tenth characteristic or drop one from the list.

Protected characteristics (accurate list)

Protected characteristic Plain meaning for project practice
Age How old someone is; includes younger and older workers

Disability Physical or mental impairment with substantial, long-term adverse effect on normal day-to-day activities (legal definition applies)

Gender reassignment Proposing to undergo, undergoing, or having undergone a process (or part of a process) for reassigning sex

Marriage and civil partnership Being married or in a civil partnership
Pregnancy and maternity Pregnancy, maternity leave, and related treatment
Race Includes colour, nationality, and ethnic or national origins
Religion or belief Religion or religious/philosophical belief (and lack of religion/belief)
Sex Being a man or a woman
Sexual orientation Orientation toward people of the same sex, opposite sex, or either sex

Exam trap: Incomplete or invented lists (for example adding “personality” as a protected characteristic, or forgetting pregnancy/maternity or marriage/civil partnership). Use the nine above.

Broader diversity beyond the legal list

Projects also benefit from diversity of professional discipline, cognitive style, socio-economic background, education, language, neurodiversity, working pattern, and geographic culture . These matter for innovation and teamwork even where they are not separately listed as Equality Act protected characteristics. Legal compliance is the floor; inclusive performance is the goal.

Dimension (examples) Project relevance
Functional / professional Engineer, user, commercial, assurance perspectives
Cognitive / thinking style Detail vs big-picture; risk appetite differences
Experience and tenure Industry veterans and digital natives
Working pattern Full-time, part-time, job-share, remote
Cultural / national Communication norms, hierarchy expectations
Neurodiversity Different processing and collaboration needs
Diversity vs inclusion

Concept Focus If missing
Diversity Who is present — the mix Homogeneous group; blind spots

Inclusion Whether people can contribute, be heard, and advance fairly Diverse hires still silenced; turnover; tokenism

Equity / fair treatment Adjusting processes so people have fair access to opportunity and voice Same rule applied rigidly can still disadvantage some

Belonging People feel respected as part of the team Compliance theatre without engagement

A project can have a demographically mixed team ( diversity ) yet still run meetings where only one clique speaks ( low inclusion ). LO14 expects both incorporation of diversity and inclusive practice.

Why the exact list matters

Outcome 14a expects knowledge of diversity, including characteristics which may cause a person to be treated less favourably , and the syllabus lists the nine protected characteristics explicitly. Precision matters for two reasons.

First, an approximate list is an inaccurate one. Candidates routinely drop marriage and civil partnership or pregnancy and maternity , or substitute plausible-sounding but non-statutory items such as social class, accent, caring responsibilities, or political belief. Those may be genuine dimensions of diversity and can matter for team performance — but they are not the nine characteristics the Act protects, and conflating the two weakens both the legal and the practical argument.

Second, the characteristics define when the law applies , not merely when it would be nice to be fair. Discrimination, harassment, and victimisation connected to a protected characteristic are unlawful in the situations the Act covers, which include employment and the provision of services. For a project, that reaches further than the immediate team: recruitment and selection for the project, allocation of development opportunities, procurement and supplier requirements, accessibility of the outputs being built, and consultation with affected communities.

The floor and the goal

Hold two ideas at once in a written answer:

Legal compliance is the floor. The nine characteristics establish what must not happen.

Inclusion is the goal. Diversity is the mix of differences present; inclusion is whether people can participate, contribute, and progress on fair terms. An organisation can be demographically diverse and thoroughly non-inclusive — which is why headcount statistics alone prove nothing.

Projects also draw on diversity of professional discipline, cognitive style, socio-economic background, education, language, neurodiversity, working pattern, and geography. These matter for innovation and decision quality even where they are not separately listed in the Act. Say so explicitly: it shows you understand the difference between a legal category and a performance factor.