In all of Great Britain the general equality duty applies to all public authorities named in Schedule 19 of the Equality Act 2010. These are essentially bodies of the health, transport and educational sector, local authorities and governments, the police as well as the armed forces. According to Section 149 (2), private or volunteer organisations must also abide by the general duty if they exercise one or more public functions. However, in this case the duty can only be applied to one specific function.

Whether an organisation exercises a public function or not depends on several factors, such as whether they are financed by public funds, whether their powers are embedded in the law or whether they have a connection to the regional or central government. This means that a private security company can for example operate a prison on behalf of the government. The general equality duty only applies to its activities related to this but not their deployment of security personnel in a supermarket.