The standard has been designed to help the police forces assess how far they have developed beyond basic compliance with equality law. It aims to offer support and improvement in areas ranging from front-line policing to HR.
Angela O'Connor, chief people officer at the NPIA, said: "This is part of a range of initiatives being developed by the NPIA, which aims to strengthen equality and diversity in employment. Our recently agreed people strategy for policing has a strong equalities strand embedded in it.
It is hoped the standard will be flexible enough to allow different policing styles and priorities across England and Wales.
The trials will run for three months in Northumbria, Cleveland, Lancashire, Derbyshire, City of London, Sussex, Devon & Cornwall, Kent, Greater Manchester and the Metropolitan Police Service.
Selected police forces are guinea pigs for equality standard designed to improve skills and diversity
The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) is running trials of an equality standard with 11 police forces to help them make better use of resources, increase staff retention and build a more diverse and skilled workforce.
