More than a third of HR staff are still not trained in recent diversity legislation, a new survey has found.

The poll, of nearly 300 HR managers, found that 14 months after the Employment Equality Regulations 2003 relating to sexual orientation and religion or belief came into force, 38% of HR staff have still not been trained on the legislation.

The survey, by e-learning providers Fuel, also showed that the private sector is falling far behind the public sector in this diversity training.

Within the public sector, 72% of people surveyed had received training compared with 11% in 2004. In the private sector 53% have now received training in comparison with 9% in 2004.

Steve Dineen, Chief Executive of Fuel said, "It is surprising that HR staff are not fully up to date and trained on all existing legislation in order for them to ensure their organisations compliance with the regulations and address the necessary training requirements.

"Not only are they playing catch-up in terms of the legislation already in force, they are also going to have their work cut-out preparing for forthcoming regulations as well."

In October 2006, age discrimination legislation comes into force. Fuel's survey found that 85% of public sector and 62% of private sector staff were aware of the legislation, making a total of 73% of all those questioned. However, only 19% of the sample had received any training to date.