Equality Impact and Outcome
Assessment (EIA) Template - 2019
EIAs make services
better for everyone and support value for money by getting services right first
time.
EIAs enable us to consider all
the information about a service, policy or strategy from an equalities
perspective and then action plan to get the best outcomes for staff and
service-users[1].They
analyse how all our work as a council might impact differently on different
groups[2].
They help us make good decisions and evidence how we have reached these
decisions[3].
See end notes for full guidance. Either hover the mouse over
the end note link (eg: Age13)
or use the hyperlinks (‘Ctrl’ key and left click).
For further support or advice
please contact:
- BHCC: Communities, Equality
and Third Sector Team on ext 2301
- CCG: Engagement and
Equalities team
1. Equality Impact and Outcomes Assessment
(EIA) Template
First, consider whether you need to
complete an EIA, or if there is another way to evidence assessment of impacts,
or that an EIA is not needed[4].
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Title of EIA[5]
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Council Tax Reduction Scheme 2022-23
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ID No.[6]
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|
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Team/Department[7]
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Revenues and Benefits
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Focus of EIA[8]
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The focus of this EIA is to ascertain what the impact of
introducing an Income Banded Council Tax Reduction scheme would mean for
recipients of this type of support in Brighton & Hove.
An Income Banded scheme will mean that every Universal
Credit recipient who applies for Council Tax Reduction in B&H will be
placed into a Council Tax liability band determined by how much ‘earned
income’ that household receives each month. If their earnings fluctuate
within the earnings bracket they will continue to pay the same amount of
council tax. When their earnings reduce or increase to the extent that they
fall into a different bracket, their Council Tax liability will be reassessed
and they will be sent a bill advising them of the new contribution they will
have to pay towards their Council Tax. It is common for those on a lower
income and receiving Universal Credit frequently experience small
fluctuations in their income. This could be due to being Self Employed, undertaking
overtime, being on a zero hours contract, or fluctuations in tax and/or
National Insurance contributions. The benefit of a ‘banded’ scheme is that
such fluctuations will not trigger a change in their entitlement to CTR as well
as their Universal Credit entitlement. It means that the household will be
better able to understand and plan for how much Council Tax they will have to
budge for and pay each month.
By simplifying our Council Tax Reduction scheme to make it
more transparent for residents and reduce the administrative burden
associated with Universal Credit claims, we need to be mindful of any
particular groups within the city who may be disproportionately
disadvantaged, financially, by its introduction. This EIA seeks to explore
any impact of the proposed scheme on protected characteristic groups in our
city.
Some groups of people sharing
protected characteristics are disproportionately likely to be recipients of
CTR (eg: disabled people, women as heads of lone parent households and people
in some age groups). Any changes in personal circumstances will be entirely
dependent on the individual’s circumstances however, and no trends have been
identified that disproportionately disadvantage or benefit people sharing characteristics.
Having a transparent and user friendly scheme that aligns with monthly
Universal Credit payments will benefit households in receipt of this CTR-UC
scheme. Reducing the number of times a household is re-billed due to a
change in entitlement and having clear value amounts of what they are
responsible for paying each month will assist many households in budgeting
for and paying their CT liability. A flexible approach to Discretionary CTR
eligibility, a coordinated approach to welfare support within the Revenues
and Benefits service and appropriate sign-posting to other agencies for
additional needs will also reduce any negative impacts identified.
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2. Update on previous EIA and outcomes of previous
actions[9]
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What actions did you plan last time?
(List them from the previous EIA)
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What improved as a result?
What outcomes have these actions achieved?
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What further actions do you need to take? (add
these to the Action plan below)
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N/A – this is a new scheme design
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N/A
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N/A
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[1]
The following principles, drawn from case law,
explain what we must do to fulfil our duties under the Equality Act:
·
Knowledge: everyone working for the council must be aware of our equality
duties and apply them appropriately in their work.
·
Timeliness: the duty applies at the time of considering policy options
and/or before a final decision is taken – not afterwards.
·
Real Consideration: the duty must be an integral and rigorous part of your
decision-making and influence the process.
·
Sufficient Information: you must assess what information you have and what is
needed to give proper consideration.
·
No delegation: the council is responsible for ensuring that any
contracted services which provide services on our behalf can comply with the duty,
are required in contracts to comply with it, and do comply in practice. It is a
duty that cannot be delegated.
·
Review: the equality duty is a continuing duty. It applies when a
policy is developed/agreed, and when it is implemented/reviewed.
·
Proper Record Keeping: to show that we have fulfilled our duties we must keep
records of the process and the impacts identified.
NB: Filling out this EIA in itself does not meet the
requirements of the equality duty. All the requirements above must be fulfilled or the EIA
(and any decision based on it) may be open to challenge. Properly used,
an EIA can be a tool to help us comply with our equality duty and
as a record that to demonstrate that we have done so.
[2]
Our duties in the Equality Act 2010
As a public
sector organisation, we have a legal duty (under the Equality Act 2010) to show
that we have identified and considered the impact and potential impact of our
activities on all people in relation to their ‘protected characteristics’ (age,
disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or
belief, sex, sexual orientation, and marriage and civil partnership).
This applies to
policies, services (including commissioned services), and our employees. The
level of detail of this consideration will depend on what you are assessing,
who it might affect, those groups’ vulnerability, and how serious any potential
impacts might be. We use this EIA template to complete this process and
evidence our consideration.
The
following are the duties in the Act. You must give ‘due regard’ (pay conscious
attention) to the need to:
- avoid, reduce or minimise negative impact (if you
identify unlawful discrimination, including victimisation and harassment,
you must stop the action and take advice immediately).
- advance equality of opportunity. This means the
need to:
-
Remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected
characteristics
-
Taking steps to meet the needs of
people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other
people
-
Encouraging people from protected
groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their
participation is disproportionately low
-
Consider if there is a need to treat disabled people differently,
including more favourable treatment where necessary
- foster good relations between people who share a
protected characteristic and those who do not. This means:
-
Tackle prejudice
-
Promote understanding
[3]
EIAs are always proportionate to:
- The size of the service or
scope of the policy/strategy
- The resources involved
- The numbers of people affected
- The size of the likely impact
- The vulnerability of the
people affected within the context
The greater the impacts, the
more thorough and demanding the process required by the Act will be.
[4]
When to complete an EIA:
- When planning or developing a
new service, policy or strategy
- When reviewing an existing
service, policy or strategy
- When ending or substantially
changing a service, policy or strategy
- When there is an important
change in the service, policy or strategy, or in the city (eg: a change in
population), or at a national level (eg: a change of legislation)
Assessment of equality impact can
be evidenced as part of the process of reviewing or needs assessment or
strategy development or consultation or planning. It does not have to be on
this template, but must be documented. Wherever possible, build the EIA into
your usual planning/review processes.
Do you need to complete an EIA? Consider:
- Is
the policy, decision or service likely to be relevant to a specific group
or groups (eg: older people)?
- How
many people is it likely to affect?
- How
significant are its impacts?
- Does
it relate to an area where there are known inequalities?
- How
vulnerable are the people (potentially) affected?
If there are
potential impacts on people but you decide not to complete an EIA it is
usually sensible to document why.
[5] Title of EIA: This
should clearly explain what service / policy / strategy / change you are
assessing
[6] ID no: The unique reference for this EIA. If in doubt contact your CCG or BHCC
equality lead (see page 1)
[7] Team/Department: Main
team responsible for the policy,
practice, service or function being assessed
[8]
Focus of EIA: A member of the public should have a good understanding of
the policy or service and any proposals after reading this section. Please use
plain English and write any acronyms in full first time - eg: ‘Equality Impact
Assessment (EIA)’
This section should explain what you are assessing:
- What are the main aims or
purpose of the policy, practice, service or function?
- Who implements, carries out or
delivers the policy, practice, service or function? Please state where this
is more than one person/team/body and where other organisations deliver
under procurement or partnership arrangements.
- How does it fit with other services?
- Who is affected by the policy, practice, service or
function, or by how it is delivered? Who are the external and internal
service-users, groups, or communities?
- What outcomes do you want to achieve, why and for whom?
Eg: what do you want to provide, what changes or improvements, and what
should the benefits be?
- What do existing or previous inspections of the policy,
practice, service or function tell you?
- What is the reason for the proposal or change
(financial, service, legal etc)? The Act requires us to make these clear.
[9] Previous actions: If there is no previous EIA
or this assessment if of a new service, then simply write ‘not applicable’.
[10]
Data: Make sure you have enough data to inform your EIA.
·
What data relevant to the impact on specific groups of the
policy/decision/service is available?
·
What further evidence is needed and how can you get it? (Eg:
further research or engagement with the affected groups).
·
What do you already know about needs, access and outcomes? Focus
on each of the groups identified above in turn. Eg: who uses the service? Who
doesn’t and why? Are there differences in outcomes? Why?
·
Have there been any important demographic changes or trends
locally? What might they mean for the service or function?
·
Does data/monitoring show that any policies or practices create particular
problems or difficulties for any groups?
·
Do any equality objectives already exist? What is current
performance like against them?
·
Is the service having a positive or negative effect on particular
people in the community, or particular groups or communities?
[11]
Engagement: You must engage appropriately with those likely to be
affected to fulfil the equality duty.
·
What do people tell you about the services?
·
Are there patterns or differences in what people from different
groups tell you?
·
What information or data will you need from communities?
·
How should people be consulted? Consider:
(a) consult
when proposals are still at a formative stage;
(b) explain
what is proposed and why, to allow intelligent consideration and response;
(c) allow
enough time for consultation;
(d) make sure
what people tell you is properly considered in the final decision.
·
Try to consult in ways that ensure all perspectives can be
considered.
·
Identify any gaps in who has been consulted and identify ways to
address this.
[12]
Your EIA must get to grips fully and properly with actual and potential
impacts.
·
The equality duty does not stop decisions or changes, but means
we must conscientiously and deliberately confront the anticipated impacts on
people.
·
Be realistic: don’t exaggerate speculative risks and negative
impacts.
·
Be detailed and specific so decision-makers have a concrete sense
of potential effects. Instead of “the policy is likely to disadvantage older
women”, say how many or what percentage are likely to be affected, how, and to
what extent.
·
Questions to ask when assessing impacts depend on the context.
Examples:
o
Are one or more groups affected differently and/or disadvantaged?
How, and to what extent?
o
Is there evidence of higher/lower uptake among different groups?
Which, and to what extent?
o
If there are likely to be different impacts on different groups,
is that consistent with the overall objective?
o
If there is negative differential impact, how can you minimise
that while taking into account your overall aims
o
Do the effects amount to unlawful discrimination? If so the plan must
be modified.
o
Does the proposal advance equality of opportunity and/or foster
good relations? If not, could it?
[13]
Consider all three aims of the Act: removing barriers, and also identifying
positive actions we can take.
·
Where you have identified impacts you must state what actions
will be taken to remove, reduce or avoid any negative impacts and
maximise any positive impacts or advance equality of opportunity.
·
Be specific and detailed and explain how far these actions are
expected to improve the negative impacts.
·
If mitigating measures are contemplated, explain clearly what the
measures are, and the extent to which they can be expected to reduce / remove
the adverse effects identified.
·
An EIA which has attempted to airbrush the facts is an EIA that
is vulnerable to challenge.
[14] Age: People of all ages
[15] Disability: A person is disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment which
has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out
normal day-to-day activities. The definition includes: sensory impairments,
impairments with fluctuating or recurring effects, progressive, organ specific,
developmental, learning difficulties, mental health conditions and mental
illnesses, produced by injury to the body or brain. Persons with cancer,
multiple sclerosis or HIV infection are all now deemed to be disabled persons
from the point of diagnosis.
[16] Gender Reassignment: A transgender person is someone who proposes to, starts
or has completed a process to change their gender. A person does not
need to be under medical supervision to be protected
[17] Pregnancy and Maternity: Protection is during pregnancy and any statutory
maternity leave to which the woman is entitled.
[18] Race/Ethnicity: This includes ethnic or
national origins, colour or nationality, and includes refugees and migrants,
and Gypsies and Travellers. Refugees and
migrants means people whose intention is to stay in the UK for at least twelve
months (excluding visitors, short term students or tourists). This definition
includes asylum seekers; voluntary and involuntary migrants; people who are undocumented;
and the children of migrants, even if they were born in the UK.
[19] Religion and Belief: Religion includes any religion with a clear structure
and belief system. Belief means any religious or philosophical belief. The Act
also covers lack of religion or belief.
[20] Sex/Gender: Both men and women are covered
under the Act.
[21] Sexual Orientation: The Act protects bisexual, gay, heterosexual and
lesbian people
[22] Marriage and Civil Partnership: Only in relation to due regard to the need to eliminate
discrimination.
[23] Community Cohesion: What must happen in all
communities to enable different groups of people to get on well together.
[24]
Other relevant groups: eg: Carers, people experiencing domestic and/or
sexual violence, substance misusers, homeless people, looked after children,
ex-armed forces personnel, people on the Autistic spectrum etc
[25] Cumulative Impact: This is an impact that
appears when you consider services or activities together. A change or activity
in one area may create an impact somewhere else
[26]
Assessment of overall impacts and any further recommendations
- Make a frank and realistic
assessment of the overall extent to which the negative impacts can be
reduced or avoided by the mitigating measures. Explain what positive impacts
will result from the actions and how you can make the most of these.
- Countervailing considerations:
These may include the reasons behind the formulation of the policy, the
benefits it is expected to deliver, budget reductions, the need to avert a
graver crisis by introducing a policy now and not later, and so on. The
weight of these factors in favour of implementing the policy must
then be measured against the weight of any evidence as to the
potential negative equality impacts of the policy.
- Are there any further
recommendations? Is further engagement needed? Is more research or
monitoring needed? Does there need to be a change in the proposal itself?
[27] Action Planning: The Equality Duty is an
ongoing duty: policies must be kept under review, continuing to give ‘due
regard’ to the duty. If an
assessment of a broad proposal leads to more specific proposals, then further
equality assessment and consultation are needed.