Budget Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) 2024/25 – Service Users

Budget Proposal

Title of budget saving being assessed:	Youth led grants
Name and title of officer responsible for this EIA:	Jo Templeman, Head of Family Hubs
Directorate and Service Name:	Families, Children and Learning, Family Hubs
Budget proposal no.	5

Briefly describe the budget saving proposal: (use the wording in the budget spreadsheet and more detail if needed)

The proposal is to reduce the Youth Led Grants funding to £40,000; a saving of £40,000.

Young people are responsible for the distribution of funding allocated to the annual Youth Led Grants programme. Young people take a lead on how this money is spent, making decisions on the priorities, framework for allocating funds, and writing and evaluating the bids. The current agreed priorities for this programme are:

· Improving young people’s mental health ·

· Reducing the harm from young people’s alcohol and substance misuse

· Increasing volunteering and work experience opportunities

· Increasing opportunities for young people to participate in new and challenging experiences

· Supporting young people who have faced additional disadvantage due to Covid-19

The eligibility criteria include:

Benefiting young people aged 11-19 (up to 25 if they have special educational needs)
Ensuring distribution of funding takes into account the geographical areas of the city and groups of young people facing challenges in their lives, particularly around equality issues
Working in partnership with one of the lead Youth Service Grant Providers listed above
Succeeding in encouraging participation with the voice of young people being embedded across all work, broadening the area of influence for young people. Your project will have a clear approach as to how young people are involved in and shape the activities and be part of the offer.
Operating in a manner compliant with the Equalities Act 2010 (see below)

Summarise the most significant impacts identified by this assessment including which groups will be disproportionally negatively affected drawing out intersectional impacts as applicable:

All funded projects target disadvantaged young people. A reduction in funding would result in between 20 -25 different youth projects/activities potentially being affected, and this would impact on young people aged between 11 – 19 years (up to 25 if they have special educational needs), particularly those with SEND, those financially disadvantaged, Black and Global Majority young people, gender specific groups and those impacted by Covid (particularly worsened mental health).

Consultation, engagement and supporting EIAs

What consultations or engagement activities are being used to inform this assessment?

If consultation is planned or in process – state this and state when it will done/completed even if indicative. If no consultation completed or planned, state this, giving an explanation.

There has been no consultation regarding this saving.

What other budget or service EIAs can assist/have been used to inform this assessment?

23/24 budgets savings EIA for this same grant programme.

Current data and impact monitoring

Do you currently collect and analyse the following data to enable monitoring of the impact of this proposal?

Consider all possible intersections (Delete and State Yes, No, Not Applicable)

Age	YES - 11 to 25 years olds
Disability and inclusive adjustments, coverage under equality act and not	yes
Ethnicity, ‘Race’, ethnic heritage (including Gypsy, Roma, Travellers)	yes
Religion, Belief, Spirituality, Faith, or Atheism	Not applicable
Gender Identity and Sex (including non-binary and Intersex people)	yes
Gender Reassignment	NO
Sexual Orientation	NO
Marriage and Civil Partnership	Not applicable
Pregnant people, Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Menopause, (In)fertility (across the gender spectrum)	Not applicable
Armed Forces Personnel, their families, and Veterans	Not applicable
Expatriates, Migrants, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees	NO
Carers	NO
Looked after children, Care Leavers, Care and fostering experienced people	NO
Domestic and/or Sexual Abuse and Violence Survivors, and people in vulnerable situations (All aspects and intersections)	NO
Socio-economic Disadvantage	yes
Homelessness and associated risk and vulnerability	NO
Human Rights	NO
Another relevant group (please specify here and add additional rows as needed)	NO

Additional relevant groups that may be widely disadvantaged and have intersecting experiences that create exclusion and systemic barriers may include:

Ex-offenders and people with unrelated convictions
Lone parents
People experiencing homelessness
People facing literacy and numeracy barriers
People on a low income and people living in the most deprived areas
People who have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM)
People who have experienced human trafficking or modern slavery
People with experience of or living with addiction and/ or a substance use disorder (SUD)
Sex workers

If you answered “NO” to any of the above, how will you gather this data to enable improved monitoring of impact for this proposal?

Equal opportunities is part of the application and assessment process.

What are the arrangements for monitoring, and reviewing the impact of this proposal?

Feedback from organisations currently receiving a grant via this programme.

Impacts

Briefly state source of data or data analysis being used to describe the disproportionate negative impacts. Preferably provide link to data/ analysis if open data source.

Assess impact for different population groups	Is there a possible disproportionate negative impact? State Yes or No	Describe the potential negative impact, considering for differences within groups For example, different ethnic groups, and peoples intersecting identities e.g. disabled women of faith OR If no impact is identified, briefly state why.
Age including those under 16, young adults, multiple ethnicities, those with various intersections.	Yes	This will impact on young people aged between 11 years – 19 years (up to 25 years if they have special educational needs). There will be no funding for project for this group.
Disability includes physical and sensory disabled, D/deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, blind, neurodiverse people, people with non-visible disabilities.	Yes	This programme awards funding to specific programmes for young people with SEND. There will be no funding for project for this group.
Ethnicity, ‘Race’, ethnic heritage including Gypsy, Roma, Travellers	Yes	This programme awards funding to activities for Black and Global Majority young people. There will be no funding for project for this group.
Religion, Spirituality, Faith, Atheism, and philosophical belief	No	No disproportionate impact for this group.
Gender and Sex including non-binary and intersex people	Yes	This programme awards funding to activities for young women and men re: gender-related issues and disadvantages. There will be no funding for project for this group.
Gender Reassignment	No	No disproportionate impact for this group.
Sexual Orientation	No	No disproportionate impact for this group.
Marriage and Civil Partnership	n/a
Pregnancy, Maternity, Paternity, Adoption, Menopause, (In)fertility (across intersections and non-binary gender spectrum)	n/a
Armed Forces Personnel, their families, and Veterans	n/a
Expatriates, Migrants, Asylum Seekers, and Refugees considering for age, language, and various intersections	Yes	This programme awards funding to activities for Black and Global Majority young people, within this cohort of young people some will identify as refugee and or migrant. There will be no funding for project for this group.
Carers considering for age, language, and various intersections	No
Looked after children, Care Leavers, Care and fostering experienced people considering for age, language, and various intersections	No	Groups currently funded by in house council funding, so not impacted by youth led grants.
Domestic and/or sexual abuse and violence survivors	n/a
Socio-economic disadvantage considering for age, disability, D/deaf/ blind, ethnicity, expatriate background, and various intersections	Yes	Young people financially disadvantaged are particularly targeted for the funded projects. There will be no funding for project for this group
Homeless and rough sleepers considering for age, veteran, ethnicity, language, and various intersections	n/a
Human Rights	n/a
Another relevant group (please specify here and add additional rows as needed)

Additional relevant groups that may be widely disadvantaged and have intersecting experiences that create exclusion and systemic barriers may include:

Ex-offenders and people with unrelated convictions
Lone parents
People experiencing homelessness
People facing literacy and numeracy barriers
People on a low income and people living in the most deprived areas
People who have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM)
People who have experienced human trafficking or modern slavery
People with experience of or living with addiction and/ or a substance use disorder (SUD)
Sex workers

Cumulative impacts

Are there other budget proposals from other service areas that might worsen or mitigate the impacts from your proposal? Please give a brief description including name of other service(s).

The Youth Service Grants Programme 2021-2025 aims to assist organisations financially so that they can deliver the desired outcomes, building on the assets of the third sector, promoting enterprise and social value.

This funding is to:

Provide safe physical, digital and outreach spaces in the community that delivers open access, non-formal education to young people that will support their personal and social development through activities that young people need, want and value.
Deliver regular activities and opportunities for young people to participate in decision making forums, social action and volunteering.
Provide targeted and specialist youth work to engage young people with specialist needs, disadvantaged young people or marginalised population groups.
Work in partnership with the Council, other youth providers and specialist agencies, acting as a bridge and supporting young people to access other services and being part of a multi-agency group where appropriate.
Empower young people to co-design and co-produce activities, projects and services

This funding is sustained for 24/25 and will ensure services are still delivered and help mitigate the impact of this budget saving.

The significant reduction of the council’s annual grant fund to the community and voluntary sector – the Communities Fund – will likely have a worsening impact on this proposal as it will not offer a viable alternative for providers to bid to.

Action planning

What SMART actions will be taken to mitigate the disproportionate impacts identified in section 3? If no mitigating action is possible, please state and explain why. Add additional rows as required.

SMART action 1: Youth providers will be directed to the Holiday Activities Funding which can support projects like those funded through the youth-led grant programme.

(note: HAF only applicable for young people eligible for Free School Meals)

SMART action 2: Youth providers will be supported to seek and apply for other funding opportunities via BHCC youth manager

Outcome of your assessment

Based on the information above give the proposal an impact score between 1 – 5.

1= proposal has minimal impact and/or mitigating actions will significantly minimise the impact

3= proposal will have a significant negative impact; however, mitigation actions will reduce the impact considerably.

5= proposal has significant impact and mitigating actions will have limited effect on reducing impact.

Proposal’s impact score:

Publication

All Equality Impact Assessments will be published. If you are recommending, and choosing not to publish your EIA, please provide a reason:

Directorate and Service Approval

Signatory:	Name and Job Title:	Date: DD-MMM-YY
Responsible Lead Officer:	Jo Templeman – Head of Service Family hubs	22.1.23
Accountable Manager:	Jo Lyons – Assistant director	22.1.23

EDI Review and Approval:

Equality Impact Assessment sign-off

Signatory:	Name:	Date: DD-MMM-YY
Head of Communities, Equality, and Third Sector (CETS) Service:	Emma McDermott	23-01-24