Equality Impact Assessment
What are Equality Impact Assessments?
An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is a tool to help the Council assess the accessibility of the services and functions we provide or the policies we produce. The assessment has to cover how our services, functions and policies help to achieve equality for all.
As a Local Authority, we exist to provide services to the public. It is our responsibility to ensure that our services are accessible to all, paying particular attention to the needs of groups that are more likely to be disadvantaged.
EIAs help us to take a step back from our day-to-day work and assess how we are providing our services and structuring our policies with regards to accessibility. By looking at equalities data relating to our service users and thinking about the accessibility of our services, we can identify any groups who are disproportionately under-using our services or who are very dissatisfied with the services we provide.
The purpose of such assessments is to identify:
- whether the service or policy is having, or is likely to have, a disproportionate impact on any particular group within the population;
- whether such an impact is positive or negative; and
- whether such an impact might constitute unlawful discrimination.
Where disproportionate negative impact and/or unlawful impact is identified, the assessment provides a means for the Council to take appropriate steps to either avoid, or to take appropriate action to mitigate this. An action plan is developed where appropriate to deliver on this.
Although the law no longer requires us to carry out Equality Impact Assessments it is an important tool that helps assess our accessibility in relation to the protected characteristics outlined in the Equality Act 2010. Therefore we have continued to impact assess all of our services. If you would like to view our Equality Impact Assessments please contact |Corporate Policy and Partnerships.
For more information on the Council's commitment to equality, see our |Corporate Equality Plan.
