Guide to conducting a Full Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)

Equality impact assessment is an exercise to help us all improve our policies and practices, for the benefit of all the staff, students and members involved. It involves gathering and using evidence to make a judgement about how the implementation of a particular policy affects people from different equality groups. The results of the impact assessment need to be published in a comprehensive and readily accessible form. One of the outputs of the EIA should be an action plan detailing how you will address any inequalities you have highlighted.

Overview of EIA Process

The results of policy screening will indicate whether your policy requires a full EIA and whether the policy is high, medium or low priority for carrying out EIA. As a general guide, EIA should be carried out within the following timescales.

EIA should usually be carried out by the policy owner, or the person responsible for the procedure or provision being assessed. If practical, you may find it helpful to carry out the process jointly with a colleague who can provide impartial comment. In exceptional cases, the EIA Implementation Group may nominate an independent assessor.

The following information is intended to provide useful and practical information about conducting a full EIA. You can find relevant forms and templates in the appendices.

Make a broad interpretation of the words “data, information and evidence”. Information/data may be statistical, survey opinions, anecdotal or observational. You may not necessarily need to collect data specifically for the purpose of EIA as there is already a wealth of data about the University's activities on the website. External benchmarking data is also available from a range of sources including HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency). You will find an indicative list of existing sources of information in Appendix 1. Check what data you have already collected for any related screening process.

Where it does not exist already, you may need to collect data for the specific impact assessment. You might use a range of data sources or collection techniques during an equality impact assessment, both quantitative and qualitative, for example

Consider how appropriate, proportionate and relevant the data collection methods are. It may be that the information required is not available and it is not possible to conduct a one-off exercise to collect it. Where this is the case, make it clear in the written report which will go for consultation. You may also wish to consider whether or not you can collect data/information in the future. Base your decision on the resource implications of the task and whether it is appropriate, relevant and proportionate.

2. Analysing Data

When you analyse the data you have collected, you should seek answers to the following questions (many of which you will have already answered during the screening process).

The key findings of the investigation should highlight the results of the impact assessment. It will be helpful to include summary statistics tables in your report.

3. Suggest measures to address adverse impact

If you identify an adverse impact on a particular group, there are a number of things to consider. Think about what action may be required to address any detrimental impact of the policy. Include suggested possible actions in the written report, for example:

4. Mitigating a policy or adverse impact

It may not always be appropriate, proportionate or relevant to change a policy. Costs could be an inhibiting factor, or you may consider that changing a policy in one way, results in another group suffering a different or more serious adverse impact. Where this is the case, the written report should include a statement of why it is not appropriate, proportionate or relevant to take action on a particular issue at that time.

5. Identifying ways to further improve satisfactory practice

You may not find adverse impact, but may have identified practical measures you could take to promote equality more actively. Include these ideas in your report too.

6. Writing the EIA Report

The next step is to write an EIA report. We have provided a suggested content and guidance notes in appendix 2. You can also find a report template at www.XXXX. Once written, the report needs to be made available for consultation. The Equalities Officer will help facilitate the consultation process

7. Consultation

Once the EIA Report is completed, you should send it to the Equalities Officer. Please be aware that all reports will be made publicly available on the University website.

You may also wish to make report available for consultation in other ways, especially if you have access to any relevant local groups, including for example, current participants on a particular degree course, or local community groups.

The Equalities Officer can advise on making your reports available in alternative formats.

8. Making Plans and Taking Action

You should draw up an action plan with linked timescales as part of the EIA Report. The suggested actions will be tested during the consultation phase and consultation may result in more ideas for actions coming forward.

Once the consultation has closed, the final part of the EIA process is to draw up your final action plan (a template is available in Appendix 3) and forward it to the Equalities Officer, who will collate all action plans across the University. You will be expected to provide a brief update on progress on an annual basis. Add information about how progress will be monitored, and the most senior body responsible for monitoring.

Appendix 1 - Useful sources of information and data

Appendix 2

Suggested Content for EIA Report

1. Background

2. Policy Aims

3. Consideration of Available Data & Research

4. Assessment of Impacts

5. Summary of impacts

6. Measure to address or mitigate adverse impact

7. Additional measures to promote equality

8. Consultation

9. Action Plan

Some of this information will already be available to download from your screening report.

1. Background

You should give general information about the policy here. You may wish to include the following:

2. Policy Aims

Provide a brief statement about what the aims of the policy are. Why does it exist or why is there a need for it to exist. Having a clear view of why a policy is needed, can be helpful when looking at how it is applied in practice - investigating whether it does what it sets out to do.

3. Consideration of Available Data and Research

List the data or other information looked at during the assessment of this policy. The data may be existing data or you may have sought some data specifically for the impact assessment. The term data should be used in its broadest sense. It can be statistics, anecdotal, observational etc.

4. Assessment of Impacts

Actual or potential impacts of the policy on people by the following categories: Age, Disability, Ethnic Origin, Gender, Religion/Belief, Sexual Orientation. The key findings from analysis of the data/information collected should highlight where there appears to be a differential impact on people from different equality groups. It may be helpful to provide summary tables.

EIAs look first at the negative effects (adverse) effects of the policy, so that action can be taken to minimise the adverse effects. Possible evidence of adverse impact would include:

For staff

For students

List all the actual or potential adverse impacts you have identified. It is important to include all of the potential adverse impacts, although consultation with members of equality target groups may be the only way to identify these.

Possible outcomes from this exercise are:

There is no evidence available to judge the actual effect of the policy

There is evidence of an effect but it is not clear what is causing it

There is evidence that the policy actually has an adverse effect

There is evidence that the policy actually has a beneficial effect

5. Summary of Impacts

Summarise the key findings in this section. You may find this section a helpful resource to direct readers to.

6. Measures to address or mitigate adverse impact

Suggested adjustment to improve the impact of the policy

List all the suggestions made that could improve the impact of the policy by:

The suggestions may have been made by the team carrying out the EIA or may be an output of consultation. It doesn't matter if the suggestions are reasonable, appropriate, relevant or proportionate - what is important is demonstrating involvement by people and the contribution they have made.

7. Further measures to promote equality

Include here any measures you could take which could contribute to inclusive practice and promote equality. Explain which groups might benefit.

8. Consultation

List here the efforts you have made to consult on this policy. You may have already consulted the EIA Consultation Group during the screening process; however you may have specific questions that you wish to ask members of the group. If so, include any questions in this section. You may also wish to consider including an executive summary in your report to help the EIA Consultation Group to quickly focus on any particular issues.

List other groups that you have consulted with, such as users of the policy, customers, staff or student groups. Ideally consultation should not just be internal to the University but you should be consulting with external and community groups. If possible, try and focus the consultation by asking a few specific questions rather than asking for general comments.

9. Action Plan

Use the template at appendix 3 so you can record actions/adjustments with target dates and those responsible for making the changes happen. You may be asked to provide updates against actions by the EIA Implementation Group as part of the University's Annual Report on Equality and Diversity.

It is important to remember why we are doing EIAs. EIAs are about improving processes, policies and practices to ensure equality of opportunity and to eliminate unfair discrimination. It's about making the University a better place to study, work and visit. Even the smallest changes can help towards this goal. Don't make EIA a paper exercise - It's the actions that are most important.

Here's how you can really make a difference:

Equality Impact Assessment

Action Plan

Example Equality Impact Assessment Report

Clerical Staff Recruitment at “Northern University”

The following is an example of an EIA report. It involves a fictional “Northern” University.

1. Background

Northern University currently employs approximately 4,500 employees, of which 788 are employed in clerical roles.

There is no recruitment and selection “policy” however the University has developed a Recruitment and Selection Procedure and Guidelines.

2. Policy Aims

The aims of the procedure and guidelines are to ensure that those responsible for any aspect of staff recruitment and selection, carry out their duties in a manner which is in line with best practice and adheres to relevant employment legislation.

The current procedure is available from Northern University's Human Resources service.

3. Consideration of Available Data & Research

When assessing the impact of the recruitment and selection procedure for clerical staff, the following information was taken into account:

3.1 Employment Data (including Equal Opportunities Monitoring Data)

In order to assess the impact of the staff recruitment and selection procedure, the composition of staff, and of applicants and appointees was taken into consideration.

3.2 Census Data

For comparative analysis, information from the 2001 population Census was used. This information would be relevant to those positions where recruitment occurs from the local population such as clerical roles.

3.3 Local Comparator Data

For comparative analysis with local large scale public sector employers, data from Northern City Council and North East University were used.

4. Assessment of Impacts

4.1 Gender

The University's overall gender profile is 48% male and 52% female closely reflects the local census information, however some groups are underrepresented. Males, at 6%, are underrepresented in Clerical grades, a pattern that has been consistent since 2000.

Males are underrepresented in applications for clerical grades, however the proportion of applicants from males (23%) is higher than the proportion of current employees (6%). In the last 6 months, 14% of all new appointments to clerical grades were male, indicating a slight improvement to the under representation in this area.

4.2 Ethnic Origin

5.29% of University staff are from a minority ethnic background. According to the census, the local BME population is 3.16%.

In 2000, the proportion of BME staff employed at the University was 3.67%. There has therefore been an increase in the proportion of BME staff employed at Northern University over the last 5 years. Since 2000 there has been an increase across all staff categories in the proportion of BME staff.

When compared to applications, the conversion rate from application to successful applicant for BME staff was 12%, this is slightly less than for white staff at 16%.

In clerical roles, there appears to be an underrepresentation of BME staff employed (1.2%), especially compared to applications (8%).

4.3 Disability

2.42% % of current staff have declared a disability.

Disabled people appear to be underrepresented in job applications across all staff categories. The data shows that 0.14% of job applicants had declared a disability. With estimates that up to 18% of the UK population having a disability it is reasonable to assume that the University should have received a higher proportion of job applications from disabled people. There may be several reasons why the proportion of applications from disabled people appears to be so low.

One explanation may be that job applicants may be reluctant to disclose a disability for fear of suffering unlawful discrimination. Another is that disabled people do not perceive the University as an inclusive employer and therefore do not apply for positions. Another explanation is that the data is inaccurate and that the disability information has been missed from the data input. In either case, this is an area for further investigation.

The data would seem to show that none of the staff appointed in the last 6 months have declared a disability.

Initial enquiries with University HR Officers would seem to indicate that this data is not accurate and that the University has appointed staff with disabilities in the last 6 months. This is an area for further investigation in order to ensure that monitoring data is accurate and therefore can be used to inform university decision making.

4.4 Age

The University generally has an older population than the census data. Almost 30% of all staff are between 40 and 49 years old, compared to 23% of the population of Tyne & Wear. Staff under 30 years old appear to be underrepresented. Staff between 40-49 seem to be over represented. However this changes considerably depending on the staff category.

Within Clerical grades, almost 60% are under 40.

The under 30's age range is over represented for job applications to clerical roles. Appointments made to those under 30 were proportionately higher than current staff in that age range in clerical roles.

4.5 Sexual Orientation

Northern University does not currently monitor sexual orientation for current staff or job applications. There is therefore no statistical data relating to this.

4.6 Religion or Belief

Northern University does not currently monitor Religion or Belief for current staff or job applications. According to the Census data, 78.1% of the population are Christian, 2.5% are another religion and 19.4% of the population either had no religion or did not state their religion. If the religious profile of the University was similar to that of, then this would mean that over 100 staff followed a religion other than Christianity. In light of the current racial mix of the University, this is likely to be an underestimate.

5. Summary of impacts

6. Measures to address or mitigate adverse impact

The University needs to give careful consideration to possible measures to eliminate or mitigate the adverse impacts identified in section 5.

The following specific actions could be considered:

7. Consultation

The University has consulted Faculties and Services through the Diversity Committee. The Diversity Consultative Group, which includes representatives from the three Trade Unions and representatives of various equality target groups has also been consulted.

This report will be posted on the University website and will be available internally and externally.

The report will be made available, on request, in alternative formats including large print, computer disc, audio-cassette and in minority languages for those who are not fluent in English.

Responses to this consultation should be sent to:

[Name]

[Position]

[Address]

[Phone]

[Email]

The deadline for receipt of comments is [Date]

8. Action Plan (Example)

EIA Report Appendix 2

Policy screening form

EIA required

No EIA required

Full Equality Impact Assessment

CONSULTATION

Set policy review date

Action plan and policy review date

End of process