London Borough of Tower Hamlets: Equalities Consultancy

Since 2006 Equality Works has been providing a range of on-going expert support to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. This work has involved supporting the Equality Action Team within the Communities, Localities and Culture directorate to identify key priorities for embedding equality and inclusion into a range of their work streams, as well as reviewing their Corporate Programme and Project Management Competency Framework.

Tower Hamlets is a one of only a small number of Local Authorities to have reached Level 5 of the Equality Standard for Local Government (ESLG). In a desire to maintain equality standards as set out in the ESLG and to move beyond a compliance model of promoting equality and inclusion, Tower Hamlets wanted to review its processes for delivering equality outcomes to staff and local residents.

As part of our service, Equality Works undertook a review of the following policy areas: Corporate Programme and Project Management, Equality Impact Assessment, Corporate Performance, Development & Review Scheme, Team Planning and Leadership and Management Framework. This work involved using our equality analysis to measure the extent to which these policies set out clear guidance on promoting inclusion across all six equality strands. Following the review we wrote a gap analysis and set of recommendations.

We also undertook a review of the functions and role of the directorate’s Equality Action Team (EAT). This work involved facilitating a series of meetings with Heads of Services and other senior managers.

The key outcome following the intervention was a re-focus from senior managers and Heads of Services on the equality gaps and priorities within Communities, Localities and Culture. This resulted in a set of actions linked to the Directorate’s Service Plans. This work is helping Tower Hamlets to maintain its position at Level 5 with the revised ESLG. It also helped Service Heads to widen their scope on equality to cover the six strands.

As a result of our interventions, we have since been commissioned to design and deliver a number of equality training programmes for the Senior Management Team, Heads of Service and Team Leaders.