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Equality Works London

Shepherdess Walk Buildings
2 Underwood Row
London N1 7LQ
Tel: 0207 251 4939

Equality Works Manchester

10th Floor, Bridgewater House
Whitworth Street
Manchester M1 6LT
Tel: 0161 200 8540

The 'how long is a piece of string?' answer...

We’ve been involved recently in a number of projects which help clients to develop Single Equality Schemes (SES) and conduct Equality Impact Assessments (EIA). Questions that arise regularly are: Who should I consult? How? and For how long?

Now there clearly is no easy answer to these questions but there are probably a few principles worth keeping in mind:
- Is it consultation or involvement? And what is the difference?
- What is the purpose of the process?
- Think about who and how to consult
- Manage expectations during the consultation
- Provide feedback
 
 
Here are some of the pointers we’ve learnt over time:
 

1.      Is it consultation or involvement - and what is the difference?

 
As with everything in this process, there is no clear cut answer. The guidelines, including those from the EHRC, require you to think through the best approach for the work that you are carrying out.
 
Generally speaking, engagement would involve actually working with stakeholders in the design of the policy, service or solution that you are working on.
 
Very specifically, in Single Equality Schemes you are required to “engage” with disabled stakeholders, i.e. involve them in the thinking and discussion about your plans and strategies for improving equality outcomes.
 
Consultation is more typically carried out when you have some proposal or idea on which you want to seek input and feedback. It is critical that when you start a consultation process, you do so at a point where you can and will change your plans as a result of the input.
 
 

2.      What is the purpose of the process?

 
It’s also really critical that you are clear about the purpose and the scope of the consultation. For example: if you are conducting an EIA on a new policy, are you consulting about the recommendations contained in the policy or about whether you should have the policy at all?
 
In your SES, are you consulting on the content of the scheme and its recommendations, or the priorities in the action plan? Obviously the earlier your consultation - and the wider its scope - the greater likelihood of it achieving its goal. 
 
However, it is critical that you are clear with those people consulted what you are actually willing or able to change at the point of consultation, and that’s the scope of the consultation process.
 
 

3.      Think about who and how to consult

 
Our general recommendation would be to consider each of the equality strands and consider a mechanism for effective engagement with individuals or representative bodies.
 
In the EIA process, this might be completed in an initial scoping exercise then conducted in greater detail with those groups who may experience a negative impact. However, given that EIA’s are also designed to promote equality - rather than only eliminate disadvantage - they are a great opportunity to engage with representative groups.
 
We would also suggest that, depending on where you are, you do some pro-active thinking about which communities in your service or location would find it most difficult to participate in your consultation process.
 
This could be gypsy and traveller communities, for example; young people with caring responsibilities; (learning disabled service users?); or children of prisoners. Whatever you feel is most locally relevant for you, give some thought as to whether a longer term dialogue or a more “event based” engagement is the best way to connect.
 
The consultation methodology is certainly worth spending some time thinking about. (It’s also important to think beyond ensuring your process is accessible for disabled stakeholders, critical though this is.?) In particular, it is important to think through questions and points such as:
  • How much information do people need to form a view about what you are asking them?
  • How much time do they need to think through the issues?
  • What do we already know from consultations, stakeholders can get easily aggrieved when they have been asked several times for the same input – especially if they don’t see any change.
  • Are there a number of occasions where they can input into the process?
  • What kind of feedback will be valuable to you?
  • Who would they feel confident giving this feedback to and what “weight” will be placed on different views? Should this be an internally managed process or does it require an external consultant to demonstrate independence to the process?
  • What fears/ concerns might they have?
  • Who can they talk to who knows enough about the project and is available to answer questions?
  • What’s a realistic time frame e.g. is it the middle of school holidays so more people are likely to be away from work?
Asking yourself some of these questions will at least get you thinking about “Who have we missed?” and “How can we get the best quality input possible?”
 
 

4.      Manage expectations during the consultation

 
We would strongly recommend that whoever is carrying out your consultation is very well briefed and can answer fully and confidently any questions stakeholders have about what will happen with their feedback and the decision-making processes.
 
It is also important to have those colleagues who are carrying out consultations skilled up in the process and to make sure they have relevant equality and diversity competence.
 
Being able to manage stakeholders’ expectations about what may or may not be represented in a final document or plan - while at the same time maintaining their engagement and involvement in the process - is a difficult task. This can, however, be the difference between delivering an equitable outcome - or not.
 
As well as carrying out the consultation process, we also work with our clients to build their internal skills and capacity in this area to help you get the best value from your consultations.
 
 
5.      Provide feedback
 
Finally, it may be obvious to say - but not always done! Providing feedback to stakeholders that acknowledges their contribution, addresses their concerns and lets them know how their input is reflected in your final outcome will help to build understanding of how you have come to your policy or service decisions. It will also build trust in your relationship so they will be happy to contribute next time.