Equality Impact Assessments

Equality Impact Assessments ensure that the services an organisation provides meet the requirements of anti-discrimination and equalities legislation. They also provide an opportunity for an organisation to think carefully about the impact of their work on their clients and staff. And they provide more and better information to develop and deliver services that meet the client’s needs.

For Equality Impact Assessments to be implemented effectively, managers and staff have to be clear about what they are doing and why. We provide guidance to clients on conducting Equality Impact Assessments, helping them implement the various stages to ensure they have action plans appropriate to their organisation and are therefore able to gain the greatest benefit. Our approach makes sure that the legal process is more than a tick-box exercise: it is a useful tool that generates positive results.

As well as the case studies below, read more about how a couple of our clients approach this area:

Case studies:

NHS North of Tyne: Equality Impact Assessment - New Emergency Care Facility

We were commissioned by NHS North of Tyne to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment on the development of a new emergency care facility, with the aim of identifying and exploring the risks and issues relating to equality and considering how the opportunities to promote equality through the proposed development could be maximised.

The proposal was put forward by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and comprised three elements:

The Royal Parks: Review of the Regent’s Park Broad Walk Shared Use Route

We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with The Royal Parks as this built on similar work we had done previously with Transport for London, on Cycling on Greenways, and with City of London Corporation, on pathways on Hampstead Heath.

Law Society of Scotland: Equality Impact Assessment Training

The Law Society of Scotland promotes the interests of the solicitors' profession in Scotland and the interests of the public in relation to the profession. All practising solicitors in Scotland must be members of the Society and must hold a current Practising Certificate which is issued by the Society.

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham : Equality Impact Assessment

We were commissioned by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (LBBD) to conduct training and workshops to introduce Equality Impact Assessments to staff and work towards embedding its EqIA processes throughout the Council.

Contour Housing: Equality Impact Assessment Training

With over 20,000 properties across the North West, Contour Housing Group is one of the region’s largest registered social landlords. Equality Works has recently supported Contour in its work to embed Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) processes throughout the group structure.

National Probation Service North Yorkshire: Equality Impact Assessment Support

We first started working with NPS North Yorkshire in 2004 when we were commissioned to provide a range of organisational support on Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA). This initially included:

Department of Health: Equality Impact Assessment

Equality Works was commissioned to conduct an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) of the renewed Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy for England (ASE) 2007.

EqIA is a legal requirement on public bodies as part of the public duties on Race, Gender and Disability. In line with Department of Health Guidelines and general good practice, this assessment also includes an analysis of the possible impacts on other equality strands – sexual orientation, religion or belief, age and socio-economic background/social class.

Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Equality Works is currently providing EqIA workshops to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). This training is taking place within the context of a wider implementation programme which has already included revision of EqIA guidance, initial training and a mainstreaming process. The EqIA workshops are aimed at staff who are responsible for policy changes, projects and programmes and include staff from Defra’s Executive Agencies as well as the core business.

The workshops are designed to enable participants to:

NHS Waltham Forest: Equality Impact Assessment on World Class Commissioning

Equality Works was commissioned to carry out an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) on the development of World Class Commissioning (WCC) in NHS Waltham Forest. After discussion, it was decided that we would use EqIA methods and ideas to comment on NHS Waltham Forest’s progress towards WCC; specifically to review the Commissioning Strategy Plan (CSP) in relation to equalities.

Barnsley Primary Care Trust: Equality Impact Assessment Training

Equality Works were commissioned to provide equality impact assessment (EIA) training for managers from the provider and commissioning arms of the PCT. This included managers responsible for public health, corporate services and commissioning as well as service managers and practitioner leads.

The course was tailored to the primary care setting and local context using a training needs analysis process which included: information from desk research, interviews with managers and an EIA assessment tool to identify current organisational arrangements.

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