North Norfolk District Council
Equality Impact Assessment
(EQIA) Guidance and Form
Owned by
Organisation Development
Date Published
January 2012.
Review Date
Location
January 2015.
http://intranet.northnorfolk.org/staff/equality.asp
Introduction
The Council is legally required to consider the equality duty as part of the
decision making process. In our activities, such as provision of services,
policy development, procedures and savings, we must consider how we can:
1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
2. Advance equality of opportunity between different groups; and
3. Foster good relations between different groups by tackling prejudice
and promoting understanding.
To do this the Council uses Equality Impact Assessments. These allow us to
assess the impact, either positively or negatively, on different section of our
community, employees in different ways and find ways to address concerns
and maximize opportunities.
Do you need to complete an EQIA?
If your proposed activity affects people in any way, you have a responsibility
to make sure you know how it affects different groups of people. Here are
some questions to help you decide if you need to complete an EQIA:
1. Will individuals have access to, or be denied access to a service or
function as a result of the proposed activity? e.g new policy / change of
service provision.
2. Will the proposed activity result in a change to staffing levels, change in
terms and conditions, employer or location?
3. If there a change in budget which will result in a service being
withdrawn, changed or expanded?
If you answered yes to any of these questions then you will need to complete
an EQIA
Advice and guidance
Topic
Equality & Diversity
Performance
Management
Employment
Organisational Development Contacts
Kate Sullivan Ext 6052
Helen Thomas Ext 6214
Julie Cooke Ext 6040
A glossary and further information about Equality and Diversity and equality
analysis can be found at http://intranet.northnorfolk.org/staff/equality.asp
Equality Impact Assessment Form
When completing the form make sure:



Your statements and conclusions are clearly supported by evidence.
The form is completed before decisions are made.
You complete all sections.
Section 1: responsibility and proposed activity
Service Area
Director
Manager
Reviewing Officer
Date of EQIA
Title of activity
Summarise the
overall aims of the
activity/ proposal and
how it will achieve
them.
Section 2: Impact Assessment
Q1 Indicate whether people with any of the following protected
characteristics below will be affected by the activity / proposal. This
includes: service users and non service users, employees including
members and contract workers, and visitors. Please tick all boxes that
apply.
Sex
Ethnicity (includes, migrant workers, Gypsies & Travellers)
Disabled (e.g. physical disability, mental health, visually or hearing
impaired, learning difficulties, cancer, HIV etc.)
Transgender (People who are proposing to undergo, have
undergone a process (or part of a process) to reassign their sex
changing physiological or other attributes of their sex.
Religion & Belief (includes different faiths and beliefs such as
humanism and people with no religion or belief)
Sexual Orientation (gay, lesbian and bi-sexual)
Age
Civil Partnerships & Marriage
Pregnancy & Maternity
Q2 Describe how the proposed activity may affect people with a
protected characteristic when compared to people without those
characteristics i.e. does the activity or proposal put them at a
disadvantage. You will need to cite the evidence below. Think carefully
about the following areas
1. Do people with certain protected characteristics use the service more than
others? Might the proposal therefore particularly impact on them or people
associated with them, such as their families or carers?
2. The built environment (is it accessible - if not, are reasonable adjustments in
place?) e.g buildings where the activity is taking place.
3. ICT (is it accessible – if not, are adaptive ICT solutions in place?)
4. Communications (customer contact, paper, electronic, verbal etc - is it
accessible?)
5. User involvement/participation/consultation (is it inclusive of everyone &
does it accommodate different needs?)
6. Have all reasonable and proportionate options been explored to use the
proposed activity as an opportunity to promote equality for all the protected
characteristics? For example by:



Removing or minimising disadvantages.
Taking steps to meet the persons needs, this may include treating a
person more favourably if it relates to disability or through the use of
Positive Action.
Encouraging persons who share a relevant protected characteristic to
participate in public life or in any other activity in which participation by
such persons is disproportionately low.
7. Have all reasonable and proportionate options been explored to use
the proposed activity as an opportunity to foster good relations
between different groups by tackling prejudice and promoting
understanding.
8. Have all reasonable and proportionate options been explored to use
the proposed activity as an opportunity to eliminate unlawful
discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
Enter your description and evidence here. (include file references to
evidence and any other relevant data)
Q3 Please describe any actions you will take to minimise or remove any
negative impacts of the proposed activity or to promote further equality
of opportunity and good relations.
Action
Outcome
Lead
Officer
End Date
Any actions taken to mitigated negative impacts of an activity or proposal
should be included in either: your service’s business plan, an appropriate
team member’s appraisal or logged on TEN.
Q4 If any negative impacts can not be minimized or removed state how
the impact can be justified. You must state the evidence for this.
Section 3: Monitoring & Review
You will need to make arrangements to monitor the implementation of the proposed
activity as this will allow you to:




Easily review your Equality Impact Assessment in future.
Understand, in practical terms, the impact of the proposed activity once it is
implemented.
Know whether any action to mitigate any negative affect of the proposed activity
has worked such as positive action.
Keep reasonable adjustments under review. For example, the adjustment may
cease to be effective, or where an adjustment would have been unreasonable to
make, changes in circumstances or technological developments may now mean
it is.
Think carefully about the following areas when deciding your monitoring
arrangements:

Is the same impact being achieved for people with protected characteristics
compared to people without these characteristics – if not, why not?



Are the needs of people with protected characteristics being adequately met,
where these may differ from people without these characteristics?
Is uptake of any opportunities associated with the activity or proposal generally
representative of people with protected characteristics?
Does the customer/staff/volunteer profile reflect North Norfolk’s population – & if
not, why not?
Q5. Please describe your monitoring arrangements here. These can be
managed using the Council’s business management processes e.g.
TEN, appraisals etc.
Section 4: EQIA Review
A completed EQIA should never go longer than 3 years without being
reviewed, however it should be reviewed more frequently if the activity, EQIA
and monitoring data suggests this would be beneficial.
You may need to be flexible with this date if there is a change in
circumstances, incident or series of complaints.
Review Date for EQIA
Lead Officer
Section 5: Reporting your Equality Impact Assessment
1. Committee Reports
a. For activity which requires a committee decision, use the
existing Committee report template. There is a compulsory
section on Equality and Diversity.
2. Projects – Medium and large
a. An EQIA should accompany reporting at stage 3 of the project
management process i.e. when the scope for the project is
defined and the business case is made.
3. Projects - Small
a. A summary statement of the EQIA should be submitted to
relevant personnel before activity commences e.g. team leader,
manager.
The data which needs to be reported is summarized below:
1. That an EQIA has taken place.
2. What the key findings were i.e. whether there were any adverse impact
for customers or staff including: indirect and direct discrimination,
discrimination arising from a disability and discrimination through a
failure to comply with our statutory duty to anticipate and make
reasonable adjustments to a provision, criterion or practice, physical
feature or absence of auxillary aid which results in a disadvantage to a
Disabled person.
3. How these affects will be mitigated or removed.
4. Where the EQIA can be located.
Signed
Signed
Print Name
Job Title
Date