Equality Impact Assessment
EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
CHILDREN’S SOCIAL CARE
FIELDWORK SERVICES
UPDATED FOR 2008/09
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Equality Impact Assessment
EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Name of the policy or function being assessed:
Fieldwork Services (Assessment and Family Support and Protection)
Directorate:
Children’s Services, Mulberry Place, London E14 2BG
Date Impact Assessment completed:
December 2008 / January 2009
Is this a policy or function?
Policy 
Function

Is this a new or existing policy or function?
New 
Existing

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Equality Impact Assessment
Names and roles of the people carrying out the Impact Assessment:
(Explain why the members of the impact assessment team were selected i.e. the knowledge
and experience they bring to the process).
1. Paul McGee – Service Manager, Assessment and Early Intervention
2. Moira Keen – Team Manager, Private Fostering
3. Angie Bates – Eva Armsby Family Centre
4. Ahea Hannan – Strategy and Performance
5. Khayer Ali – Practice Manager, Remodelling Social Work
6. Nurjahan Chowdhury, Team Manager, Eva Armsby Family Centre
7. Lynette Niles, Practice Manager, Family Support and Protection
8. Sabina Yasmin – Social Worker, Advice and Assessment West
9. Ashley Hanuman - Social Worker, Advice and Assessment East
10. Dean Hamlet – Social Worker, Private Fostering
11. Yvonne Archer – Panel Administrator, Private Fostering
12. Bisset Nkomo - Student Social Worker, Family Support and Protection
13. Nick Laurence - Group Manager, Children with Disabilities Team
All managers and practitioners in Assessment and Intervention and Family Support
Services.
Service Head
Kamini Rambellas
Signature
Date
30th January 2009
Once you have filled in this document please send a copy to the Diversity and Equalities
Team.
If you have any questions regarding this form please call the Diversity and Equalities Team.
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Equality Impact Assessment
SECTION 1
AIMS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FUNCTION
Identifying the aims of the function1
What is the function?
What is the aim, objective, or purpose of the function?
Children’s Social Care plays a vital role in the community by providing support to people
who are at risk or are having problems coping with everyday life. This includes children and
families who may be experiencing a range of difficulties.
Children’s Social Care offers a range of social work support to the Tower Hamlets
community. Services range from family support through to children in public care and joint
investigations with the police into child protection concerns.
Services are also provided for children with disabilities, those experiencing mental health
difficulties and their families.
Fieldwork Services aim to promote the upbringing of children in need within families and to
prevent more intrusive state interventions.
Children’s Social Care assesses and plans a range of support services, such as access to
family centres, fostering and adoption and children's homes. Increasingly the service works
jointly with other key agencies, in particular, health, education and the voluntary sector.
Fieldwork Services provide direct ‘face to face’ support via assessing individual
characteristics and circumstances. Judgements and decision-making arise out of this
process which can impact significantly on the life and wellbeing of children and families.
1
Please note the term ‘Policy’ is used for simplicity. The broad term can also refer to a function or a service.
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Equality Impact Assessment
Rationale behind the function and its delivery
(Please state the underlying function objectives which underpin this service and what they
are trying to achieve).
Are there associated objectives of the function? If so, what are they?
What outcomes do we want to achieve from this function?
What factors could contribute/detract from the outcomes?
The definition of and the underlying objectives of the function are set out in the section
above.
On the whole, children’s best interests are met by stable childhoods within family and
kinship structures in which the adults are motivated and have the ability to meet their
developmental and other needs.
Fieldwork services are provided to families who either self refer for support from Children’s
Services or who are referred to Children’s Services due to concerns.
The dual focus of the work undertaken in Fieldwork Services is to both support parents and
carers in their parenting role, promote good family functioning in order to prevent the need
for removal of children to be looked after in public care and to ensure the safety and
wellbeing of children and young people who are deemed to be at risk of significant harm.
While there is a clear legislative mandate for this work underpinned by the Children’s Act
1989 and supported by national and local practice procedures and guidance, historically
there has been scope for wide flexibility in the delivery of these services. The Children’s Act
2004 and Every Child Matters have more recently limited some of this flexibility and have
placed more emphasis on the area of safeguarding.
Changes in Human Rights Legislation, the Public Law Outline and a focus on needs-lead
assessments have also contributed to the changing context within Children’s Social Care on
a national level.
Predominately, front line social work teams work in a legal framework that governs practise
and limits the actions that the service can undertake in terms of having to comply with
statute.
Over the past three years there has been a sharp increase in the demand for services from
Children’s Social Care that has created new challenges in respect to resources.
Furthermore there remains the need for ongoing attention to be paid to the issues of
recruitment and retention which is continuing to present difficulties for the service.
Who is affected by the function? Who is intended to benefit from it and how?
Who are the main stakeholders in relation to this function?
What outcomes would other stakeholders want from this function?
Are there any groups, which might be expected to benefit from the intended outcomes but
which do not?
The main stakeholders in relation to Fieldwork Services are children, young people and their
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Equality Impact Assessment
families living in Tower Hamlets, partner agencies, staff and council members of the London
Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Families of children in need in Tower Hamlets should expect high quality social care
services which promote children’s upbringing within their families of origin and local
communities.
Effective work promotes social inclusion and minimises the number of children in the
borough at risk of significant harm in the community, or becoming looked after in public
care.
All groups in the Borough should expect equitable access and benefits from these services,
subject to individual assessment of need by social workers.
Tower Hamlets was subject to a Joint Area Review (JAR) by OFSTED in April 2008. They
found the following in relation to Equality and Diversity issues:
Equality and diversity issues are integral to the strategic and day-to-day work of the
authority and of its partners, reflected in the award to the borough of Level 5 of the
Equalities Standard. There is a deep understanding at all levels of the key challenges and
the need to combat inequalities, based on comprehensive shared intelligence. All plans give
a very high priority to meeting the needs of vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups within the
borough’s diverse community. There are many examples of creative and well-targeted
initiatives to combat inequalities. Prime examples of excellent partnership working include
the ongoing work with the Muslim community on developing a shared understanding of and
approach to safeguarding, the focused work with families whose children are at risk of
offending, the targeted youth work project for the Somali community, the development of
improved access to recreation or sporting activities for young people with disabilities, and
specific recruitment and training programmes aimed at minority communities. Consultation
with young people and their families is thorough and informs priorities and actions well.
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Equality Impact Assessment
Promotion of good relations between different communities
(How does the function or function contribute to better Community Cohesion?)
How do you promote good relations between different communities you serve based on
mutual understanding and respect?
What opportunities are there for positive cross cultural contact between these communities
to take place e.g. between younger and older people, or between people of different
religious faiths?
Children’s Social Care covers a broad range of work from preventative family support
through to statutory child protection. Within this broad context, there are a number of
specific areas that actively contribute to the promotion of good relations between the
different communities in the borough:
Principally among these is the Eva Armsby Family Centre (EAFC) which received renewed
Charter Mark status in October 2008 based on its work in the community. The Charter Mark
was originally awarded in October 2007 and the 2008 assessment showed improvements in
all aspects of service delivery. The EAFC offers voluntary community support both on a
group or a drop-in basis as well as undertaking assessments for statutory social work and
court purposes. In this manner, the family centre serves as a conduit between community
and statutory services and promotes social interaction between various cultural groups.
Additionally, within Children’s Social Care, the Private Fostering Team actively promotes
communication between various groups in the borough through both their Private Foster
Carer’s Support Group and the Privately Fostered Children and Young Peoples Group. In
both groups, carers or children and young people of different backgrounds and beliefs who
are working with the Private Fostering Team, are invited to get together to discuss issues
pertaining to their status as either carers or privately fostered children.
One of the difficulties facing Children’s Social Care is that it has a statutory duty to protect
and promote the needs of all children and young people in the borough. As such, much of
the work undertaken by Children’s Social Care is of a child protection focus whereby the
majority of the service users are involuntary and the nature of Children’s Social Care’s
involvement is sensitive. On this basis, much of the focus on promoting communication
between various sections of the community in the borough is undertaken on a professional
level with a focus on ensuring clear lines of communication between partner agencies. This
is particularly true of the statutory aspect of the work being undertaken by Children’s Social
Care where there is a legislative framework in place for ensuring that relevant agencies
work together to safeguard children.
Children’s Social Care is continuing to promote greater and better communication and
understanding with partner agencies through a serious of workshops, which are designed to
explore the role of Children’s Social Care and the interface between this role and that of its
partners in the community. These partner agencies include specialised organisations that
meet the specific needs of various groups in Tower Hamlets, e.g. Somali, Vietnamese and
Bangladeshi.
Finally, it is vital that Children’s Social Care continually looks at the manner in which it
communicates with its service users and interfaces with different groups in the community.
Whilst Children’s Social Care already
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Equality Impact Assessment



employs social workers from different cultural and religious backgrounds to promote
good relations
works closely with Mosques and churches through existing liaison posts within the
service
ensures that there are regular meetings between these groups to create better
understanding
The Service is clear that more can be done to ensure improvements in this area. In this
vein, Children’s Social Care is involved in a pilot study with the Children’s Workforce
Development Council “Remodelling Social Work”. This pilot is looking at issues of retention
and recruitment of staff on the basis that frequent changes of staff is detrimental for services
users both in terms of their outcomes and in terms of their understanding of the processes
within the service.
Service user’s participation and understanding is vital to the work undertaken by Children’s
Social Care and on this basis the” Remodelling Social Work” pilot is also looking at ways of
increasing the time that social workers can engage in direct work with service users. This
again will both increase the communication between Children’s Social Care and the
sections of the community in which they work, promoting greater understanding and
improved outcomes.
(Specifically identify the relevance of the aims of the function to the equality target
groups and the Council’s duty to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination, promote
equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different racial groups).
Fieldwork Services are essentially individually tailored services which address the individual
needs of children and families based on comprehensive assessment. These assessments
are based on nationally agreed and recognised frameworks namely:



The Assessment Framework which outlines the framework for undertaking Initial and
Core Assessments on Children in Need
Specialist Assessment tools for Private Fostering - the Private Fostering
Arrangement Assessment Record and Private Fostering Core Assessment
The Family Assessment Framework - a specialist Parenting Assessment for
assessing families which is used at the Eva Armsby Family Centre.
Additionally, Children’s Social Care is engaged in work aimed at promoting and supporting
partner agencies in using the Common Assessment Framework.
Implicit in the assessment process is a consideration of individual racial, religious, linguistic,
cultural, gender and sexuality specific needs and the identification of any impact of
discrimination on families either as potential victims or perpetrators. Social workers are
trained to challenge discrimination in their practice and, de facto, promote community
cohesion.
Function Priorities:
(How does the function fit in with the council’s wider aims? Include Corporate and Local
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Equality Impact Assessment
Strategic Partnership Priorities)
How does the function relate to other policies and practices within the council?
What factors/forces could contribute/detract from the outcomes?
How do these outcomes meet or hinder other policies, values or objectives of the council?
Providing excellent public services, increasing access to services by Black and minority ethnic
families and improving outcomes for vulnerable children in the Borough are central objectives
in corporate and strategic plans. The concepts of a safe and supportive community and a
healthy community are both central to the borough’s Community Plan and are reflected within
the work undertaken in Children’s Social Care.
Assessment and family support services provided by Children’s Social Care with education,
health and community sector partners have a key role in contributing to meeting these
strategic objectives and targets. External inspection and performance assessments over
recent years have judged these services to be of high quality and improving:
-
Equality and Diversity Policy
Communication Plan and the Children and Young People’s Plan
Private Fostering
Children’s Social Care’s offer to Extended Schools
The move from a generic Emergency Duty Team to a dedicated Children’s Out of
Hours Service (COOHS)
The continuous growth of the child population of Tower Hamlets remains one of the highest in
the country, with Children’s Social Care (CSC) delivering higher numbers of excellent services
to some of the most vulnerable children.
This has been exacerbated by increased workload activity in 2007/08 compared to 2006/07 as
outlined in the summary data included in the table below.
Year
No. of
referrals
Total number
of Initial
Assessments
completed
Total number
of Core
Assessments
completed
Total number
of S47
Enquiries
Total no. of
children in
need of a
Child
Protection
Plan at the
end of the
reporting year
2006 / 07
1794
707
601
233
189
2582
2564
956
324
234
(1.4 - 31.3)
2007 / 08
(1.4 - 31.3)
The activity data in 2007/ 08 compared to 2006 / 07 illustrates a 44% rise in referrals, a 300%
increase in the number of Initial Assessments (IAs) and a 59% increase in Core Assessments
(CAs) undertaken by CSC teams.
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Equality Impact Assessment
Summary of Key data trends 2007/08
The following key trends have emerged that have required active consideration as to how the
service needs to be configured to meet these challenges.






10.2% reduction in the number of contacts / notifications received however…
Significant rise (38.5%) in referral activity requiring a service response from CSC linked
to domestic violence / lowering of threshold of a response from CSC
Significant increase in numbers of IAs and CAs completed
39% rise in recorded child protection enquiries in 2008 compared to 2007
19% rise in children in need of a Child Protection Plan
3.5% reduction in the Looked After Children (LAC) population
Key Data Trends emerging 2008/09




Further rise in referral activity indicating that the rise in referrals will be maintained (if
not exceeded)
Completion rates of Initial and Core Assessments evidenced in 2007/ 08 are being
maintained
Continuing rise of children in need of a Child Protection Plan (currently 254 children) as
opposed to 234 children on the 31.03.2008)
Significant pressures in the service of managing volumes of long term complex CIN
work in the service.
Despite the increase in activity, the baseline resources have remained the same which is likely
to have had an impact on an equality perspective as thresholds for intervention in Child in
Need type cases have increased in order to preserve the resources available to the function.
That Children’s Social Care is trying to manage an increase in demand for services, on the
same level of resources, means that statutory child protection work takes priority. The growth
and demand for Children’s Social Care Service provides significant challenges in responding
to and meeting all children in need who are referred to the Service.
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Equality Impact Assessment
How the function is implemented
(How is, or will, the function be put into practice and who is, or will be, responsible for it?)
Who defines or defined the function?
Who implements the function?
How does the council interface with other bodies in relation to the implementation of this
function?
Is the service provided solely by the Department or in conjunction with another department,
agency or contractor?
If external parties are involved then what are the measures in place to ensure that they
comply with the Council’s Equal Opportunities function?
The Children Act 1989 requires local authorities to provide services which promote the
upbringing of children in need in their families and prevent children experiencing significant
harm in the community. Although social services departments are seen as the ‘lead’
provider of these services, more recent legislation (Children Act 2004) reinforces the need
for social care, health and education providers to integrate work with vulnerable children to
improve service outcomes. Regulation and guidance are in place to inform the conduct of
assessments (National Assessment Framework) and the provision of services arising from
assessments. Typically, these services consist of social work intervention including
assessment, advice, guidance and referral to support services e.g. family centres; parenting
services; specialist therapeutic interventions. The Children’s Act 2004 has become more
embedded into the function.
In Tower Hamlets, assessment and family support services are provided as follows:












Two Advice and Assessment Teams undertaking initial and core assessments and
short –term interventions
A hospital based social work team undertaking assessments and short to medium
term interventions
Four Family Support and Protection Teams and an interim team undertaking core
assessments and short, medium and longer term social work with families
A specialist Children with Disabilities Team; this team has an increased focus on
partnership and multidisciplinary working to ensure better delivery of services to
children with disabilities and their families
A local authority family centre undertaking assessment and family support work
including direct access / self-referral and community groups and support services
A broad range of family support services commissioned by the social services
department but provided by the independent sector through Service Level
Agreements
Services jointly commissioned with others by partners of Children’s Social Care (e.g.
Children’s Fund; Coram Family).
A Specialist Private Fostering Team that assesses and monitors children and young
people living in Private Fostering Arrangements
A number of social workers contributing to the Core Offer in Extended Schools
A specialised Children’s Out of Hours (COOH) service
Increased services / scope of EAFS
The Accommodation Strategy and centralisation of Children’s Social Care and
Education Teams has improved joint working across Children’s Services
Services commissioned from others are subject to clear equal opportunities requirements,
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Equality Impact Assessment
including targets, and robustly monitored by social services officers and managers.
All social work staff are trained in working with diversity and anti-discriminatory practice
which forms one of the core values to social work practice. Assessments and work with
service users is quality assured via the supervision process and annual appraisals identify
any training needs for staff.
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Equality Impact Assessment
SECTION 2
CONSIDERATION OF DATA AND RESEARCH
List all examples of quantitative and qualitative data available that will enable the
impact assessment to be undertaken (include information where appropriate from other
directorates, Census 2001 etc.)
Quantitative and qualitative data are looked at from a variety of sources; these are readily
available via the council’s intranet and include such sources as:
 Children’s Services Divisional Management Information Reports
 Annual Delivery and Improvement Statements
 CSCI / OFSTED Inspection Reports
 User Survey Reports
 Research undertaken by external agencies in conjunction with Children’s Social Care
i.e. The Hadley Centre - Pathways to Permanence for Black, Asian and Mixed
Ethnicity Children by J. Selwyn, P. Harris, D. Quinton, S. Nawaz, D. Wijedasa and M.
Wood.
Equalities profile of users or beneficiaries
(Use the Council’s approved diversity monitoring categories and provide data by target group
of users or beneficiaries to determine whether the service user profile reflects the local
population or relevant target group or if there is over or under representation of these
groups)
A breakdown of referral activity and allocations from a snapshot month is set out in the
tables below:
Table One: Referrals by Ethnicity (1st - 30th November 2008)
Ethnicity
Any Other White Background
Asian (Any Other Asian Background)
Asian (Bangladeshi)
Asian (Indian)
Asian (Pakistani)
Black (African)
Black (Any Other Black Background)
Black (Caribbean)
Black (Somali)
Mixed (Any Other Mixed Background)
Mixed (White & Asian)
Advice And
Assessment East
Advice And
Assessment West
Grand
Total
2
2
2
59
4
2
104
2
2
3
6
3
5
9
1
45
2
2
3
5
3
8
1
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1
5
1
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Equality Impact Assessment
Mixed (White & Black African)
Mixed (White & Black Caribbean)
Not Recorded
Other (Any Other Ethnic Group)
Other (Information Not Yet Obtained)
White (Gypsy/Roma)
White (White - British)
White (White - Irish)
Grand Total

37
5
6
19
1
1
34
2
1
10
1
1
139
1
1
71
7
1
6
29
119
258
7 Referrals received in the period have a recorded 'service user group' of 'Disability'. However none of these 7
belong to either of the A & A teams - only the CWD team
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Equality Impact Assessment
Table Two: Allocations by Ethnicity (as at 30th November 2008)
Ethnicity
Asian (Any Other Asian Background)
Asian (Bangladeshi)
Asian (Indian)
Asian (Pakistani)
Black (African)
Black (Any Other Black Background)
Black (Caribbean)
Black (Somali)
Mixed (Any Other Mixed Background)
Mixed (White & Asian)
Mixed (White & Black African)
Mixed (White & Black Caribbean)
Other (Any Other Ethnic Group)
Other (Information Not Yet Obtained)
Other (Vietnamese)
White (Any Other White Background)
White (Gypsy/Roma)
White (White - British)
White (White - Irish)
Not Recorded
Grand Total
Advice and
Assessment
East
Advice and
Assessment
West
90
2
2
5
12
7
3
16
3
5
8
2
1
3
1
40
3
76
279
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Family Support
and Protection
Bethnal Green
6
109
1
3
3
3
5
4
4
2
4
4
3
81
2
2
12
4
7
5
9
2
Family Support
and Protection
Bow / Poplar
Nth
4
89
2
1
2
6
8
17
8
5
15
2
1
Family
Support and
Protection
Central
Family
Support and
Protection
Stepney and
Wapping
Family Support
and Protection
IOD / Poplar Sth
1
63
4
77
4
120
4
5
4
4
2
6
3
2
2
3
18
2
1
2
8
8
3
10
6
4
5
1
2
1
3
1
8
4
2
2
3
2
4
25
54
53
18
4
1
32
58
6
4
10
3
54
2
14
235
190
219
122
168
245
2
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Equality Impact Assessment
Analysis:
The data given above has not been broken down in respect of age as the services provided
by Children’s Social Care are legislated under The Children’s Act 1989 and 2004 and are
targeted at all Children in Need under the age of 18 years.
All children in a household are referred to Children’s Social Care regardless of whether the
referral concerns pertain to all of them at the point of referral.
It is of note that both the referrals for Bangladeshi children and young people appear to be
over represented, with referrals and allocations for these children and young people making
up about 40- 45% of all referrals and allocations and being nearly three times that of white
British children and young people. The EIA focus group found the results for these two
ethnic groups very surprising and (anecdotally) felt strongly that they were not representative
of the numbers of white British and Bengali children and young people being worked with.
The EIA focus group concluded that these apparently skewed results could be explained by
the larger sibling groups found within Bengali families coupled with the change to the new
Integrated Children’s (IT) System which counts all children in a family as individual cases
rather than each family as a ‘case’ as the previous IT system did. It was not felt that these
figures indicated any adverse effect or discrimination, however the EIA team felt that it would
be of benefit for Children’s Social Care to look at the referral threshold’s of universal and
partner services (e.g. schools, health, police) to see if there was any disparity in the rates of
referrals for certain ethnic groups from these services.
Additionally, the under representation of the Somalian, Vietnamese and Chinese (other
Asian Background) communities is observed in this data and indicates that Children’s Social
Care is not receiving referrals in respect to these groups in the borough. However the EIA
focus group also reported that they felt that the snapshot sample of referrals was too narrow
to inform any long term or concrete solutions and that the apparent under-representation of
some groups in this sample may be a ‘seasonal’ anomaly and that similar snapshot samples
taken from each quarter may have provided more accurate information from which to draw
conclusions. We are aware however, that the Youth Service reaches increasing numbers of
young Somali people through a range of community based activities, e.g. the Somali Youth
Project, and this was seen as a strength in the recent JAR inspection.
Also the significantly large proportion of services users who are referred with their ethnicity
as ‘unrecorded’ is likely to be due to the increase in the number of Police 78 Merlin
Notifications over the last three years. This said it is of concern that a significantly high
proportion of cases remain ‘unrecorded’ following allocation and the EIA focus group
recommended that there be a push across Children’s Social Care to ensure that this data is
recorded and updated more frequently (see Action Plan). The EIA focus group also felt that
these large numbers of service users with and ‘unrecorded’ ethnicity may account for the
under-representation of some groups known to be resident in Tower Hamlets.
The data for those service users referred who are recorded as having a disability are
considered in Section 3 under the section the entitled ‘Disability’.
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Equality Impact Assessment
Equalities profile of staff
(Indicate profile by target groups and assess relevance to function aims and objectives e.g.
Workforce to Reflect the Community. Identify staff responsible for delivering the service
including where they are not directly employed by the council).
Age
Total
24
25
2
4
26
27
28
29
30
31
3
2
2
5
3
3
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
4
5
3
4
3
3
1
4
10
7
5
4
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
Grand
Total
4
5
4
5
5
2
3
3
2
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
Gender
F
M
Grand
Total
Disability
N
R
Y
(blank)
Grand
Total
Total
91
30
Ethnicity
Asian-Bangladeshi
Asian-Indian
Total
28
9
121
Black Caribbean
Black Other
Black Other African
Black-Somali
Missing
Mixed Other
Mixed White &
Asian
White Other
White-English
White-Irish
Grand Total
13
4
9
6
2
3
Total
86
20
7
8
2
12
28
5
121
Religion
Christian
Decline
Hindu
Muslim
None
Other
Sikh
(blank)
Grand
Total
Total
44
14
3
22
10
7
4
17
121
No
Refused to say
Yes
121
121
Analysis
Ethnicity:
Generally the balance of ethnicity across the staff group in Fieldwork Services is broadly
representative of the community in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, although it was
observed that Vietnamese and Chinese social workers did not seem to be evident in the staff
group. This said, the EIA focus group felt that this balance had been redressed since the
previous EIA and was an indication of how well the Positive Action Scheme had been
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utilised. The EIA focus group felt the Positive Action Scheme had been particularly
successful around the recruitment of Bengali Social Workers (and more especially male
Bengali social workers).
The EIA focus group noted that whilst the high proportion of agency staff currently employed
in the service did have an impact on the proportion of ethnicities in the staff group, this group
of staff was generally well mixed ethnically. However, this was evidenced anecdotally as HR
does not collate data for temporary, locum or agency staff as those members of staff tend to
be employed for variable periods of time and are not considered to be part of the permanent
staff group, nor are they factored into the long term planning within Children’s Social Care.
This is due to the transient nature of agency staff which changes frequently and therefore is
likely to disrupt any long-term planning around the ethnic profile of the overall staffing group.
There is a drive across the Children’s Social Care in general to reduce the reliance upon
agency staff.
The EIA felt that the Positive Action Scheme had been a significant development at ensuring
the representation of certain ethnic groups within the staff group.
Gender:
The EIA focus group noted that the gender balance of the staffing group was skewed,
however they acknowledged that this is an industry-wide phenomena found in Social Work in
general and felt (anecdotally) that the balance in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Fieldwork Services was generally better balanced than that found in other Local Authorities.
The EIA focus group also felt that it was noteworthy that the management team, even at
senior management level, was predominately female which is a good indication of equality.
Religion / Belief:
The EIA focus group noted the spread of religions across the staffing group and felt that the
proportion of staff with no religion recorded (‘Decline’, ‘None’ and ‘Blank’ which make up
approximately a third of the staff group) made these figures particularly difficult to interpret.
The EIA focus group noted however that they felt that the service was very supportive of
staff’s belief and religions with a number of forums and prayer groups available to both
promote understanding of different beliefs and multi-faith awareness and to support staff in
adhering to their religious practices in the workplace.
Age:
The EIA focus group commented that the spread of staff across the age ranges within
Children’s Social Care appeared to be very representative with staff who are clearly setting
out at the beginning of their careers and staff nearing retirement both equally well
represented. The EIA noted an average age of 41.
Disability:
Again the EIA focus group commented on the high proportion of staff who had no answer
recorded for this equality strand (either ‘refused to say’ or ‘blank’) as this group of people
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made up 23% of the staff group and the EIA focus group felt that this made these figures
difficult to interpret. The EIA did not feel that the low proportion of staff with a disability
recorded was indicative of any discrimination.
Evidence of Complaints against the service on grounds of discrimination
(Is there any evidence of complaints either from customers or staff (Grievance) as to the
delivery of the service, or its operation, on the equality target groups?)
The Complaints Unit was liaised with in regards to this question and indicated that there had
been no complaints received on the grounds of discrimination.
The Unit advised that the majority of complaints received about Fieldwork Services tended to
be about the quality of the assessments and plans made by social workers or about the
actions of the Local Authority in respect to interventions undertaken to safeguard children.
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Barriers
(What are the potential or known barriers to participation for the different equality target
groups?)
This area was explored at length by the EIA focus group which identified a number of
barriers, both potential and known, to participation. However, much of this discussion was
anecdotal with insufficient evidence to draw any conclusions indicating that a bigger piece of
consultation work needs to be undertaken by Children’s Social Care and that more
community based roles may be required in order to promote knowledge about the full scope
of services offered by Children’s Social Care. Moreover, it was felt that there needed to be a
global change in respect to society’s and the media’s view of social workers and the roles of
Children’s Social Care Agencies generally.
Potential:




Lack of public understanding about the full scope of services offered by Children’s
Social Care
Lack of understanding about role of Children’s Social Care and services available by
potential referrers
Lack of appropriately qualified / trained staff
Lack of resources
Known:







Deficiencies and resource limitations in interpreting and translating services
Electronically available information will not be accessible to people without access to
computers et al.
Illiteracy
Language and communication issues both through the use of jargon and service
users who lack English
Gender; some groups in the community have very well defined gender roles making
participation difficult
Stigma; desire to ‘keep it in the family’ rather than involve the ‘authorities’
Fear / assumption that Children’s Social Care will remove their children
The EIA focus group is aware that we are not reaching certain groups from a Children’s
Social Care perspective (i.e. the Somali Community which is known to be accessing our
Youth Service) and has been able to conclude that it is likely to be not reaching other groups
in the borough. The targeting of these ‘hard to reach’ groups is an area for further
investigation and development.
Recent consultation exercises carried out
(Detail consultation with relevant interest groups, other public bodies, voluntary
organisations, community groups, trade unions, focus groups and other groups, surveys and
questionnaires undertaken etc. Focus in particular on the findings of views expressed by the
equality target groups)
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A range of consultation events and activities have taken place across Children’s Social Care
some of which are detailed below:
- Private Foster Carer’s Consultation Group – 15 October 2008: Looking at the challenges
facing Private Foster Carers and their training and support needs
- Research into the need to encourage Bengali girls to take Maths and Science subjects and
ways to do this
- The Big Know Day – November 2008
- CSC Workshops (6 since October 2008)
- Research in conjunction with The Hadley Centre - Pathways To Permanence For Black,
Asian And Mixed Ethnicity Children by J. Selwyn, P. Harris, D. Quinton, S. Nawaz, D.
Wijedasa, and M. Wood
- “Remodelling Social Work” pilot in conjunction with the Children’s Workforce Development
Council
- EAFC – consultation with partner agencies and service users in conjunction with the
Charter Mark application process
The EIA focus group is aware that there needs to be more / increased service user feedback
sought from the front line. As a high proportion of the work undertaken in Children’s Social
Care is of a statutory child protection nature, this makes some of the participation processes
more challenging as the majority of services users are involuntary and are subsequently
more resistant to engaging in consultation exercises. Therefore it is fair to state that
consultation in child protection remains a big gap although this said, there are currently
moves towards increasing the involvement of children and young people in conferences.
Additionally consultation is built into some, but not all of the processes / templates /
documents used by frontline staff ie: Welfare Checklist and the Assessment Framework.
More generally though, we are aware of this issue as a significant gap which needs to be
looked at on a wider service perspective and we are looking to build upon and adapt some of
the learning from successful consultation activities in other areas of Children’s Social Care.
The EIA focus group felt that consideration needed to be given to the development of a
questionnaire that would be given to children and families when Children’s Social Care had
completed their assessment or was closing a case. However the EIA focus group also felt
that this needed to be given to the family by someone other than the allocated worker in
order for the results to be meaningful.
Identify areas where more information may be needed and the action taken to obtain
this data.
(You will need to consider data that is monitored but not reported, data that could be
monitored but is not currently collected and data that is not currently monitored and would be
impossibly/extremely difficult to collect).
Gaps in information:
We are aware that gaps remain in the information that is gathered and monitored in respect
of services users. More specifically, we still do not gather or monitor information in respect
of the sexuality of our service users.
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Additionally, whilst improvements in IT systems have lead to increased recording in regards
to the faith and religion of service users, we do not always successfully monitor the impact
that these beliefs have on their family functioning and parenting.
Children’s Social Care staff are aware of the very sensitive nature of the data and
information requirements of the service and legislation and this is embedded in their day-today practice.
Action needed:
(Include short-term measures to be taken to provide a baseline where no or little information
is available)
Please see Action Plan, Section 6 of this report.
The EIA focus group noted that there was a gap in regards to the information gathered from
service users on the quality of the services provided in the form of consultation. Whilst this
appears to be due to the involuntary nature of the work undertaken by Children’s Social
Care, the EIA focus team felt that consideration needed to be given to developing methods
by which CSC could attempt to consult better with children and families.
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SECTION 3
ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT
Race – testing of disproportionate or adverse impact
Identify the effect of the function on different race groups from information available above.
How is the race target group reflected in the take up of the service?
From the evidence above does the function affect, or have the potential to affect, racial
groups differently and if so do any of the differences amount to adverse impact or unlawful
discrimination?
If there is an adverse impact, can it be justified on the grounds of promoting equality of
opportunity for one racial group or for another legitimate reason?
Could the function discriminate, directly or indirectly and if so is it justifiable under
legislation?
(Include information on adverse impact between different racial groups)
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Monitoring of race of service users is routine with high compliance levels. Performance
against PAF E45 demonstrates that BME families’ access to family support services is
slightly less than proportionate to the representation of BME families in the community. This
is seen by government as slightly below optimal level of access. Although E45 is a
‘snapshot’ indicator, the Division monitors access to service on a monthly basis and levels
actually fluctuate depending on factors such as the overall volume of referrals and the ability
to allocate work to social workers. This however is not thought to cause any adverse impact
as in times of staff attrition; cases are allocated in terms of the severity of concern rather
than on the basis of the ethnicity or race of the service user.
The Council has a policy to recruit and retain a ‘workforce to reflect the community’. The
profile of staff reported above demonstrates a broad range of racial backgrounds. However
despite this, it is not always possible to match exactly the racial background of service users
and staff.
Race considerations are ‘core’ elements in assessment and case planning supported by
clear practice procedures, specific training for social workers and the availability of staff with
specialist knowledge and roles – e.g. Bangladeshi and Somali Development Officers. The
EIA focus group recognised that the service’s knowledge of, and expertise in, working with
families from smaller minority ethnic groups – e.g. Vietnamese; Chinese - is less developed.
However Children’s Social Care also receives a very small numbers of referrals from these
groups. The EIA focus group expressed concern with regards to the relatively low referral
levels and felt that this was an area that needs more consideration. The EIA focus group
was not of the opinion that these figures in of themselves indicated any adverse impact or
discrimination.
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The EIA focus group also recognised the need to increase social workers’ knowledge base
on the connection between race and specific health issues (see Action Plan).
The demography of the borough has changed over the last three years and indeed is
continuing to change. As such there may be other emerging minority ethnic groups whose
needs we will need to develop an understanding of in order to be able to better address
them.
The EIA focus group recommended that Children’s Social Care should maintain its policy to
develop a work force that reflected the community by continuing the Positive Action Scheme
and by seeking to recruit and train ‘unqualified’ staff from partner agencies within the
borough (e.g. Children’s Centre’s) as these professionals would bring with them knowledge
both in regards to the different services in the borough and also in regards to the different
communities and their needs.
The EIA focus group felt that limitations in the availability and skills of interpreters impact
negatively upon service users who have little or no English language. The EIA focus group
particularly noted the need for interpreters to possess more ‘specialist’ knowledge in areas
such as child protection, disability services and working with vulnerable women and families.
As an outcome of this review, this information will be fed into corporate processes (see
Action Plan).
Children’s Social Care commissions a significant range of family support services from the
national and local independent sector. Regular monitoring information on access to services
by Black and minority ethnic families is required from all service providers. A number of
services have developed specific expertise in engaging and working with Black and minority
ethnic families – e.g. Coram Family ‘Strengthening Families: Strengthening Communities’
Project, Family Welfare Association Family Support Project and Qalb Centre Residential
Respite Unit for children with disabilities.
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Gender – testing of disproportionate or adverse impact
Identify the effect of the function on gender groups from information available above.
How are the gender groups reflected in the take up of the service?
From the evidence above does the function affect, or have the potential to affect, gender
groups differently and if so do any of the differences amount to adverse impact or unlawful
discrimination?
If there an adverse impact, can it be justified on the grounds of promoting equality of
opportunity for one gender group or for another legitimate reason?
Could the function discriminate, directly or indirectly and if so is it justifiable under
legislation?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Monitoring of gender of service users is routine with high levels of compliance. Outcome
monitoring by gender is, however, less well developed with the monitoring of gender specific
outcomes being far more prevalent in other areas of Children’s Social Care, such as
Children’s Looked After or Adoption. However we are looking at implementing more
outcomes-based monitoring in this area.
Men are under-represented both as service users (parents / carers but not children as
clients) and social workers delivering services to families. The EIA focus group felt that it
was important to acknowledge the need to be mindful that the gender of the worker can be
significant in contributing to the success of the work undertaken (i.e. a young person may
respond better to a positive male role model while a vulnerable female fleeing domestic
violence may feel better supported by a female social worker).
Gender considerations are central within assessment and case planning processes both for
children and parents / carers. Social workers receive appropriate training as part of their
professional and in-service training. However, social workers’ knowledge base on gender
considerations could be expanded with greater profiling of service users against issues such
as mental health problems, substance misuse patterns, self-harming behaviour etc.
There are institutional and cultural issues which impact on the engagement of male parent /
carers in the delivery of assessment and family support services – separation / divorce, role
traditions, work patterns etc. Services are provided as flexibly as possible to maximise the
engagement of men. Specific emphasis at the Eva Armsby Family Centre has been placed
on engaging men in parenting assessments with significant success. Use of the Family
Group Conference model is also increasing the involvement of men in case planning and
interventions.
Specific service strategies are in place to support victims of domestic violence and forced
marriage both impacting particularly on female service users.
There has been a growing prevalence of domestic violence and the impact that this has on
service provision. Women are mainly the victims of male perpetrators of domestic violence.
There has been an increase in people speaking out about the problems of domestic violence
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but there has not been a corresponding increase in services to prevent domestic violence or
to support victims of domestic violence. This has cost implications via No Recourse to
Public Funds and specialist domestic violence assessments being needed which lead to
increased Section 17 costs.
This increase in the prevalence of domestic violence referral has resulted in some service
provisions being inequitably distributed on a gender basis. These mainly fall into two specific
service areas:
- service provision to protect victims mainly targets women
- service provision on preventative services mainly targets men
It is strongly felt that this inequitable service provision is due to society’s changing
perceptions in respect to the issue of domestic violence which have lead to more gender
sensitive provisions and a more gender sensitive workforce. It is not believed that service
provision that is gender targeted in this manner could not be considered to constitute
unlawful discrimination.
This said, the EIA focus group also noted (anecdotally) that there were often issues in
regards to engaging men, both as the carer’s of children and young people (as a result of
work commitments) and as absentee parents and as such their views and wishes were not
always considered in assessments and children’s plans. The EIA focus group felt that this
needed to be addressed across Children’s Social Care through training which high-lights the
importance of the role of fathers / male carers when making plans for children’s care and
future plans.
Furthermore, in respect of domestic violence, the EIA focus group noted that many of the
perpetrator programmes available would not consider referrals from Children’s Social Care if
a couple remained together. The EIA focus group noted that services for victims were also
not always willing to work with women who chose to remain with their abusive partners. The
EIA focus group felt that this lack of services willing to work with families who remained
together following concerns of domestic violence reflected the expectation of Children’s
Social Care that couples should separate in order for the children’s needs to be
safeguarded. The EIA focus group recommended that Children’s Social Care feed this
information into the commissioning process (see Action Plan).
The EIA focus group felt that it was also interesting to note at this point, that the increase in
domestic violence referrals has lead to a change in the most common child protection
catalogue moving from neglect to emotional abuse.
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Disability – testing of disproportionate or adverse impact
Identify the effect of the function on the disability strand from information available above.
How are disabled people reflected in the take up of the service?
From the evidence above does the function affect, or have the potential to affect, disability
groups differently and if so do any of the differences amount to adverse impact or unlawful
discrimination?
If there is an adverse impact, can it be justified on the grounds of promoting equality of
opportunity for one group or for another legitimate reason?
Could the function discriminate, directly or indirectly and if so is it justifiable under
legislation?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Of the 55,080 children living in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, 3052 (5.54%) are
disabled or have learning needs. 200 of these children have an Autistic Spectrum Disorder,
14 are deaf or blind and 86 have complex healthcare needs and / or are receiving a care
package. There are known to be 1,030 children aged 5 – 17 years who are in receipt of a
Disability Living Allowance and 210 of these are in receipt of the higher rate of DLA.
There are currently 238 disabled children known the Children’s Social Care and of these
238, 13 have a child protection plan and 23 are looked after by the Local Authority. 170
disabled children are considered to be children in need.
Children’s Services have a specialist disabilities team which helps families and other carers.
The service's main work is with children who have severe learning and/or physical
disabilities, children within the autistic spectrum and children who are deaf. The Children with
Disabilities Team only works with the most severely disabled children in the borough as
there are other services available to provide support and guidance for parents and carers of
children whose disabilities are not acute (i.e. Special Educational Needs, Community
Nursing Team).
The Children with Disabilities Team can arrange practical support, personal care, personal
care in the home, short breaks (177 of the children known to the team receive short breaks),
counselling and residential services. They can also put carers in touch with other specialist
organisations.
The Children with Disabilities Team is an integrated service working with alongside Health
through the Child Development Team. The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is at the
forefront of the integration process for provision of disability services as a direct response to
feedback received from the parents and carers of children with disabilities who have
previously complained that service provision from multiple agencies had felt disjointed and
uncoordinated.
The Children with Disabilities Team provides support, advice and information to families,
carers and other professionals who are involved in caring for the disabled child in
circumstances where the child’s disability has a significant impact on his/her day to day life.
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The Children with Disabilities Team are committed to the rights of these children to fulfil their
personal potential, ambitions and their roles in society.
Whilst the services offered by the Children with Disabilities Team are not offered to any other
sector of the community, this is not seen as having an adverse impact on any other group as
the services offered by the team are specific to the needs of children with disabilities and
their families / carers. Therefore this targeted service provision cannot be considered to be
discriminatory.
There were seven children with recorded disabilities referred to Children’s Social Care during
the snapshot month and 238 listed as being allocated in the team on the 30 th November
2008. The details of these referrals / allocations are set out below:
Table Three: Referrals of CWD during Snapshot Month – November 2008
Age
Gender
Ethnicity
Sub Ethnicity
6
12
15
8
10
9
3
Male
Male
Female
Female
Female
Male
Male
Other
Asian
Asian
White
Asian
Asian
Asian
Any Other Ethnic Group
Bangladeshi
Bangladeshi
White - British
Bangladeshi
Bangladeshi
Bangladeshi
Table Four: Allocations in CWD by Ethnicity and Gender Percentages at 30 th
November 2008
Gender
Female
Male
Total
Ethnicity
Mixed (White & Asian)
White (Any other White
Background)
Info not obtained
Black (African)
Black (Caribbean)
Asian (Bangladeshi)
White British
Other Mixed Background
Mixed (White & Black
Caribbean)
mixed (White and Black
African)
White Irish
Asian (Vietnamese)
Other Asian Background
Any other ethnic
95
143
238
40%
60%
100%
9
3.60%
4
3
13
10
69
77
13
1.55%
1%
5.67%
4%
29%
32.50%
5.67%
17
7%
5
1
1
3
4
2%
0.50%
0.50%
1%
1.55%
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background
Asian (Indian)
Other (Chinese)
Black (Somali)
Asian (Pakistani)
Total
2
1
4
2
238
0.50%
0.50%
1.55%
1%
99.99%
Analysis:
Age is fairly evenly spread across both the referral and allocation snapshot groups outlined
above. Whilst the gender of these children is also evenly spread across the snapshot group
of referrals, the same is not true for the allocations snapshot, where males are more
prevalent than females. However, this is not an indication of adverse impact or
discrimination as disability is more prevalent in males than females due to genetic markers in
males.
Again the high proportion of Bengali children referred is observed. However this is not
observed for the allocations snapshot where the numbers of Bengali service users are
broadly consistent with the population in the borough. Indeed, the ethnic spread of the
different groups within the Children with Disabilities Team appears to be broadly consistent
with the proportion of the groups in the borough indicating that the service is reaching all
groups.
The EIA focus group felt that the disproportionate number in referrals for Bengali children
during the snapshot month was not an indication of either adverse impact or discrimination
as services are offered on the basis of assessed disability needs and therefore it was felt
that the disproportionate representation in the snapshot month is more likely to be a
statistical anomaly. However, they also felt that it would be useful for staff to have access to
any reports on cultural prevalence towards disability as this may also explain the
disproportionate numbers of Bengali children referred to the team in the snapshot month.
The EIA focus group felt that whilst the development of a specialist team working with
children with disabilities has lead to ensuring the needs of this group are able to be
prioritised, they noted that Children’s Social Care needs to look at how this expertise and
knowledge is shared with the front line teams. The EIA focus group felt that there was some
anxiety for staff when working with families around issues of child protection where there
were both able and disabled children in the home. The EIA focus group expressed the
concern that this lack of expertise meant that the needs of all children in the home may not
always be appropriately considered and recommended that joint working protocols be
considered which would include more of an emphasis on joint working (see Action Plan).
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Age – testing of disproportionate or adverse impact
Identify the effect of the function on different age groups from information available above.
How are young and old people reflected in the take up of the service?
From the evidence above does the function affect, or have the potential to affect, age groups
differently and if so do any of the differences amount to adverse impact or unlawful
discrimination?
If there is an adverse impact, can be justified on the grounds of promoting equality of
opportunity for one group or for another legitimate reason?
Could the function discriminate, directly or indirectly, and if so is it justifiable under
legislation?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
This impact assessment relates to specific services provided by Children’s Social Care to
children and their families. It does not, therefore, examine age as an equalities strand.
Having said this, a gap has been identified in relation to protection of 16/17 years old and
how their needs differ to younger children and there remains an inherent struggle within
Children’s Social Care when it comes to dealing with adolescents.
The borough has the fastest growing population of children and young people. In child
protection cases although some young people ask to be taken into care, and whilst their
wishes and feelings need to be listened to and considered very carefully in this regards, we
also need to respond age appropriately when working with this group.
Children’s Social Care has a well developed and prevalent strategy of maintaining
adolescents at home with their families. Despite this, there has been a sharp rise in the
numbers of adolescents coming into care over the past few years as set out in the table
below:
Numbers of CYP Becoming Looked After:
Period
0-4 years
5-12 years
13-17 years
Apr-Sept 06
25 (32%)
28 (32%)
25 (36%)
Apr-Sept 07
26 (28%)
26 (28%)
42 (44%)
Oct 07-Mar 08
20 (23%)
16 (19%)
50 (58%)
This increase in adolescents becoming looked after coupled with a drive to maintain
adolescents in the care of their families does mean that those adolescents who do come into
care are more challenging and have more complex and greater numbers of unmet needs.
Therefore the service provision for this group is vastly more challenging, needing to
encompass a complex array of emotional and behavioural, health and educational needs.
This was not felt to be having an adverse impact on any other age group, however the EIA
focus group felt that more early intervention services were needed as Children’s Social
Care’s tendency to intervene only when there was a crisis coupled with a limited number of
early intervention services could be seen to impact on the 13-17 year old age group who are
viewed to be less vulnerable and therefore the resources fewer. The EIA focus group felt
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that the Common Assessment Framework processes needed to be better established across
universal and partner agencies to better address the needs of all children and young people
before situations reach crisis point.
Additionally, the EIA focus group noted that the Private Fostering legislation ceases the local
authority’s duties once a child turns 16 years of age, unless that child or young person is
living with a disability or is for some other reason considered to be a Child in Need. The
London Borough of Tower Hamlets’ support plan for this area is to provide all young people
in Private Fostering Arrangements, who are approaching their 16th birthday, with information
about services in the borough available to support them and make relevant referrals as
required. Young people who have previously been considered to be Privately Fostered can
also refer themselves / or be referred by other agencies to the Advice and Assessment
Team for child in need support provided they are under 18 years of age.
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Lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender – testing of disproportionate or
adverse impact
Identify the effect of the function on lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender (LBGT)
groups from information available above.
How are LBGT groups reflected in the take up of the service?
From the evidence above does the function affect, or have the potential to affect LBGT
groups differently and if so do any of the differences amount to adverse impact or unlawful
discrimination?
If there is an adverse impact which, can it be justified on the grounds of promoting equality of
opportunity for one group or for another legitimate reason?
Could the function discriminate, directly or indirectly and if so is it justifiable under
legislation?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Children’s Social Care is not explicit about asking clients for this information at an
assessment level, however if we become aware of sexuality as part of our work with service
users then we will do everything possible to meet the child or young person’s needs in this
regards.
The EIA focus group was clear that they believe that Children’s Social Care does not
discriminate if we are aware of the sexuality of a child or young person.
Children’s Social Care makes use of same sex adopters and foster carers and these have
been approved by Children’s Social Care’s Adoption and Fostering Panels. However it is
also important to note that some of the birth families of looked after children and young
people can take issue with the use of these carers / adopters which may contribute to them
being an under utilised resource.
Children’s Social Care has commissioned Sexuality and Relationship Education training for
all staff in order to give staff the confidence to address this work with children and young
people. The success of this is difficult to monitor within Fieldwork Services due to high staff
turnover rates. The EIA focus group was concerned that the lack of staff knowledge around
how to support service users in respect to their sexuality could possibly have an adverse
impact and recommended that Children’s Social Care implement mandatory training on a
rolling programme to all existing and new staff employed in the Service (see Action Plan).
Generally this is a complex area of assessment work that requires sensitivity of approach.
Children’s Social Care has a legal mandate to work with children in need and as such, this
part of the assessment process has to be very carefully managed and proportionate to the
referral concerns.
The EIA focus group felt that it was not always appropriate to ask children and young people
about their sexuality given factors such as the age appropriateness of asking young children
these questions and the experiences of some of the children and young people who are
referred to Children’s Social Care (e.g. sexual abuse). Furthermore, it was generally felt that
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Equality Impact Assessment
if asked about their sexuality directly by a social worker, many young people would refuse to
answer and those young people who may be questioning their sexuality would be reluctant
to honestly answer or ‘come out’ in this way. The EIA focus group expressed the belief that
this sort of information is only likely to be disclosed by a young person who had a longstanding and trusting relationship with their social worker.
The Council’s equality monitoring guidelines state that “Children and young people are not
usually asked to give information on their sexual orientation.”
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Equality Impact Assessment
Religion/Belief – testing of disproportionate or adverse impact
Identify the effect of the function on different religion/belief groups from information
available above.
How are the religion/belief groups reflected in the take up of the service?
From the evidence above does the function affect, or have the potential to affect, religion or
belief groups differently and if so do any of the differences amount to adverse impact or
unlawful discrimination?
If there is an adverse impact, can it be justified on the grounds of promoting equality of
opportunity for one group or for another legitimate reason?
Could the function discriminate, directly or indirectly, and if so is it justifiable under
legislation?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
The recording of faith of users of assessment and family support services is routinely
recorded in assessments and Referral and Information Records. The faith of staff is not
monitored except for training and development and Equal Opportunity Employment
purposes.
Faith is a key consideration within individual assessment and case planning and social
workers are directed by procedures to explore the impact of faith on family functioning and
child rearing. The EIA team concluded (anecdotally) that this was more likely to be
undertaken for non-Christian families than for Christian families and that although knowledge
of some faiths (e.g. Islam) is quite good amongst social workers, that knowledge of some of
the minority religions (e.g. Buddhism) remains relatively low.
The EIA focus group thought that this was likely to affect the quality of assessments and the
effectiveness of the support plans for children and families. They recommended that
Children’s Social Care look at commissioning an audit / research in respect to where religion
/ faith features in assessments and plans and the effectiveness of the current plans in this
regards.
Significant development work has been undertaken in recent years with local mosques and
African churches. This work has had two distinct aims – firstly to engage faith groups in the
broad scope of work designed to safeguard children in the borough and secondly, to identify
particular issues from faith groups to be fed into policy making, training etc. The EIA team
considered that this work had contributed to raising the standard of assessment and family
support services for families of different faiths.
The EIA team concluded that training available on faith and religious practices could be
developed further to more fully reflect the range of religions observed, provide more
specialist information on minority religions in the borough and to focus specifically on the
impact of faith on family functioning and parenting (see Action Plan).
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Equality Impact Assessment
Health Impact – testing of disproportionate or adverse impact
Identify the effect of the function on physical or mental health of service users and the wider
community from any information that is available. (This might include an increased risk to
health for some groups in the community, which although not intended, may have still
occurred. The impact on health might include: increased mental stress, greater risk of
accident or injury, reduced opportunities to have a quality diet, reduced opportunity for
physical exercise, or greater incidence of diseases such as heart disease and diabetes).
From the evidence above does the function affect, or have the potential to affect the health
of groups differently? If so, which groups and how does the impact occur?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Consideration is given to health in the wider family context of the impact of adult health or
mental health on the wellbeing, health and development of children.
Environmentally, Tower Hamlets is very challenging due to the following factors that affect
children and young people, and adults alike:
- Limited green space
- Significant urban density
- High levels of poverty – officially the borough has the highest child poverty rates in London
Additionally the borough has significant health challenges including high rates of obesity and
heart disease which are acknowledged and addressed in both the Council’s Community Plan
and Children’s Plan. Despite this, the EIA focus group felt that it would be helpful to staff if
they could be provided with information about the different illnesses and health issues that
affect the different groups in the community (i.e. the prevalence of certain illnesses amongst
different ethnic - cultural indicators - and age groups within the borough).
Increasingly, families are being referred as a result of adult mental health or learning
disability issues. Furthermore, Children’s Social Care works with a number of large families
where overcrowding is a significant factor. The challenge is often unpicking, during the
assessment process, deprivation of need as opposed to deprivation in parenting knowledge
and skills.
The EIA focus Team felt that we do not discriminate in terms of service users’ health needs
and noted that this area of work requires interface with Adult Social Care Services.
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Equality Impact Assessment
Additional groups which may experience a disproportionate or adverse
impact
Identify if there are groups, other than those already considered, that may be adversely
affected by the function?
For example those in poverty may be adversely impacted by the function and it might be
useful to consider them as a separate group in the light of the Council’s overall function
objectives.
The EIA focus group are aware that there is a global issue of poverty across the borough
and the wider London area in general, and that this impacts significantly on many of
Children’s Social Care’s service users.
Additional factors which may influence disproportionate or adverse
impact
Management Arrangements
(How is the Service managed, are there any management arrangements which may have a
disproportionate impact on the equality target groups?)
Children’s Social Care has:
- Two service managers and an increase in senior management capacity across the service
- A dedicated manager for the Private Fostering Team in recognition of the specific needs
and need to increase the profile of Privately Fostered Children
- A dedicated Children’s Out of Hours Service which means that service users’ needs are
better met outside of office hours
- Two group managers
- The management group is ethnically diverse with minority ethnic groups well represented
- The management group is predominately female which is especially helpful in the context
of the increasing numbers of domestic violence referrals
Compared to three years ago, at the fourth tier level of management, there has been no
increase in numbers and therefore managers at this level are now managing a significant
increase in the numbers of child protection cases and increased case load levels in general.
This is currently under review.
What is the custom and practice in the provision or allocation of this service?
(Could these have a disproportionate impact on the equality target groups?)
Typically, assessment and family support services are provided following referral (self or
other agencies) to Children’s Social Care. Initial assessments and immediate interventions
are undertaken by duty social workers followed by allocation to named social workers for
comprehensive assessment and further intervention.
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Equality Impact Assessment
Work (other than with children living with a disability) requiring medium and longer term
intervention is transferred in the main into the Family Support and Protection teams (or
specialist children looked after teams).
For disabled children, work may be transferred between workers within the single specialist
service.
There are well developed case transfer protocols in place to ensure smooth transition of
cases between workers and teams, however, work load pressures and an increase in the
number of statutory child protection referrals can lead to challenges in the transfer process
and therefore Children’s Social Care has to continually review these arrangements. Whilst
delays in transfer do occasionally occur, these are not seen to impact on any of the equality
groups in particular.
Work with families at the Eva Armsby Family Centre has two main components:
- Assessments of parenting are requested and commissioned by field social workers
- Direct access family support services are also provided for self-referrals
The Process of Service Delivery
(In particular look at the arrangements for the service being provided).
Please see section above.
Operation Times
(When is the service provided; are there seasonal issues; are there barriers to the service
based on the time and delivery of the service which may affect the target groups?)
Children’s Social Care operates a 24 hour, 7 days a week service with the service mainly
operating during normal office hours (i.e. Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm). However there is
also a dedicated Children’s Out of Hours Service (COOHS), which operates outside of these
times and during public holidays on a case emergency basis.
The EIA focus group felt that Children’s Social Care now offers a more holistic service than
that offered three years ago as the implementation of a dedicated COOHS gave scope to
more direct work being undertaken with service users outside normal office hours, albeit in a
limited capacity.
Methods of communication to the public and internally
(What methods do you use to communicate this service? Include review and assessment of
methods, media, translations, interpretation etc. bearing in mind the extent to which these
media forms are accessible to all sections of the community)
Public information on assessment and family support and protection services provided by the
Children’s Social Care is contained in leaflets widely distributed and translated into main
community languages and on the Council’s internet site.
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Equality Impact Assessment
Referral information for other professionals is also readily available.
A ‘welcome pack’ for families receiving services is also available containing more detailed
information about service process and complaint / data protection information. Again these
are also available in translated versions.
Awareness of Service by Local People
(Assessment of the extent to which local people are aware of the service based on available
data. What measures do you undertake to reach traditionally excluded communities?)
Please see section above.
Evidence of disproportionate or adverse impact
(Is there any evidence or view that suggests that different equality, or other, target groups in
the community have either a disproportionately high or low take up/impact of/from this
service/function?)
yes 
no 
If yes, what and why (State below)
Limitations on the availability and skills of interpreters may impact adversely on non English
speaking service users remains a challenge.
Male parents / carers access services less than female parents / carers. This indicates a
need for Children’s Social Care to look to approaching work with male carers with a greater
degree of flexibility than previously afforded (e.g. evening appointments to fit around work
commitments).
Social workers have knowledge limitations in work with learning disabled parents. Some also
lack information on specialist and third sector family support services for children with
disabilities.
The sexuality of service users requires greater consideration in assessment and in planning
individual social work interventions.
There needs to be improved compliance with the monitoring of faith of service users.
Further consideration needs to be given to gender in the context of domestic violence and
the vulnerability of the service user should be a factor in determining who does the direct
work.
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Equality Impact Assessment
SECTION 4
MEASURES TO MITIGATE DISPROPORTIONATE OR
ADVERSE IMPACT
Specify measures that can be taken to remove or minimise the disproportionate
impact or adverse effect identified at the end of Section 3. If none were identified in
Section 3, identify how disproportionate impact or adverse effect could be avoided in
the future. (Consider measures to mitigate any adverse impact and better achieve the
promotion of equality of opportunity).
A strategy has been developed to improve availability and skills of interpreters. Children’s
Social Care is continuing to provide detailed feedback on the deficits in the corporate
interpreting contract.
A strategy is needed to increase the access of male service users. Children’s Services
Management Team needs to consider the formulation of specific service strategies to
increase the engagement of male parents / carers. This is being given a high level of
attention across Children’s Social Care generally and is being dealt with at a Corporate /
Commissioning level building on current strategies around parental engagement and there
are specific classes targeted at men.
Specific training on work with learning disabled parents / carers needs to be considered
when commissioning the Division’s core training programme.
The range and complexity of the work has increased significantly since the last EIA report
was completed in this area. This means that the same numbers of staff are managing higher
levels of more complex cases which have lead to new challenges in respect to how training
is delivered to staff and more consideration needs to be given to making use of team and
divisional training days.
Policy and strategy regarding the monitoring of service users’ sexuality and the consideration
of service users’ sexuality in the provision of social work services needs to be devised and
implemented. Children’s Services Management Team needs to establish a clear policy on
monitoring sexuality and commission appropriate training for practitioner staff as this is an
area that remains underdeveloped.
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Equality Impact Assessment
SECTION 5
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Does the function comply with equalities legislation, including the Duties to promote
equality in relation to race, disability and gender? Take into account your findings from
the impact assessment and consultations and explain how the function was decided upon its
intended effects and its benefits.)
yes 
no 
What are the main areas requiring further attention?
See Section 4 above and Section 6 – comprehensive Action Plan for further areas requiring
work.
Summary of recommendations for improvement
See Section 4 above and Section 6 – comprehensive Action Plan.
How will the results of the Impact Assessment feed into the performance planning
process?
This will be addressed trough the annual Service Plans within the assessment intervention
service and Family Support and Protection (Fieldwork Services). This will then feed into
individual team plans and individual Personal Development Records (PDR).
Future Monitoring and Consultation
How and when will the function be monitored?
A lead manager within Fieldwork Services will monitor the enclosed comprehensive Action
Plan. This will be subject to formal review on a 6-monthly basis within the Fieldwork
Management Team (see Action Plan).
Suggested consultation for the future
(Identify areas for future consultation and any barriers to participation in consultation with
proposals to overcome these).
See Section 6, comprehensive Action Plan.
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Equality Impact Assessment
SECTION 6 – ACTION PLAN
Recommendation
Key activity
Progress milestones
Improve and develop
consultation with /
Participation of children and
young people.
Development of feedback forms for
Develop feedback form by April
children and young people in relation 2009.
to assessments.
Routinely giving form to CYP
Over the next two years begin using where age appropriate to do so.
feedback forms to feed into the
service planning process.
Develop protocol as to how this
information is collated and
Interface more effectively with Youth analysed.
Services.
Practice slots in Fieldwork
Management Meetings to look at
how this information is collated,
analysed and disseminated to
staff group at key points.
Service
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
Develop joint working
between specialist teams in
Children’s Social Care –
more specifically the
interface between CWD and
frontline teams.
Develop a greater awareness
amongst the wider staff Group on
how children’s disabilities impact on
children and families.
Service
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
A sharing of information,
expertise and learning across
teams by July 2009 and ongoing.
Officer
Responsible
Develop greater promotion of joint
working between Children with
Disabilities Team and Fieldwork
Teams.
Group
Manager,
Fieldwork
Services
Develop clearer protocol for working
Group
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Progress
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Equality Impact Assessment
with families where there are both
able and disabled children.
Developing staff awareness
of the impact of religion /
belief on family functioning
and parenting.
Commission research / an audit on
the quality of assessments in
respect to the impact of families’
religion and beliefs.
Developing staff awareness
Roll out training in regards to
of the impact of sexuality on
assessing the impact of Faith on
identity needs of children and family functioning and parenting.
young people.
Roll out training on addressing and
supporting the needs of service
users arising from sexuality.
Develop an awareness of the
importance of fathers / male
carers and ensure they are
included in assessments and
children’s plans wherever
possible.
Promote greater awareness
regarding the role of men in work
with children.
Increased focus on early
Development of an integrated front
Manager,
CWD
Develop Team Based Training
on the findings of the EIA.
By May 2009
Service
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
Ensure that these issues are fed
into the wider training of
assessments to ensure that staff
is able to address wider issues of
how the various equality strands
impact on service users.
Ongoing
This work is ongoing.
Service
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
Reduced impact around repeat
Service
Link in with other research around
the importance of working with male
service users especially around
issues of domestic violence.
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Equality Impact Assessment
intervention services.
and back door to the service.
Further work is required to embed
the CAF process with partner
agencies.
referrals. Further embed CSC’s
offer “to extended schools”
By July 2009 - ongoing work.
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
Managerially support staff to
develop specialist skills or to
focus on specific areas of the
work.
Service
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
Work required to strengthen the
support and advice function of
Children’s Social Care (especially in
Advice and Assessment Teams).
Consideration to developing
specialised adolescent work
expertise to ensure earlier
intervention with adolescents
who are ‘acting out’ or
showing signs of becoming
‘out of parental control’.
Develop scope within the service for
staff to lead on specialist areas of
work.
Importance of developing
student social workers within
the service to promote
equality.
Practice Teaching to be supported in Increase numbers of experienced Service
the Service.
staff taking on students.
Managers,
By October 2009
Fieldwork
Services
Aim for a student in every team.
Ongoing work
Ensure that staff have
access to collated research
Collate and signpost staff to ‘Making
Research Count’
By July 2009 – ongoing work.
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Staff making greater use of
“Making Research Count”
All managers.
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Equality Impact Assessment
and information around
cultural indicators. (i.e. the
prevalence of certain
illnesses amongst different
ethnic – cultural indicators and age groups within the
borough).
training opportunities.
Ongoing work as part of PDR
process.
Mandate that the EIA Action
Plan is to be reviewed in
Fieldwork Management
Meeting bi-annually and then
issues arising to be taken
into team meetings.
To keep on top of action plan and to Practice slot bi-annually
identify any emerging equality issues Fieldwork management meeting
at the earliest opportunity.
to formally review action plan and
also development of lead
manager for services.
Lead
Equalities
Manager
Increased focus on data
quality.
Look at locally in both management
and team meetings.
Reduced numbers of service
users with no recorded ethnicity.
All managers
Link into corporate
interpreting review.
Fieldwork services to make a
contribution to the review of
interpreting services.
Collate strengths and
weaknesses noted by staff on
interpreting services.
All managers
Report to Corporate Interpreting
Review.
Full involvement in the Tower Contribution to the commissioning
Hamlets commissioning
groups.
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Ongoing work.
Service
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
Service
Managers,
Fieldwork
Services
Service
Managers,
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Equality Impact Assessment
process of support services
for families around the issue
of domestic violence.
Fieldwork Managers taking
an active role in the
recruitment and retention
towards a utopian goal of a
fully permanent workforce.
Fieldwork
Services/
Group
Manager, Eva
Armsby
Family Centre
Taking an active role within the
Safety Planning process and future
service developments to enhance
our response to domestic violence.
Participating in ongoing recruitment
of staff.
To increase the ratio of
permanent to agency staff.
Ensuring that all staff receive regular
supervision and PDRs.
Ongoing work.
All managers
Support of specialist interests via
training opportunities.
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