Equality Impact Assessment

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Equality impact assessment are a method of recording that a public authority has given due regard to the elimination of unlawful discrimination during the planning and review of relevant policies and practices and whenever possible have identified and put into place measures that will reduce any potential barriers and enhance equality of opportunity.

Due regard comprises two linked elements, proportionality and relevance. The weight that public authorities give to equality should therefore be proportionate to its relevance to a particular function.

All relevant new or reviewed policies presented to Council Committees for approval must be Equality Impact Assessed.
All relevant new or reviewed departmental policies that are referred to departmental Senior Management Teams for approval should be accompanied by Equality Impact Assessment.

Rapid Impact Assessment (RIAT)

Rapid Impact Assessment (RIAT) is a simple well tested assessment tool that provides an effective, user friendly and quick method of accessing if due regard has been given to any actual or potential impact on people with protected characteristics while drafting or reviewing of a policy. The RIAT can also identify if a Full Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) is required.

Guidance on undertaking a Rapid Impact Assessment (RIAT) can be found here (115KB MS Word doc).

Full Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA)

Full Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) follows the same format and form as a Rapid Impact Assessment but requires greater resources in terms of time and commitment to gather and analyse a wider range of evidence than would normally be required for a Rapid Impact Assessment. This extra commitment should be taken into account during the early planning stages of relevant policies.

A Full Equality Impact Assessment must be undertaken if:

a Rapid Equality Impact Assessment has recommended that a Full Equality Impact Assessment be undertaken and /or
the policy or strategy is a major one in terms of scale or significance to the authorities activities and there is a clear indication that it is likely to have an impact upon people who share a protected characteristic.
although the policy or strategy is minor, it is likely to have a major impact upon people who share a protected characteristic.

Guidance on undertaking a Full Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) can be found here (47KB MS Word doc).

Rapid and Full Equality Impact Assessment Tool can be found here (100KB MS Word doc).

You can view the current Equality Impact Assessments here.

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