What is an Equality Impact Assessment?
An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) involves predicting and assessing how a policy, strategy or project will affect a wide range of people with different needs. The assessment will show us if there will be any negative impacts on any groups of people so that we can change the way that we deliver services. It is a way to make sure that individuals and teams think carefully about the likely impact of their work on equality groups and take action to improve services, policies, strategies and projects.
Why do we need to do an EIA?
It is accepted as good practice for housing associations to complete EIAs to improve the way that they work and to make sure that they do not discriminate against individuals or groups and that where possible, they positively promote equality. At Aspire we want to promote equality and do what we can to support everyone to be able to access our services and get the most from them.
How do we do an EIA?
When we do an EIA we think about how the policy or strategy could affect different groups of people. We try to think about things from another persons perspective to understand how they might experience our service. The characteristics which could mean that someone experiences our services differently include (but are not limited to); Age (old or young), Gender, Sexuality, Ethnic Origin, Disability, Religion, Low Income, Lack of Basic Skills. So, for example, a customer who uses a wheelchair would be at a disadvantage if our office was not wheelchair accessible.
We use customer feedback and research other evidence about the needs of different groups of people and their experiences of services to support the findings for the EIA as well as discussions with our own customer groups. If any negative impacts are found action must be taken to change the policy or strategy and improve the service. If the changes required are more detailed, an action plan is also produced and monitored to ensure that the changes are made.
All completed EIA’s are then sent to our Equality and Diversity Steering Group (which includes customer representatives) who will only approve it if they are satisfied that the impact on all groups has been fully considered and action plans are in place to address any negative impacts.
