Equality Impact Assessments

An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) is a way to check that our work (be it a policy, process, service, project, etc.) doesn't disadvantage or discriminate against different groups. EIAs help to design and deliver better and inclusive services, projects, and procedures. This is crucial for us to drive the structural changes required to see everyone living Warwick’s values and nurturing a culture that truly recognises, respects, and fosters diversity.

Conducting EIAs also helps us to meet our legal responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. Learn more about EIAs and the PSED

The Equality Act (2010) created the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which aimed to place a responsibility on organisations to actively promote equality, not simply avoid discrimination.

Organisations subject to the duty, including Warwick, must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations between different groups. Assessing the impact on equality of any work is a meaningful way in which organisations can demonstrate that they have done this.

A number of discrimination claim court cases have demonstrated the importance of assessing equality impact as a way to show that the organisation has complied with the PSED.

If you have any questions about EIAs, email us at .

Complete an EIA

This template includes guidance on how to answer the questions and examples.

Download EIA form (Word doc)

How EIAs work

Development and approval for new work should follow the steps outlined below:

Planning . Define and plan the work.
Assessment . Identify the implications for different groups - if negative, make changes and/or identify mitigations. If you're not yet sure of the implications, note this in the EIA and identify a date to review any impact once the work is underway. Keep a copy of the EIA.
Approval . Seek approval for the work through relevant governance processes - add information from the EIA to your report (see guidance on recording equality implications in reports here).
Review . Review the impact for different groups as the work is carried out and reviewed. If negative impact is found, make changes and/or identify mitigations.

When to complete an EIA

To determine if you need to complete an EIA, ask the following questions:

Does your work impact upon staff, students, or any other groups of people?
Do different groups have different needs or experiences in relation to the work?
Does the work relate to Warwick's Social Inclusion Strategy objectives (increase diversity of staff and students, develop an inclusive culture, become a recognised leader on inclusion)?
Has previous consultation, data, or complaints identified that equality issues are important in this work?

If yes to any of the above, conduct an EIA.

If no to all of the above, an EIA is likely to not be required. But, you should build in monitoring (e.g., differential experiences, diversity of uptake) where it is not clear if there will be impact/what it will be.

Examples of EIAs in practice

You can also see examples of EIAs in practice, and the difference they have made, below.

These examples are from outside of the University, they have been taken from Advance HE, UNISON, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission and are based on real life scenarios where EIAs have been carried out.

Inclusive recruitment

Encouraging applications from across the local community

Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service recruits fire fighters once a year. The recruitment process has a number of stages – a written application, psychometric tests, physical tests, a medical, and an interview – and it can take up to six months.

The service carried out equality monitoring to identify patterns of progress through the recruitment process. This enabled the service to identify barriers to progress at each stage and to explore what can be done to redress them. For example, women disproportionately fail on upper body strength, and Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) recruits disproportionately fail on written tests.

As a result of this review, the service now holds ‘positive action days’ before recruitment starts. On these days, potential recruits can test their strength and use simulators to experience working at height and in confined spaces. They have a chance to see and try out some of the written work that is involved. The focus of the day is to inspire and encourage applications. Some candidates will go away determined to build up strength to apply at a later date; others will be less stressed by the required written work after having had a chance to see what is involved. Others will understand that the service is not for them. These actions are constantly under review to ensure improved diversity amongst fire fighters in the service.

Community relations

Improving community relations during sensitive operations

While considering its response to growing knife crime, the Metropolitan Police carried out an equality impact assessment which identified a high probable impact on Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities of any action they might take. It was also aware that members of these communities were keen to see action taken. The impact assessment led to the development of an improved strategy to manage relations between officers and the community. This included:

Increased community engagement and involvement in operational activities.
Members of the local community being part of street operations, leafleting, listening to local people, explaining police procedures.
Specific training for operational staff to improve the experience of stop and search for all concerned.

It was particularly important to ensure those questioned felt they were being treated with respect and also that they understood the reasons for the police action.

Redundancies

Job losses reveal imbalance

Redundancies were on the cards when the London Probation Service held a major organisational review.

EIAs early on looked at equality in relation to senior, administrative, and corporate centre staff. Both assessments concluded there might be a negative impact on women, Black, and older people.

Fewer jobs would be available, particularly at senior management level. Many older staff had been in post for a number of years and had no recent experience of job applications and interview.

A programme of support for all staff focused on briefings about the assessment centre process as well as job application and interview techniques.

Those who weren’t successful received further help on developing CVs and careers advice.

A review of the recruitment process for senior staff following the restructure revealed an increase in Black senior managers. There was also no negative impact on women or disabled staff.

A more equal balance had been achieved between women and men within the admin ranks. The assessment process has given the service a deeper understanding of the workforce, and this will be monitored regularly.

The assessment found potential disadvantages, but these were reduced or removed through training. The service continued with its policy and reacted proportionately in reducing disadvantage.

Impact of an effective EIA

EIA leads to a change in policy

An authority proposed to reduce its waiting list for social housing by writing to everyone on the list and asking them to confirm that they still needed housing. Anyone who did not reply within a set time frame would be removed from the list. The EIA highlighted that people with learning difficulties, people with some mental health problems, and people who did not have English as a first language might not be able to respond to the letter in time and the policy was amended.

Impact of a poor EIA

Impact of a limited EIA

A local authority was proposing to cut funding to a women’s organisation to provide English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes. The EIA argued that there were other organisations providing classes that the women could attend. There was no evidence of consultation with women accessing the service. This would have revealed that some women would only attend women-only sessions for religious and cultural reasons. In addition the women’s organisation also provided childcare on site, which other organisations did not offer. The impact assessment failed to recognise that this meant a significant number of women would not be able to access ESOL classes at all.

Looking for the old EIA Portal? You can find it here, but please note this has not been in use since February 2023 so is not an up to date record of EIAs.