Equality Impact Assessments (EIA)

CAE offers Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) to support clients to meet their public-sector equality duty set out in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This requires due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations by reference to people with protected characteristics.

CAE can support you with training to equip you with the knowledge to undertake an EIA, or we can carry one out on your behalf – this might include consultation with users who may be impacted by the change in policy, strategy, service or function.

Please contact us for more information.

What is an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) ?

An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) helps organisations ensure that their management policies, services and practices are fair and offer equality. Most importantly, it ensures they do not present barriers to participation or disadvantage for protected groups under the Equality Act 2010.

The purpose of the EIA is to:

• Examine the extent to which a policy, strategy including strategic decisions, service or function may impact any groups of the community.
• Where appropriate, recommend alternative measures to ensure equal access to services and opportunities.

The Equality Act 2010 provides a framework to ensure that unlawful discrimination is eliminated, and equality of opportunity for protected characteristics, including: age, reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion and belief, sex/gender and sexual orientation.

When do I need an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) ?

Whether an EIA is needed or not will depend on the likely impact that the change in policy, strategy, service or function may have and relevance of the activity to equality.

The EIA should be done when the need for a new policy or practice is identified, or when an existing one is reviewed. Depending on the type of policy or activity advice can be sought from either your inclusion and diversity lead or HR or equivalent.

An EIA should form part of any new policy, event or funding activity and be factored in as early , at CAE we have been involved in EIA’s for public sector and part of the design brief for public buildings assessing the impact of every stage of design development to ensure equality is considered throughout.