Impact Assessment

What is an Equality Impact Assessment?

The purpose of an Equality Impact Assessment (EqIA) is to improve the work of the College by making sure it does not discriminate via its policies and that, where possible, it promotes equality. It is a way to make sure individuals and teams think carefully about the likely impact of their work on equality target groups and take action to improve:

· Policies; services; strategies; procedures and functions.

What is meant by “Impact”?

The College looks at two possible impacts in its assessment:

· A negative or adverse impact - this is an impact that could disadvantage one or more equality groups.

· A positive impact - an impact that could have a positive impact on one or more equality target groups, or improve equal opportunities and/or relationships between groups.

When is an Equality Impact Assessment be carried out?

Equality impact assessments are carried out when:

· Developing a new policy, service, strategy, procedure or function

· Reviewing existing policies, procedures, functions

· A policy, procedure, function or strategy has been identified as requiring an EqIA by partnership working, internal service functions, Senior Leadership Team or the Board of Governors

All managers are responsible for incorporating equalities into their policies, procedures, functions or strategies, and for assessing the equalities impacts. This is a continuous cycle, starting at the very beginning of the process.

The Equality Impact Assessment consists of two parts:

· The initial screening process

· The more thorough full assessment if the initial screening has identified an adverse I negative impact.

If you have any queries about impact assessment please contact equalityanddiversity@nhc.ac.uk