Effective equality impact assessment

Equality impact assessments are a tool to help higher education institutions ensure that their policies are fair, meet the needs or their staff and students and that they are not inadvertently discriminating against any particular group (for example, men and women, disabled people and people from different ethnic groups). Equality impact assessments are also a requirement of UK equality law.

The materials on this page have been developed as a result of Equality Challenge Unit's equality impact assessment project. The project has been developed to build upon existing guidance, Conducting equality impact assessments in higher education, to support higher education institutions to conduct effective equality impact assessments in the areas of admissions and restructuring and redundancy. 

The briefings and materials that have been collected as part of this project will be useful to staff responsible for coordinating or conducting impact assessment on policies, practices and procedures within a range of higher education functions, not just admissions and restructuring and redundancy.  

The history of equality impact assessment

The Department for Children, Schools and Families produced an excellent summary of the background to the use of equality impact assessments in the UK.  This resource will be useful for staff within higher education institutions that are responsible for delivering training on impact assessments or explaining the concept of impact assessments to their colleagues.

Case law on equality impact assessment

Two High Court rulings reinforce the need for, and importance of, equality impact assessments:

1. In the case of R (Chavda and Others) v London Borough of Harrow, the High Court ruled that Harrow Council's decision to restrict adult care services to people with critical needs only was unlawful. In making its ruling the High Court stated that Harrow Council had not given consideration to its obligations under the Disability Equality Duty of the Disability Discrimination Act. The Council had failed to carry out an equality impact assessment that gave proper and explicit consideration to disability when it introduced a policy change that had a significant impact on hundreds of disabled people.
2. In the case of R (Kaur and Shah) v London Borough of Ealing, the High Court ruled that Ealing Council's proposals to move away from funding particular organisations such as Southall Black Sisters towards commissioning services following a competitive bidding exercise was unlawful. While Ealing Council did carry out an EIA on its proposals, it did so belatedly and continued with its original plans despite concerns expressed by Southall Black Sisters that the move would have a negative impact on women from ethnic minority backgrounds. In an oral judgement, Lord Justice Moses reiterated the importance of undertaking an equality impact assessment and also the importance of carrying out an impact assessment before policy formulation.

Guidance on conducting impact assessments

ECU and HEFCE (2007) Conducting equality impact assessments in higher education 

Equality and Human Rights Commission (2009) Equality impact assessment guidance: a step-by-step guide to integrating equality impact assessment into policy making and review 

Equality and Human Rights Commission (2009) Equality impact assessment quick-start guide: a step-by-step guide to integrating equality impact assessment into policy making and review 

Scottish Government Equality and diversity impact assessment toolkit

Welsh Assembly Government (2009) Inclusive policy making guidance