EQIA: Policy 38 - Suspensions, Closures and Re-opening of ILF Scotland Awards

In completing this EQIA you should be ensuring the needs of diverse groups of people are thought about when developing and implementing a new policy, procedure or service or a change to existing ones. Please consider the protected groups in line with the Equality Act 2010 and other diverse groups who may be impacted.

Name of Activity: Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) for Policy 38 - Suspensions, Closures and Re-opening of ILF Scotland Awards
Name of person completing EQIA: Linda Scott
Date EQIA completed: 30 September 2022

What type of activity are you planning?

Change to procedure: No
Event: No
New procedure: No
Office Plan/Budget: No
Policy: Yes
Project: No
Service: No
Other (free text):

1. Describe the main aim or purpose of what it is you are planning to do?

Review of policy and wording revision.

2. Who is likely to be affected by this policy, service or change?

Disabled people who are recipients of ILF Scotland’s 2015 fund.

3. Do you have enough information to know what the potential impact might be on diverse groups and what that might look like?

The protected characteristics to consider are: Age, Disability, Sex, Race, Religion or Belief, Gender Reassignment, Sexual Orientation, Marriage and Civil Partnership, Pregnancy and Maternity. It will also be helpful to consider these groups more widely in relation to their socio-economic status that includes such factors as educational attainment, occupation, income, wealth and social deprivation.

Please mark as Yes or No. If yes use the Comments column to describe what the potential impact is. What are your sources of evidence?

(Try to think about both positive and negative impacts. There are lots of sources of data to help answer this question. Diversity Networks, the Diversity Report or Diversity & Inclusion team may offer some useful information. Previously completed EQIAs may also offer answers to questions you may have).

Age: Yes
Comments: Recipients are identified as an aging population and the evidence indicates that declining health is a primary characteristic of getting older. As such, recipients are at an increased likelihood of requiring hospital admissions until their health stabilises and they can be safely discharged. The evidence indicates that these hospital / residential stays can be for extended periods of time depending on the complexities of a person’s health conditions, and on having appropriate support in place to facilitate discharge.
Recipients are also more likely to experience changes to their benefit entitlements and input from statutory services i.e. social care over their lifetime as a result of changes to their personal circumstances (health and living arrangements) and the associated eligibility criteria for social care / disability related benefits.
Sources: Ageing and disability | United Nations Enable, Which Patients Are Persistently High-Risk for Hospitalization? (ajmc.com), Disability Assistance - Social security - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), Eligibility - Self-directed Support: Practitioners Guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and BBC One - Disclosure, Locked in the Hospital

Disability: Yes
Comments: Recipients are identified as having a substantial, long term impairment, and are more likely to experience periods of time requiring hospital admission. The evidence indicates that these hospital admissions can be for extended periods of time depending on the complexities of health conditions, and appropriate support being available to facilitate discharge.
Recipients are also more likely to experience changes to their benefit entitlements and input from statutory services i.e. social care over their lifetime as a result of changes to their personal circumstances (health and living arrangements) and the associated eligibility criteria for social care / disability related benefits.
Sources: Ageing and disability | United Nations Enable, Which Patients Are Persistently High-Risk for Hospitalization? (ajmc.com), 7. Out of Scotland NHS Placements - Inpatient Census 2019: parts one and two - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), Disability Assistance - Social security - gov.scot (www.gov.scot), Eligibility - Self-directed Support: Practitioners Guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) and BBC One - Disclosure, Locked in the Hospital

Gender Reassignment: No
Comments:

Marriage and Civil Partnership: No
Comments:

Pregnancy and Maternity: No
Comments:

Race: No
Comments:

Religion or belief: No
Comments:

Sex: No
Comments:

Sexual orientation: No
Comments:

Is there evidence of any impact on other groups not covered by the protected characteristics? If yes use the Comments column to describe what the potential impact is, what you could do to remove/reduce any negative impact and what you could do to benefit from any positive impact.

(For example, carer status, single parent, economic exclusion. It is important not to limit your thinking just to the protected characteristics listed above. This question is broadening the EQIA out to be more inclusive. The impact might be a negative one (e.g. making that decision could decrease the opportunity for some people to participate) or it could be a positive one (e.g. by making that decision, more people are able to take part in the activity).)

Carers: No
Comments:

4. Have you consulted with the relevant groups (these could be internal and/or external) or gathered evidence for you to know the potential impact on these different groups affected? What sources have you used to gather information?

If there are any gaps in information that make it difficult or impossible to form an opinion on how your policy, service or change might affect different groups of people, please take the time to gather information to help you make an informed answer (for example, review statistics, survey results, complaints analysis, consultation documents, customer feedback, existing briefings submissions or business reports, comparative policies from external sources and other Government Departments etc).

Consultation with the Scottish Advisory Group, NI Stakeholder Group, Recipients, Award Managers, ILFS Assessors, Specialist Caseworkers and additional desk research.

5. Having analysed the relevant sources of information, what does the evidence tell you? Is there any evidence that the proposed changes will have an adverse equality impact on any of these different groups of people?

Age: No
Disability: No
Gender Reassignment: No
Marriage and Civil Partnership: No
Pregnancy and Maternity: No
Race: No
Religion or belief: No
Sex: No
Sexual orientation: No

6. Please provide details of who the proposals affect, the adverse impacts and explain how you will minimise or remove the adverse impact.

ILF Scotland 2015 fund recipients have been identified as those primarily affected by this policy with no adverse impacts identified. The policy is available on the ILFS website and available in alternative formats upon request.

7. Is there any evidence that the proposed changes will have a positive impact on any of these different groups of people and/or promote equality of opportunity? Please provide details of which group/ groups benefits from the positive impacts. and how this will be promoted/evaluated.

Age: Yes
Comments: The policy changes ensure that recipients are not discriminated against based on their age and factors associated with aging.  The policy now indicates that a) funding can remain in place for a maximum of six months while a recipient is in hospital; and b) in cases were funding has been suspended, providing recipients meet all eligibility requirements, their funding can be reinstated at any time.

Disability: Yes
Comments: The policy changes ensure that recipients are not discriminated against based on disability and factors associated with disability.  The policy now indicates that a) funding can remain in place for a maximum of six months while a recipient is in either hospital; and b) in cases were funding has been suspended, providing recipients meet all eligibility requirements, their funding can be reinstated at any time.

Gender Reassignment: No

Marriage and Civil Partnership: No

Pregnancy and Maternity: No

Race: No

Religion or belief: No

Sex: No

Sexual orientation: No

8. Provide a final summary of the commitments/actions you will take as a result of completing this EQIA. Who will you consult with on your action plan and how will you do this to ensure the relevant stakeholders understand the equality impact?

We will continue to consult with and inform recipients / Award Managers of this policy via our website, and contact with our Assessors and Specialist Caseworkers, Scottish Advisory Group and NI Stakeholder Group.

9. Have you a plan in place to review your actions? Please provide a summary. Will plan require sign off and from where?

Ongoing monitoring and review of policy impact via feedback from recipients, Award Managers, Assessors and Specialist Caseworkers, Management Team, and Senior Management Team, Scottish Advisory Group and NI Stakeholder Group. This policy will be signed off by Linda Scott, Director of Policy, Improvement and Engagement.