How to undertake an equality impact assessment

An Equality Impact Assessment, or EIA, is a way of ensuring LSE’s policies, practices, services and functions are the very best that they can be by checking:

• That they do not inadvertently disadvantage anyone, and
• That wherever possible, they proactively advance equality, diversity and inclusion.

For example, a decision to move a team to a different office on a different campus may seem like it impacts the same way on everyone, but actually:

• Staff members with a physical disability will need to know about the accessibility of the new office to ensure they can get in, evacuation procedures to ensure they can get out in an emergency, the location of the new office to test their new commute etc…
• Staff members with certain mental health issues may feel more anxious about the move, they may have their commute and working arrangements mapped out to suit the current office and the new location will require changes 
• Staff members with childcare and/or caring responsibilities may need to think about changes to their commute, and therefore changes to daycare locations 
• Staff with particular religions and beliefs may need to know about faith provision, for example a prayer room in the new building, or local places of worship near the new office

And there are likely to be other considerations as well.

The purpose of an EIA is to pre-empt any issues: anticipate what the impact of the policy is on different groups of staff, students and prospective staff and students, mitigate any negatives and maximise any positives.

Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) processes have been developed in response to legislation – the Equality Act 2010, and the Act requires LSE to specifically consider:

• Age – including older and younger people
• Disability, including those with physical disabilities, unseen disabilities and mental health issues
• Sex– both men and women
• Gender reassignment or gender identity, including trans staff and students who have transitioned, are thinking of transitioning or are in the process of transitioning from one gender to another, and also non-binary staff and students (those who do not identify with, or reject gender labels)
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnant people and those on maternity leave
• Race and ethnicity, which includes a person’s nationality, colour, native language, culture and geographic origin
• Religion and belief – which includes those with no religion or belief
• Sexual orientation- including gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer and straight staff and students

It’s also important to think, where possible, how these characteristics intersect. For example, a Black woman will have different experiences to a Black man, and considering how gender and ethnicity intersect may impact on how policies are developed and implemented.

Ideally an equality impact assessment (EIA) should be conducted as early as possible, to enable any identified issues to be mitigated or avoided altogether. 

This is usually a good way to save money as well: it’s easier to create something that’s accessible for everyone from scratch, rather than having to make changes later. 

It can also save potential embarrassment, even in projects with equality at their heart, like this accessible toilet…..with steps! 

If you are developing a new policy, process, function or service, or you are reviewing an existing policy, process, function or service, conduct an EIA.

Existing policies, processes, functions and services

Eventually, LSE wants to ensure that everything has been equality impact assessed, but that will take time.

In the first instance we want to prioritise those policies, processes, functions and services which are likely to have the biggest impact on different groups, and start there, whilst developing a timeline for other areas.