While the Equality Act 2010 no longer places a statutory duty on public sector organisations to produce equality impact assessment documentation, there is a legal requirement to undertake full, detailed analysis of the impact of a service or services upon protected groups. UCLH continues to use an Equality Impact Assessment tool which enables a systematic analysis of a policy, service change, strategy or activity. This has been updated in April 2013 so that it is consistent with the Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance. That it to say, when we analyse the effects of Equality, we ensure that there is a thorough analysis, fully referenced sources of evidence and research to back up how decisions were arrived at plus details of the outcome of stakeholder engagement with all protected and disadvantaged groups. This ensures that an integrated approach is undertaken in the production of each Equality Analysis.
We have embedded this tool into day-to-day activities and decision making, and UCLH is regularly using this tool to assess the impact of Trust policies and procedures on different protected groups. This ensures we are better placed to meet our obligations and produce policies that benefit the communities we serve.