Equality impact assessment (EIA)
form: evidencing paying due regard to protected
characteristics
(Form updated April 2019)
Household Support Fund
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If you would like this information in another language or format such as Braille, large print or audio, please contact the Communications Unit on 01609 53 2013 or email communications@northyorks.gov.uk.
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Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are public documents. EIAs accompanying reports going to County Councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting. To help people to find completed EIAs we also publish them in the Equality and Diversity section of our website. This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements.
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Name of Directorate and Service Area |
Central Services
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Lead Officer and contact details |
Neil Irving
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Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA |
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How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual officer |
Steering Group
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When did the due regard process start? |
1 April 2022
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Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. On 23 March 2022, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced an extension to the Household Support Fund with £421 million being made available to County Councils and Unitary Authorities in England to support those most in need to help with significantly rising living costs between April and September 2022. At least 1/3 of the funds made available must be spent on households with children, and at least 1/3 on households which include a person who has reached state pension age.
The expectation is that the Household Support Fund should be primarily used to support households in the most need with energy, food and water bills. It can also be used to support households with essential costs related to those items, and with wider essential costs.
North Yorkshire County Council will receive an allocation of £3,537,549.92. The timing of the announcement and the public expectation that the scheme will be available for applications, means that prompt action is necessary to deliver the scheme as soon as possible.
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Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (e.g. to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)
The Household Support Fund should be primarily used to support households in the most need with energy, food and water bills. It can also be used to support households with essential costs related to those items, and with wider essential costs.
The local authority has flexibility to determine eligibility in their area and target support within the conditions set out below:
i. at least 33.33% of the total funding is allocated to support households that include: (i) a person who will be under the age of 19 as at 31st March 2022, or (ii) a person aged 19 or over in respect of whom a child-related benefit is paid or free school meals are provided during the grant period; ii. at least 33.33% of the funding is allocated to support households that include a person who has reached state pension age by 30th September 2022; and iii. up to 33.33% of the grant is used to assist other households.
Eligible expenditure includes: · Energy and water: the fund should primarily be used to support with energy bills for any form of fuel that is used for the purpose of domestic heating, cooking or lighting, including oil or portable gas cylinders. It can also be used to support with water bills including for drinking, washing, cooking, and sanitary purposes and sewerage. · Food: the fund should also primarily be used to provide support with food whether in kind or through vouchers or cash. · Essentials linked to energy and water: the fund can be used to provide support with essentials linked to energy and water (including sanitary products, warm clothing, soap, blankets, boiler service/repair, purchase of equipment including fridges, freezers, ovens, etc.), in recognition that a range of costs may arise which directly affect a household’s ability to afford or access energy, food and water. · Wider essentials: the fund can be used to support with wider essential needs not linked to energy and water should Authorities consider this appropriate in their area. These may include, but are not limited to, support with other bills including broadband or phone bills, clothing, and essential transport-related costs such as repairing a car, buying a bicycle or paying for fuel. · Housing Costs: in exceptional cases of genuine emergency where existing housing support schemes do not meet this exceptional need, the Fund can be used to support housing costs. Where eligible, ongoing housing support for rent must be provided through the housing cost element of Universal Credit (UC) and Housing Benefit (HB) rather than the Household Support Fund. In addition, eligibility for DHPs must first be considered before emergency housing support is offered through the Household Support Fund. The Authority must also first consider whether the claimant is at statutory risk of homelessness and therefore owed a duty of support through the Homelessness Prevention Grant (HPG).
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Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?
The North Yorkshire eligibility framework and approach is intended to recognise the current cost of living pressures including inflationary pressures on essential goods and services in particular gas, electricity and other fuel costs over the next 6 months.
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Section 4. Involvement and consultation (What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?)
No requirement for formal consultation.
A HAF Steering Group was set up to oversee the initial phase, which will continue to convene. The membership of which is:
Howard Emmett - NYCC Neil Irving - NYCC Sally Dunn – NYCC Abby Barker - NYCC John Kelly – NYCC Caryl James – NYCC Guy Kendrew - NYCC Marie-Ann Jackson – NYCC Adele Wilson-Hope – NYCC Trish Grosvenor - NYCC Sarah Foley - NYCC Sophie Watson – NYCC Fred Chambers - NYCC Linda Porritt - NYCC Emily Flanagan – NYCC Rachel Woodward - NYCC Maggie McCulloch – Richmondshire DC Guy Shrimpton - Scarborough DC Clarkson, Tracy - NYCC Susan Grant - Hambleton DC Marcus Lee - Ryedale DC Tammi Fox - Selby DC Andrew Colleran - Hambleton DC Deborah Davies - Craven DC Julie Gillett - Harrogate DC
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Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?
Cost neutral, as all costs covered by HSF allocation. This includes reasonable administrative costs incurred if claimed. Administration activity may include:
- Staff Costs - Advertising and publicity to raise awareness - Small IT changes eg to facilitate MI production
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Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics? |
No impact |
Make things better |
Make things worse |
Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc. |
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Age |
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At least 33.33% of the total funding is allocated to support households that include: (i) a person who will be under the age of 19 as at 31st March 2022, or (ii) a person aged 19 or over in respect of whom a child-related benefit is paid or free school meals are provided during the grant period;
At least 33.33% of the funding is allocated to support households that include a person who has reached state pension age by 30th September 2022.
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Disability |
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Sex |
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Race |
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Gender reassignment |
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Sexual orientation |
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Religion or belief |
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Pregnancy or maternity |
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Marriage or civil partnership |
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Section 7. How will this proposal affect people who… |
No impact |
Make things better |
Make things worse |
Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc. |
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..live in a rural area? |
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…have a low income? |
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All funds are to be targeted to support households in the most need with energy, food and water bills. It can also be used to support with essential costs related to those items and with wider essential costs. |
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…are carers (unpaid family or friend)? |
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Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply) |
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North Yorkshire wide |
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Craven district |
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Hambleton district |
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Harrogate district |
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Richmondshire district |
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Ryedale district |
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Scarborough district |
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Selby district |
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If you have ticked one or more districts, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below. |
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Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (e.g. older women or young gay men) State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and/or service user data or demographic information etc.
N/A
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Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. (Remember: we have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access services and work for us) |
Tick option chosen |
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1. No adverse impact - no major change needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified. |
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2. Adverse impact - adjust the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We will change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, or we will achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. |
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3. Adverse impact - continue the proposal - The EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We cannot change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, nor can we achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. (There must be compelling reasons for continuing with proposals which will have the most adverse impacts. Get advice from Legal Services) |
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4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – The EIA identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped. |
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Explanation of why option has been chosen. (Include any advice given by Legal Services.)
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Section 11. If the proposal is to be implemented how will you find out how it is really affecting people? (How will you monitor and review the changes?)
The DWP provide a monitoring and delivery framework for expenditure. The data will be collected at 2 intervals. The first monitoring return will be submitted in July 2022. This mid-point review will enable the Council to determine how many households are applying for the various grants and that the grant is reaching the intended beneficiaries. If there is lower than anticipated take up of the grant further contact will be made with the eligible households to encourage take up. The second monitoring return is October 2022 which will report on the overall spend profile in accordance with DWP monitoring requirements.
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Section 12. Action plan. List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this EIA, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics. |
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Action |
Lead |
By when |
Progress |
Monitoring arrangements |
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DWP MI Return
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Adele Wilson-Hope |
22 July 2022 |
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DWP MI Return |
Adele Wilson-Hope |
21 October 2022 |
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Section 13. Summary Summarise the findings of your EIA, including impacts, recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice, and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker.
The delivery plan for the distribution of the HSF has been developed and agreed by a range of stakeholders and partners in order to ensure it is fair and equitable and designed to ensure the grant reaches the intended beneficiaries - households on low incomes and in particular households with children and those of state pension age.
The distribution will be monitored to ensure it is reaching the intended beneficiaries and actions will be taken at the review point if there is low take up to contact eligible households.
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Section 14. Sign off section
This full EIA was completed by:
Name: Neil Irving Job title: Assistant Director – Policy, Partnerships and Communities Directorate: Central Services Signature: Neil Irving
Completion date: 22 April 2022
Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): Neil Irving
Date: 22 April 2022 |