Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics
(form updated June 2023)
Draft Tenancy Strategy and Tenancy Policy
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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 find completed EIAs, we also publish them in our website's Equality and Diversity section. 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 |
Community Development - Housing |
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Lead Officer and contact details |
Hannah Heinemann – Head of Housing Delivery and Partnerships
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Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA |
Carl Doolan – Head of Housing Management and Landlord Service Matthew Brown – Housing Policy and Strategy Officer
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How will you pay due regard? for example, working group, individual officer |
This
overarching EIA has been carried out by the Housing Strategy and
Policy Officer with support from Head of Housing Management and
Landlord Service. Full public consultation was
undertaken.
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When did the due regard process start? |
July 2024 |
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Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (for example, are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)
Approval to consult on the Tenancy Strategy and Tenancy Policy for North Yorkshire.
To adopt a tenancy strategy is good practice, providing an agreed strategic approach to tenancy management within housing services and for our external partners such as Registered Providers.
The Tenancy Strategy is a high-level overview of the strategic vision for across North Yorkshire, which will underpin the Tenancy Policy for across North Yorkshire Council to deliver its housing management function.
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Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? (for example, to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.)
The purpose of the strategy and policy is to inform stakeholders including registered providers, officers, residents, and council tenants about the Council’s vision for housing management relating to tenancies across North Yorkshire.
Our key objectives are to have a single approach across North Yorkshire for both council tenants and registered providers.
The strategy and policy have been drafted following LGR where we need to have one approach to ensure we our legally compliant.
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Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?
The Tenancy Strategy and Policy provides the framework for the housing management service. Adoption of the strategy will signify the council’s commitment to providing long term housing security for our customers across North Yorkshire.
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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?)
We will be looking to consult a range of groups in relation to the strategy and policy.
In terms of the strategy, we will be looking to consult our partners such as registered providers who are members the York North Yorkshire Housing Partnership (YNYHP) and other registered providers who are not part of the NNYHP but work within North Yorkshire.
For the policy, we will consult our tenants by conducting focus groups and giving tenants the opportunity to input their thoughts. We will also consult housing management employees.
Once we get feedback from all the relevant consultees, we will analysis the responses and amend the draft documents.
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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?
Approval to consult of the strategy and policy will have limited budged implications due to requirement to consult tenants. However, after the consultation stage there will be no budget implications.
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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 |
X |
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North Yorkshire has a lower proportion of young people than the national average- 24.5% under 25 compared to 29.2% nationally.
In 2021, 25% of the county’s adult population was over the age of 65. This is higher than the national percentage of 18.4%.
By 2035, 32.60% of North Yorkshire’s total population will be aged 65+ and 5.97% will be aged 85+.
Nationally 23.26% will be 65+ and 4.05% will be 85+ by 2035.
By recognising the needs of our residents at different life stages we will be able to identify opportunities to tailor our services to specific age groups. Detailed EIAs will be undertaken on specific projects implemented to realise these ambitions.
The strategy recognises differing demographic needs across North Yorkshire including both the ageing population and also the needs of younger persons and families. |
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Disability |
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X
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North Yorkshire has a lower proportion (19.3%) of people with a disability or long-term limiting illness whose day-to-day activities are limited a lot- against the national average of 23.69%.
However, this will rise to 20.89% of the 65+ population in North Yorkshire, against a national average of 24.86%.
By recognising the needs of our residents who may be more vulnerable or have specific accessibility and adaptability requirements we will improve access to housing for these groups. Detailed EIAs will be undertaken on specific projects implemented to realise these ambitions.
By having a strategy and policy, which provides secure tenancies, it provides additional housing security for those with a disability. |
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Sex |
X
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The proportion of females is slightly higher (51%) than that of males (49%).
This pattern is reflected across all localities, with the exception of Richmondshire where the large number of predominantly male military personnel have the effect of reversing the proportions.
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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Race |
X
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North Yorkshire has a much lower proportion (4.77%) of people who identify with a non-UK identity than the national average (12%).
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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Gender reassignment |
X
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In the 2021 census 1478 (0.28%) of residents across North Yorkshire identified themselves as transsexual or with a gender identity different to that registered at birth.
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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Sexual orientation |
X
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In the 2021 census 11,291 (2.2%) of residents across North Yorkshire identified themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Other (LGB+).
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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Religion or belief |
X
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North Yorkshire has higher levels of Christians (55.6%) than the national average (46.2%), and lower levels of all other religions than the national average. Percentages of those with no religion or not stating their religion are broadly similar to the national average.
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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Pregnancy or maternity |
X
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In 2021 there were 5133 live births in North Yorkshire.
In 2020 the conception rate per 1000 for under 18’s was 10.9. This is below the rate for England (13).
In 2020/21 4.2% of deliveries in North Yorkshire were to mothers from ethnic minorities, compared to the England value of 21.6%.
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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Marriage or civil partnership |
X
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A higher percentage of North Yorkshire’s population is married or in a civil partnership (53.7%) than the national average (46.8%)
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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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? |
X
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The population in North Yorkshire is generally sparser than the national average (77 people per square kilometre as opposed to 434 nationally). In some parts of the county this is lower still (Ryedale 36, Richmondshire 38, Craven 48, Hambleton 69).
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic.
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…have a low income? |
X
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The proportion of households in deprivation in North Yorkshire reduced between 2011 and 2021. In 2011 52.1% of households in North Yorkshire were deprived in at least one of the four dimensions (employment, education, health and disability, housing).
By 2021 this had fallen to 46.7%. This 5.4 percentage point reduction in North Yorkshire compared with a 5.9 percentage point reduction across England as a whole, with the proportion of households in deprivation in North Yorkshire remaining below the national average.
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic.
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…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?
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X
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Carers’ allowance claimants make up 0.98% of North Yorkshire’s population.
This is lower than the average for England (1.42%) but there are variations across the county. It is likely, however, that these figures do not reflect the true number of people carrying out caring roles in the county as many do not claim allowances.
Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic. |
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….. are from the Armed Forces Community
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X
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North Yorkshire has 29,831 Armed Forces Veterans. Richmondshire has the highest proportion of Armed Forces Veterans in North Yorkshire at 9.5% (3,962), which is the third highest nationally.
The proportion of veterans in Richmondshire is more than double the national average rate, which is 3.8%.
Harrogate has the highest number of Armed Forces Veterans in North Yorkshire with 7,076 (5.2%).
Our ambitions will not have any specific impact on those from the armed forces community and we will deliver services in line with the Armed Forces Covenant. |
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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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The Tenancy Strategy and Policy is the Council’s overall high-level strategic plan. The Policy will have specific impact to customers within the Harrogate, Richmondshire and Selby areas where North Yorkshire Council have housing stock. |
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Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics? (for example, 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.
The proposal will not affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics. |
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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 is 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 the option has been chosen (include any advice given by Legal Services.)
Our ambitions and high level outcomes as detailed in the Tenancy Strategy and Policy aspire to improve housing service delivery for everyone in North Yorkshire both tenants and customers for RP’s.
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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?)
We will use service data; customer contact, complaints to ensure that services are not negatively impacting on any protected characteristic.
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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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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.
Our ambitions in the Tenancy Strategy and Policy will result in a North Yorkshire wide approach to tenancy management which will lead to a better outcomes for all North Yorkshire Council tenants and customers of our registered providers within North Yorkshire of secure tenures.
The anticipated impacts of our ambitions are therefore positive ones.
Due regard to equalities will be paid when making decisions on actions to realise these ambitions and, where appropriate, these will be subject to full EIAs.
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Section 14. Sign off Section
This full EIA was completed by:
Name: Matthew Brown Job title: Housing Policy and Strategy Officer Directorate: Community Development Signature:
Completion date: 26 July 2024
Authorised by Assistant Director: Andrew Rowe
Date: 3 September 2024
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