Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics

(Form updated October 2023)

Disrepair Policy

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.

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. 

Name of Directorate and Service Area	Community Development - Housing
Lead Officer and contact details	Imogen Downie – Housing Policy and Strategy Officer (Service Improvement)
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA
How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual office	This overarching EIA has been carried out by the Housing Policy and Strategy Officer (Service Improvement). Tenants have been involved in review of the Standard.
When did the due regard process start?	April 2025

Section 1. Please describe briefly what this EIA is about. (e.g. are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?)

This EIA seeks to assess the proposed Disrepair Policy for North Yorkshire Council. This policy was drawn from examples of best practice from other Local Authorities, alongside the Ministry of Justice Pre-Action Protocol.

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 Council is transforming landlord services for its own tenants and leaseholders. To support that process, the Council is undertaking a full review of all policies relating to the Housing Revenue Account. The new Disrepair Policy sets out the Councils approach to disrepair claims for its tenants and leaseholders. It also highlights responsibilities of the Council, and those of tenants and leaseholders.

Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff?

The Disrepair Policy will set out how the Council will ensure disrepair claims are dealt with across all localities, with one single approach. Prior to local government reorganisation, none of the former stock holding authorities (Selby District Council, Harrogate Borough Council and Richmondshire District Council) had a formal policy in place for dealing with disrepair claims, but each had their own procedures for managing disrepair claims, resulting in an inconsistent system across the county.

Once adopted, the policy will be applied consistently across the council’s housing portfolio, providing clarity for tenants, leaseholders, and staff, and reducing the risk of inconsistent or inequitable outcomes.

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?)

A Tenant Focus Group with involved tenants took place on the 27^th May 2025 to discuss the draft policy and policy decision points. Four involved tenants attended, and they were provided with an opportunity to engage directly with the draft policy, understand it’s implications and contribute their perspectives to ensure the final draft is both effective and accessible. Tenant feedback on the draft Disrepair Policy indicated that the document was generally clear and well-structured throughout. Participants felt that the policy effectively outlined the responsibilities of both the Council and tenants, and that the language used was accessible and easy to understand.

Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?

The implementation of the policy may lead to reduce costs as improved communication with tenants about the policy and process could reduce costly legal processes. Disrepair claims are already being dealt with, and this policy simply seeks to harmonise the processes and procedures, therefore there is no expected cost increase.

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.
Age	ü			From information currently available we can estimate that 51% of our tenants are aged over 60. 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%. This means that our tenant population is significantly more aged than the average population for North Yorkshire and the country. 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. Less than 5% of our tenant population are under 29. North Yorkshire has a lower proportion of young people than the national average- 24.5% under 25 compared to 29.2% nationally. Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic.
Disability	X			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%. Our ambitions will not have any anticipated impacts on people specifically due to them sharing this particular protected characteristic.
Sex	X			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.
Race	X			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.
Gender reassignment	X			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.
Sexual orientation	X			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.
Religion or belief	X			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.
Pregnancy or maternity	X			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.
Marriage or civil partnership	X			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.

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.
..live in a rural area?	X			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.
…have a low income?	X			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.
…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?	X			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.
….. are from the Armed Forces Community	X			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%).

Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply)
North Yorkshire wide
Craven
Hambleton
Harrogate	ü
Richmondshire	ü
Ryedale
Scarborough
Selby	ü
If you have ticked one or more areas, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
The Disrepair Policy applies to tenants and leaseholders living in council owned stock. The stock holding localities are Harrogate, Richmondshire and Selby.

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.

The proposal will not affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics.

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
1. No adverse impact - no major change needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified.	X
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.
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)
4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – The EIA identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped.
Explanation of why option has been chosen. (Include any advice given by Legal Services.) The Disrepair Policy is formalising procedures that are already in place.

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?)

To monitor whether the policy will negatively or positively impact on any protected characteristics, we will review service data (customer contact and complaints).

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.
Action	Lead	By when	Progress	Monitoring arrangements
Monitor complaints data to ensure that there are no negative impacts on any protected characteristics as a result of the implementation of the policy.	Service Improvement Team	Quarterly		Quarterly complaints reports.

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 ambitions in the Disrepair Policy will result in a North Yorkshire wide approach to disrepair claims, which will lead to a better, consistent outcome for all North Yorkshire Council tenants.

There are no negative impacts in relation to the ambitions set out in the policy.

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.

Section 14. Sign off section

This full EIA was completed by:

Name: Imogen Downie

Job title: Housing Policy and Strategy Officer (Service Improvement)

Directorate: Community Development

Signature:

Completion date:

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature):

Date: