Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics. (Form updated October 2023)

Title of proposal

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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.

Name of Directorate and Service Area	Environment, Climate Change
Lead Officer and contact details	Hannah Nutsey Hannah.nutsey@northyorks.gov.uk
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA	N/A
How will you pay due regard? e.g. working group, individual officer
When did the due regard process start?

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 is to accompany the report to seek approval for NYC to respond to the York and North Yorkshire’s Combined Authority’s consultation on the draft Retrofit Strategy.

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 draft Retrofit Strategy is a regional document that outlines the vision that ‘York and North Yorkshire’s Buildings are Fit for Now and for the Future for All’. It aims to provide a coordinated approach to retrofit across the region. 

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

Nothing at the moment because it is a response to a consultation. Longer term it is anticipated that a devolved approach to retrofit will be developed but this would require additional decision making processes.  

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?)

Officers from across NYC have been involved in the development of the draft retrofit strategy. To provide answers to the consultation questionnaire, officers from housing, economic development, property, and environment have provided feedback.

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

There is no anticipated impact on budgets at this stage.

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	X
Disability	X
Sex	X
Race	X
Gender reassignment	X
Sexual orientation	X
Religion or belief	X
Pregnancy or maternity	X
Marriage or civil partnership	X

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
have a low income?	X
are carers (unpaid family or friend)?	X
are from the Armed Forces Community	X

Section 8. Geographic impact – Please detail where the impact will be (please tick all that apply)
North Yorkshire wide	X
Craven
Hambleton
Harrogate
Richmondshire
Ryedale
Scarborough
Selby
If you have ticked one or more areas, will specific town(s)/village(s) be particularly impacted? If so, please specify below.
The draft retrofit strategy is regional.

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.

This level of detail is not currently known.

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.) This EIA has been completed to submit a consultation response to a draft Retrofit Strategy. Equality and just transition have been referenced throughout the strategy and emphasised by NYC in proposed consultation feedback – particularly those living in rural areas.

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 monitoring will be led by YNYCA.

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

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.

Overall, the draft retrofit strategy aims to alleviate fuel poverty in the region by improving the condition and resilience of buildings. The draft strategy outcomes are ‘comfort’, ‘climate’ and ‘cost’. This aims to ensure that retrofit benefits are equitable.

Section 14. Sign off section

This full EIA was completed by:

Name: Hannah Nutsey

Job title: Climate Change Business Partner (Community Development)

Directorate: Environment

Signature:

Completion date: 03/11/2025

Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): Michael Leah

Date: 14/11/2025