Equality impact assessment (EIA) form: evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics
(form updated June 2023)
2026-2027 SPECIAL SCHOOL FUNDING CONSULTATION
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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 |
North Yorkshire Council: Resources - Finance |
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Lead Officer and contact details |
Howard Emmett - Assistant Director – Resources |
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Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the EIA |
Sally Dunn – Head of Finance (Schools, Early Years & High Needs) |
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How will you pay due regard? for example, working group, individual officer |
The proposals are subject to a special school consultation process with special schools / academies from 19 September 2025 ending 24 October 2025; this EIA will be updated during and following the consultation responses. The item will be discussed at the North Yorkshire School Forum meetings on 18 September 2025 and 20 November 2025. |
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When did the due regard process start? |
In setting Special School Funding each year, it is necessary to consider the level at which the Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) is set within the parameters determined by the DfE. This EIA considers this issue in respect of 2026-27 financial year. |
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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?) Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) is a protection for Special Schools against seeing a reduction in funding from year to year assuming that the number and type of places in the school remain the same. At the time of the North Yorkshire funding consultation, the DfE had not released details of the 2026/27 funding arrangements for Special Schools. In this regard, and in order to ensure the timely publication of 2026/27 Special School budgets, the Local Authority sought in-principle views of the Special Schools as to whether the minimum or maximum threshold MFG should be applied, in the event of the DfE providing a MFG threshold range and not prescribing a fixed level for the MFG. On 17 December 2025, DfE published guidance prescribing a 0% MFG for special schools.
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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 MFG has a vital role to play in protecting special schools where either (a) the aggregate needs of pupils in their schools have changed substantially or (b) the level of funding provided to pupils has been systematically reduced. The Local Authority aims to ensure the views of the Special Schools around the rate applied are considered in the decision process.
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Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and/or staff? The impact of the MFG level will vary for individual schools in terms of the MFG funding protection level adopted i.e. a higher MFG provides a higher level of funding protection. The local authority seeks to balance both the funding requirements of Special Schools and the associated cost of providing the funding protection to the High Needs budget.
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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?) The consultation document was sent to all Special Schools/ Academies inviting responses to be returned to the LA by 24 October 2025. The responses and results from the consultation exercise were presented to the Schools Forum on Thursday 20 November 2025. On 17 December 2025, DfE published guidance prescribing a 0% MFG for special schools. This EIA will be monitored during the consultation and will continue during the process of collating and analysing all consultation feedback.
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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? Please explain briefly why this will be the result. The level of the MFG will impact on the High Needs Budget expenditure, the level of which will be dependant on the level of banding increase and pupil numbers in January 2026.
The resulting deficit will be cash flowed by the Local Authority and carried forward, with the expectation that it will be repaid by surpluses in High Needs Block funding in future years.
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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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ü |
ü |
The level of the MFG could positively or negatively impact on the level of funding for a Special School, which may mean changes will be made to the provision of current pupils attending that school.
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Disability |
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ü |
ü |
The level of the MFG could positively or negatively impact on the level of funding for a special school, which may mean changes will be made to the provision of current pupils attending that school. |
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Sex |
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ü |
ü |
The population of young people attending special schools in North Yorkshire is generally higher among boys; proportionally more boys may be positively or negatively affected than girls. |
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Race |
ü |
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools. |
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Gender reassignment |
ü |
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools. |
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Sexual orientation |
ü |
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools. |
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Religion or belief |
ü |
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools. |
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Pregnancy or maternity |
ü |
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools. |
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Marriage or civil partnership |
ü |
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools. |
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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? |
ü
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools. |
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…have a low income? |
ü
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No data available at time of writing to show there is a greater impact on those children with SEND and families with low incomes. |
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…are carers (unpaid family or friend)?
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ü
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No data available at time of writing to show there is a greater impact on those children with SEND and unpaid carers.. |
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….. are from the Armed Forces Community
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ü
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No identifiable effect, as this characteristic is not a factor in determining young people attending special schools and AP |
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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 |
ü
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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? (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. It is anticipated proposed changes to the current provision will impact more on the following: Young people with special educational needs and disabilities. |
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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. |
ü |
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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) |
ü |
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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.) The actual impact of the MFG level will not be known until the budget determinations are made.
During the consultation and decision-making process there will be ongoing consideration to any equality impacts that arise, and how these can be mitigated. |
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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?) Regular monitoring and reporting of finances to the School Forum |
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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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To consider a formal consultation responses received from special schools |
Howard Emmett – Asst. Director |
Ongoing |
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To present results for discussion at Schools Forum |
Howard Emmett – Asst. Director |
20 Nov 2025 |
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Outcome of consultation considered by CYPS Executive Members in conjunction with Corporate Director and associated proposals approved |
Howard Emmett – Asst. Director |
Dec 2025 |
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DfE Publication of mandated special school MFG |
Howard Emmett – Asst. Director |
17 Dec 2025 |
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Final Decision by Full Executive on the High Needs Budget 2026/27 |
Final Decision by Full Executive on the High Needs Budget 2026/27 |
Mar 2026 |
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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 Equality Impact Assessment has assessed the impact of the proposal namely
Although it has identified that certain groups with protected characteristics may be adversely affected if a lower level MFG is selected, further work on possible mitigation will be undertaken, once the proposal has been through the decision-making process. |
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Section 14. Sign off section This full EIA was completed by: Name: Sally Dunn Job title: Head of Finance – Schools, Early Years & High Needs Directorate: Central Services Signature: Sally Dunn Completion date: 17/12/2025 Authorised by relevant Assistant Director (signature): Howard Emmett Date: 17/12/2025 |