Key principles of the Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG)

• Understanding equality
• The five performance areas
• The three levels of performance
• Working with the Equality Framework for Local Government
• Migrating achievements from the Equality Standard to the Equality Framework
• Peer challenge
• The 10 dimensions of equality
• Related links

Since 2001, the Equality Standard for Local Government (ESLG) has helped local authorities make real progress in mainstreaming equality. However, over time, the strengths and weaknesses of the standard have become clearer. An equality performance and improvement framework needs to respond to new thinking on equality outcomes and the challenges that local authorities face today.

In 2007, the Improvement and Development Agency (now known as LG Improvement and Development) therefore decided to run a consultation on revising the standard. We received more than 200 replies with many detailed comments. A large majority – 70 per cent – agreed with our proposals for a new Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG) and we have incorporated many of the suggestions and ideas that were contributed.

The framework builds on and recognises the work that councils have already undertaken under the old standard, but contains many new features. At heart it aspires to be:

• simpler
• smarter
• proportional and relevant.

It is based on three levels of achievement; 'developing', 'achieving' and 'excellent' rather than the five levels of the old standard. This reduces the actions, from 167 to 88, that authorities can implement in ways that are relevant and proportionate to their needs.

At the same time we wanted to avoid duplication and extra work. So the framework embodies the ‘COUNT’ principle – count once and use numerous times. 

The framework highlights actions, by way of colour codes, that:

• will aid compliance with the equality public duties
• could provide self-assessment evidence for the comprehensive area assessment (CAA) and the IDeA's 'Locality Self-evaluation: A toolkit for partnerships'
• will help meet high standards of customer care
• will provide evidence on equality and diversity for the organisational assessment.

The framework also contains new features including:

• a wider definition of equality, based on equal life chances
• a new section on ‘Knowing your communities and equality mapping’
• a focus on equality outcomes for all sections of the community, mapping and narrowing gaps
• a central role for self-assessment and peer challenge.

Understanding equality

The new framework uses a wider definition of equality, which was originally set out in 'The Equalities Review', based on the idea of equal life chances.

“An equal society protects and promotes equal, real freedom and opportunity to live in the way people value and would choose, so that everyone can flourish.

An equal society recognises people’s different needs, situations and goals, and removes the barriers that limit what people can do and be.”

This definition is more aspirational than the formal legal definitions of equality. It is about what we can do to create a fairer society and recognises that:

• equality is an issue for us all
• we don’t all start from the same place
• to create a fairer society we need to recognise different needs.

'The Equalities Review' also suggested that the life chances of different groups could be measured against 10 ‘domains’ or outcomes. These are very similar to the outcome approach of ‘Every Child Matters’ and are set out at the end of this section. You may find this a useful way of mapping inequalities and defining priorities.

This definition includes the groups that are protected by discrimination law. Local authorities will therefore need to continue to consider the impact of race, gender and transgender, disability, age, sexual orientation and religion and or belief may have on the life chances of members of their communities.

But it will also encourage councils to understand the relationship between these characteristics and socio-economic status and the experience of other vulnerable groups. These include looked-after children and white working class boys with poor educational attainment.

The definition of equality in the framework is very close to the way inequality and vulnerability is defined by the Audit Commission and other inspectorates for the purposes of the CAA (please note: CAA has now been abolished by the government).

“Effective local public services target effort where improvement is most needed to tackle inequalities within and between communities. This may include focusing on the particular needs of people who are disadvantaged or discriminated against through age, disability, race, gender or transgender, religion or belief and sexual orientation. It may also include efforts to reduce child poverty or other inequalities within communities. We will consider how well local partners know and understand the nature and extent of inequality and disadvantage within their communities and how effectively they are working to reduce or eliminate discrimination.”

The five performance areas

The five areas of performance are:

• Knowing your communities and equality mapping
• Place shaping, leadership, partnership and organisational commitment
• Community engagement and satisfaction
• Responsive services and customer care
• A modern and diverse workforce.

Knowing your communities and equality mapping

Our society is becoming more diverse. Understanding differences is no longer just an issue for urban areas with large black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups. The prosperity and cohesion of all communities are affected by differing age, gender, disability, religious and sexual orientation profiles. It is also important to understand differences within communities. There are many forms of disability; gender too is a very wide category and there will be great differences, as well as similarities, in the experience of women. Many areas of the country are also very ethnically diverse and the experience of all groups will be affected by socio-economic factors. Today it is impossible to assume we know the composition of our communities – we have to find that out.

We believe that work on ‘Knowing your communities and equality mapping’ will also provide the evidential basis for other work on community cohesion and customer care. It will also be the basis for work on the public duties and the CAA.

The term ‘equality mapping’ has been added to the more familiar ‘knowing your communities’ to emphasise the importance of understanding difference in the context of other major issues. These include health, education, community safety, access to work and identifying where the equality gaps are for different groups. Measuring the gaps should be the basis of identifying local priorities and key outcomes. It will be impossible to develop an outcome-focused approach without this core evidence.

The CAA framework also makes clear that, in assessing progress on outcomes and improvements, the Audit Commission will look for an understanding of the range of performance that a single indicator may hide. The Audit Commission adds:

“For example, inequality may be masked by averaging out data on a single measure. Some information on rates of inequality is available from national data, but councils and their partners need to understand the importance of diversity and reducing inequalities in their communities and monitor the impact of their work in reducing inequality regularly.”

Equality mapping will require councils to make use of both national and local data and where possible to share evidence with other partners in the public sector. 

Most councils will be committed to evidence-based policy, but not all will have thought about evidence in relation to their work on equalities. We also know that national equality data is often patchy and local data is not always available.

LG Improvement and Development website has a section on equality mapping that contains a number of useful resources. We will also be working with partners both regionally and locally to improve the availability and access to local equality data.

Data mapping

Place shaping, leadership, partnership and organisational commitment

We know that strategic leadership – both political and managerial – is key to improving equality outcomes. Local councillors in particular have a central role to play in ensuring equality issues are integral to the council’s performance and strategic aims. Very often it will be ward councillors who have the greatest knowledge of the needs of different sections of the community and changes in the population of their local area.

Knowledge of the needs of different communities and key equality gaps should inform strategic priorities like the sustainable community strategy, the local development framework and local area agreements (LAAs). It is in these documents that what we have called the ‘story’ or ‘vision’ of equality should find expression.

The Framework also emphasises the importance of working in partnership with local primary care trusts, the police and fire and rescue services and the voluntary and community sector. Local strategic partnerships (LSPs) will often be the natural vehicle for such partnerships. Narrowing equality gaps and improving the life chances of different groups will require a pooling of evidence, resources and action planning.

For areas with district and county councils, working together on equalities will often be the necessary and most efficient way of addressing local inequalities.

Finally, the framework requires evidence of organisational commitment in terms of resource allocation, compliance with public duties, democratic engagement, scrutiny, service planning and procurement.

Community engagement and satisfaction

Most local authorities recognise the importance of community engagement and participation and have moved far beyond simple consultation exercises, important as they can be, to find innovative ways of involving communities and neighbourhoods. However, communities of place are not always synonymous with communities of interest and it remains important to have the means to involve these communities of interest in decision making as well as service and workforce planning.

The CAA framework emphasises the importance of the involvement of groups who may experience disadvantage and inequality.

“We expect local services to be effective at giving a voice to people who are vulnerable or at greater risk of disadvantage and inequality, identifying their potential and supporting them to achieve the levels of choice, autonomy and improved outcomes that other citizens enjoy. This will vary according to the local context but will include the groups previously identified and will include groups which local partners have a requirement to consult and engage with under equality legislation”.

Responsive services and customer care

Service provision, whether provided directly or procured or commissioned, remains a central function for local authorities. The framework will help councils personalise services to meet the needs of people with different backgrounds and ensure fair access.

Of particular importance will be a robust process for equality impact assessments (EqIAs) and the implementation of action plans, equality proofing procurement and commissioning and monitoring access.

In the course of the consultation, several people said that the term ‘equality impact assessment’ was off-putting. We understand this view and note that some authorities use the term ‘people impact assessments’ or even ‘service impact assessments’ which they feel are more user-friendly. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is now working on new guidance for EqIAs, so we have continued using the term pending further advice on the name and process.

When consulting on the framework, we asked whether authorities felt that it should include human rights. Opinion was split on this issue and we concluded that at this stage authorities were not sufficiently prepared to take on board an equality and human rights framework. However, there are many service provision issues for the most vulnerable where human rights are of particular importance. We have therefore included actions in this section that relate to a knowledge and understanding of human rights.

LG Improvement and Development will also be organising a number of pilots with local authorities in 2009 to 2010 to gain a better understanding of the place of human rights in local government.

For further information on these pilots please contact:

email: elizabeth.gardiner@idea.gov.uk

A modern and diverse workforce

The ability to deliver responsive, personalised services will depend in a large part on the composition, skills, understanding and commitment of a workforce. The framework therefore looks at ensuring that:

• relevant equality objectives are built into workforce strategies
• an understanding of the local labour market and the barriers equality groups face informs the setting of equality employment objectives
• all major employment policies are equality assessed
• plans are in place to improve representation at senior levels of women and BAME officers
• training and development programmes address equality issues
• there is effective action to address equal pay
• a workplace culture in which staff are treated with dignity and respect.

The three levels of performance

The framework is still designed to allow authorities to benchmark their performance, but instead of the five levels in the old standard there will now be three levels of performance.

• Level 1:  'developing'
• Level 2:  'achieving'
• Level 3:  'excellent'

At each level authorities will be able to self-assess against the five performance areas set out above. 

The individual level sections set out the characteristics of an authority at each stage and then sets out key actions and examples of evidence of performance against each action.

Working with the Equality Framework for Local Government

Although we have distinguished three different levels of achievement, in fact it is best thought of as a process of continuous improvement.

We suggest that, in planning to work on the framework, authorities look first at the requirement for ‘excellent’ so that they can see clearly where they want to be. For many authorities there will be aspects of their work which in fact may be at the 'achieving' or 'excellent' stage, although as a whole they would still self-assess as 'developing'.

The achievement journey section gives a simple overview of the actions that will progress authorities from developing and achieving to excellent levels.

The objective of the EFLG is to mainstream equality into the areas of performance management for local councils. This is so that equality objectives do not sit apart from core council business.

Migrating achievements from the Equality Standard to the Equality Framework

Authorities that have reached levels 1 and 2 will be treated as 'developing'. Those at level 3 will be treated as 'achieving'. Those at level 4 will be classified as ‘moving towards excellence’ and those at level 5 as 'excellent'. The ‘moving towards excellence’ classification is intended to recognise the achievements of level 4, but it is not a level under the new framework. It is a transitional stage that will be phased out within two years since the handful of authorities currently at level 4 will be expected to start working to the 'excellent' stage of the framework.

Peer challenge

We want to encourage self-assessment and sector-led learning on equality. The Diversity peer challenge that is already working for level 3 of the old standard has been revised to provide a means of benchmarking achievements under the EFLG. It will consist of two parts:

• a review by peers of the authority’s own self-assessment, including appropriate supporting evidence
• an on-site visit by peers to conduct interviews and focus groups with employees, councillors and other stakeholders.

Self-assessments at the 'achieving' and 'excellent' levels will be validated by the peer challenge. Authorities will be given a framework recognition award for reaching the achieving and excellent levels. It is expected that all local authorities will be reassessed every three years, or in time with their business cycle if that is earlier. 

To distinguish between the two levels, the peer challenge for 'excellent' authorities will be slightly longer and be carried out by highly-experienced peers. 'Achieving' and 'excellent' authorities will be expected to apply for re-evaluation every three years, or in accordance with their business cycles, whichever is the more sensible. This is to ensure that continuous improvement is taking place and that the authority’s performance has not stagnated or declined.

From April 2009, those claiming to be either 'achieving' or 'excellent', but have not had any external assessment to date – valid external assessments will include the Equality Mark, Diversity peer challenge, or an accredited LG Improvement and Development consultant – will have two years before they will be expected to undertake a peer challenge.

To read more about the success of the Diversity peer challenge read the following publication:

The Diversity Peer Challenge: One year on – (PDF, 16 pages, 261KB)

The 10 dimensions of equality

Longevity – including avoiding premature mortality.

Physical security – including freedom from violence and physical and or sexual abuse.

Health – including wellbeing and access to high-quality healthcare.

Education – including being able to be creative, to acquire skills and qualifications and having access to training and life-long learning.

Standard of living – including being able to live with independence and security and covering: nutrition, clothing, housing, warmth, utilities, social services and transport.

Productive and valued activities – such as access to employment, a positive experience in the workplace, work-life balance, and being able to care for others.

Individual, family and social life – including self-development, having independence and equality in relationships and marriage.

Participation, influence and voice – including participation in decision making and democratic life.

Identity, expression and self-respect – including freedom of belief and religion.

Legal security – including equality and nondiscrimination before the law and equal treatment within the criminal justice system.

Useful links: where to find out more

Comprehensive Area Assessment – on the Audit Commission website 

Further information from the IDeA on comprehensive area assessment (CAA)

The Government's Customer Service Excellence – on the Customer Service Excellence website

The Equalities Review – on the Cabinet Office website
 
The LG Improvement and Development's information on local area agreements (LAAS) 
 
The LG Improvement and Development's information on working with the voluntary and community sector 
 
The LG Improvement and Development's information on equality impact assessments (EqIAs) 

Diversity peer challenge

Page published March 2009.