City of York Council

Equalities Impact Assessment

Who is submitting the proposal?

Directorate:		Customer & Communities
Service Area:		Customer and Exchequer Services
Name of the proposal :		Household Support Fund (HSF) Scheme 5 1 April 2024 to 30 September 24
Lead officer:		Paul Sanderson
Date assessment completed:		4 April 24
Names of those who contributed to the assessment :
Name	Job title		Organisation	Area of expertise
Susan Wood	Welfare Benefits & Strategic Partnership Manager		CYC	Welfare Benefits
Debbie Plummer	Housing Benefits Manager		CYC	Welfare Benefits
Advice York	N/A		Advice York	Welfare Benefits

Step 1 – Aims and intended outcomes 

1.1	What is the purpose of the proposal? Please explain your proposal in Plain English avoiding acronyms and jargon.
	To provide a support to financially vulnerable residents with their increased cost of living especially in relation to utility bills and food.

1.2	Are there any external considerations? (Legislation/government directive/codes of practice etc.)
	This is a Government scheme

1.3	Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests?
	All residents in the city who may qualify for support The Fund is intended to cover a wide range of low-income households in need, including families with children of all ages, pensioners, unpaid carers, care leavers, disabled people, larger families, single-person households, and those struggling with one-off financial shocks or unforeseen events.

1.4	What results/outcomes do we want to achieve and for whom?  This section should explain what outcomes you want to achieve for service users, staff and/or the wider community. Demonstrate how the proposal links to the Council Plan (2019- 2023) and other corporate strategies and plans.
	The objective of The Fund is to provide crisis support to vulnerable households in most need with the cost of essentials, within the budget provided by Central Government.

Step 2 – Gathering the information and feedback 

2.1	What sources of data, evidence and consultation feedback do we have to help us understand the impact of the proposal on equality rights and human rights? Please consider a range of sources, including: consultation exercises, surveys, feedback from staff, stakeholders, participants, research reports, the views of equality groups, as well your own experience of working in this area etc.
Source of data/supporting evidence		Reason for using
Income based benefit data		Indicates financial vulnerability
Council Tax Support Records		Indicates financial vulnerability
Advice York Partners		Stakeholder feedback
York and North Yorkshire Covid Recovery Insight Project Food Insecurity Research report March 2023,		Understand what kind of food security models/provision is available in York and North Yorkshire. Understand the efficacy of different food models/provision and explore the outcomes/benefits they can deliver. Use data, insight and evidence to understand the scale of the food insecurity issue now and in future e.g., considering the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis. Improve approaches to short-term action planning, longer-term strategy development, commissioning and grant deployment that could contribute to a reduction in food insecurity in York and North Yorkshire.
Looking at evidence from other Local Authorities, including - North Yorkshire CC and borough councils - Warm Homes on Prescriptions https://es.catapult.org.uk/project/warm-home-prescription/ - Trussell Trust/ Leeds CC cash first pilot		Learn from good practice.
Discussions with existing and potential delivery partners, including York Energy Advice, Citizens Advice, York Foodbank, Age UK and interna teams – Income Services, Housing, Local Area Coordination		Discussion about what has work well and not so well to date, understand continuing needs and potential developments.

Step 3 – Gaps in data and knowledge

3.1	What are the main gaps in information and understanding of the impact of your proposal?  Please indicate how any gaps will be dealt with.
Gaps in data or knowledge		Action to deal with this
The gap in information is having specific data on individual residents/households and particular target groups, to ensure people know about the scheme and supported to apply if needed.		Advice and community support services will enable us to extend our reach to specific target communities to try to address this. Working with trusted providers to deliver food and fuel vouchers to their clients directly. The scheme is open to any household in the city to apply and will be well communicated through CYC and its partners. It is the fifth such scheme so many households whom we are aware off that are experiencing financial difficulty will receive direct funding and all others across the city can apply

Step 4 – Analysing the impacts or effects.

4.1	Please consider what the evidence tells you about the likely impact (positive or negative) on people sharing a protected characteristic, i.e. how significant could the impacts be if we did not make any adjustments? Remember the duty is also positive – so please identify where the proposal offers opportunities to promote equality and/or foster good relations.
Equality Groups and Human Rights.		Key Findings/Impacts	Positive (+) Negative (-) Neutral (0)	High (H) Medium (M) Low (L)
Age		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as pension credit, CTS	+	H
Disability		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, pension credit, CTS	+	H
Gender		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, pension credit, CTS	+	H
Gender Reassignment		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, pension credit, CTS	+	H
Marriage and civil partnership		n/a
Pregnancy and maternity		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, Healthy Start, CTS	+	H
Race		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, pension credit, CTS	+	H
Religion and belief		n/a
Sexual orientation		n/a
Other Socio-economic groups including :		Could other socio-economic groups be affected e.g. carers, ex-offenders, low incomes?
Carer		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, pension credit, CTS	+	H
Low income groups		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, pension credit, CTS	+	H
Veterans, Armed Forces Community		Will provide additional financial support for utility bills and Food.  Will link residents to and raise awareness of other advice and support available, such as universal credit, pension credit, CTS	+	H
Other
Impact on human rights:
List any human rights impacted.		There are no known impacts of this scheme affecting any human rights detrimentally.

Use the following guidance to inform your responses:

Indicate:

- Where you think that the proposal could have a POSITIVE impact on any of the equality groups like promoting equality and equal opportunities or improving relations within equality groups

- Where you think that the proposal could have a NEGATIVE impact on any of the equality groups, i.e. it could disadvantage them

- Where you think that this proposal has a NEUTRAL effect on any of the equality groups listed below i.e. it has no effect currently on equality groups.

It is important to remember that a proposal may be highly relevant to one aspect of equality and not relevant to another.

High impact (The proposal or process is very equality relevant)	There is significant potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or public facing The proposal has consequences for or affects significant numbers of people The proposal has the potential to make a significant contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights.
Medium impact (The proposal or process is somewhat equality relevant)	There is some evidence to suggest potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or cross-Unit, but mainly internal The proposal has consequences for or affects some people The proposal has the potential to make a contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights
Low impact (The proposal or process might be equality relevant)	There is little evidence to suggest that the proposal could result in adverse impact The proposal operates in a limited way The proposal has consequences for or affects few people The proposal may have the potential to contribute to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights

Step 5 - Mitigating adverse impacts and maximising positive impacts

5.1	Based on your findings, explain ways you plan to mitigate any unlawful prohibited conduct or unwanted adverse impact. Where positive impacts have been identified, what is been done to optimise opportunities to advance equality or foster good relations?
There are no adverse impacts arising from the support the benefit to all groups is a financial one where they qualify.  The key group are those on low income in any of the categories within the EIA.

Step 6 – Recommendations and conclusions of the assessment

6.1	Having considered the potential or actual impacts you should be in a position to make an informed judgement on what should be done. In all cases, document your reasoning that justifies your decision. There are four main options you can take:
- No major change to the proposal – the EIA demonstrates the proposal is robust.  There is no                         potential  for unlawful discrimination or adverse impact and you have taken all opportunities to    advance equality and foster good relations, subject to continuing monitor and review.
- Adjust the proposal – the EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. This involves taking steps to remove any barriers, to better advance quality or to foster good relations. - Continue with the proposal (despite the potential for adverse impact) – you should clearly set out the justifications for doing this and how you believe the decision is compatible with our obligations under the duty - Stop and remove the proposal – if there are adverse effects that are not justified and cannot be mitigated, you should consider stopping the proposal altogether. If a proposal leads to unlawful discrimination it should be removed or changed. Important: If there are any adverse impacts you cannot mitigate, please provide a compelling reason in the justification column.
Option selected		Conclusions/justification
Continue with the proposal		This is a time limited central government scheme that provides financial support to low income households and those households experiencing financial difficulties across the city.  It is open to all residents.

Step 7 – Summary of agreed actions resulting from the assessment

7.1	What action, by whom, will be undertaken as a result of the impact assessment.
Impact/issue		Action to be taken	Person responsible	Timescale
N/A

Step 8 - Monitor, review and improve

8. 1

How will the impact of your proposal be monitored and improved upon going forward?   Consider how will you identify the impact of activities on protected characteristics and other marginalised groups going forward? How will any learning and enhancements be capitalised on and embedded?

All payments need to be recorded for Government records and internal control.  This data provides information to the council on the Households receiving support.  This is a cash first approach empowering households to manage their financial pressures arising from the cost of living crises.  The scheme will be also be reported on as part of 6 monthly reports to the Executive Member portfolio holders as part of a welfare benefits update report.