Surrey County Council Full Equality Impact Assessment

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Surrey County Council Full Equality Impact Assessment

1. Context of the Service or Policy

Service or Policy being assessed Community Services OP/PSD Social Care Team

Dates: 28.03.08 and 01.04.08

Assessor: Barbara Bateman Claire Hubble Jennifer Aitken

Sandy Bouckley Caroline Jones Sarajane Herbert

Anja Krause Kathy Saunders Teresa Stanley

Chris Peppiatt David Gedala Elizabeth Cownden

Caroline Austin Jane Giles Maaliaka Perera

Linda Casey Surrey Coalition members What are the aims of the service or policy?

(NB this should set out the aims and objectives of the policy or service)

• To assess and provide services to adults – over 18 with physical disability or over 65 years

• To provide assessment and support to carers

• To keep vulnerable adults safe

• Integrated/partnership working

• To support people in their own homes where possible

• To provide outcomes which can be measured

• The service aims to provide choice and flexibility which is focussed on the individual

• Social Work support – advice, information, guidance

• Sign posting to a range of alternative services

• OT services and equipment

• Re enablement/preventative work to support people in their own homes and prevent admission into

hospital

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• Existing situation for minority user groups is varied across the county

• To provide a good quality Service

• Best Value for Surrey County Council and its residents

• Ensure all practise and services are anti discriminatory

Who are the beneficiaries /users of this service or policy?

(NB this should address needs of client groups and a review of barriers to policy or services)

• Surrey residents over 18 with a physical disability and older people

• Service Users and their carers and families

• Issue for Service Users reaching 65 with differential service provision which may not be available for older

people – for example daycare services

• Live in Carer Older People – cost of care set at lower threshold than for Physical Disability (under 65)

• Thresholds and fee guidelines can discriminate against older people

• Self assessment - query how will it work for older people

• Participants believe this will be better at meeting social care needs with increased choice

• People with a physical disability are more likely to have additional social care needs met than older people

• Strengths in numbers in older people – not realising their political power

• There can be a post code lottery in relation to some partnership services across Surrey

What is the existing situation in relation to minority and excluded groups in which this service/policy operates?

(NB this will require declaring what information is currently captured with respect to E&D Monitoring (all seven strands) of this service or policy. It is also important to show the relevance of capturing this data.)

• Surrey has an incomplete data set for minority groups in Surrey

• A number of boroughs and districts hold a variety of special needs housing groups supported by the

County Council

• Contact Centre is the initial point of contact for Surrey residents and it may be difficult to discuss issues of

diversity

• Staff are not very good at asking questions around sexual orientation/transgender on the telephone

• Physical Disability – rarely discuss issues around sexual need, the service is not good at this but staff do

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I:\PPD\All PPD\07 PAPA\Equality & Diversity\EIAs\EIA PDF's\Pending\Adult Social Care - Community Services OP & PSD Social Care teams EIA Final 2008.doc

• Unrepresentative staff group – becoming more diverse – but with a predominantly female work force

• Overseas qualifications now clarified with General Social Care Council registration

• Level of spoken and written English can be poor from some overseas staff

• Comprehension of British social care system can take some time for staff

• Work permits – long wait (5 months) for staffing

• Disability issues for staff – can be slow to resolve

• Human Resources collect information about staff population but this has not been well distributed

• The county council has not always provided services that are representative of local population

• The county has not always engaged with the local BEM population

• Complaints from ethnic minority groups- query whether these are monitored

• Shared Service Centre hosts the Contact Centre and communication between the two could be improved

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2. Is there potential for this service/policy to have a negative or differential impact on minority and excluded

groups or on race relations and community cohesion?

Please complete the summary of negative impact identified by equality and diversity strand:

Age

Fee guidelines which require additional agreement to exceed

Community Mental Health Teams for older people do not always have good local engagement Differential services across the county

Young dementia, Learning Disability service users, Older People and Daycare have age limited services

Belief / Faith

Good examples of individual service Services can cost more

What is demand? Not enough research about possible demand from hard to reach groups The service does respond well as there appears little demand

Staff do meet the need – there are examples of where they make a real effort to meet identified needs

Disability

Assess as eligible need versus service user view of need Lack of volunteers

Building use – not all very accessible for disabled people Braille signage is not universally used

Hearing loop facility is not always available

Direct Payments – practical difficulties - need to open separate bank account

Gender

No information collected about gender specific need Care workers can be provided for personal care

No gender specific services in many areas e.g. men only group Staff can assume men need more help with domestic tasks

Sexual Orientation Unaware of negative impact

Service would try to meet need if it was identified

Race Probable lack of resources but also lack information about local need

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Trans Gender/ Sexual

No information collected Unknown impact

County would try and meet need

HR issues only:

Advisory Officers in teams may duplicate work of Contact Centre

Staff need to communicate better with users of services, their families and carers Additional support can be required for unqualified staff

Access information needs to be made available for all county buildings

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3. Is there potential for this service/policy to have a positive impact, such as tackling discrimination, promoting

equality of opportunity and / or promoting good community relations, for minority and excluded groups?

Please complete the summary of positive impact identified by equality and diversity strand, NB this would include positive initiatives delivery by the service or through the policy for the equality strands listed below:

Age

Need is met we believe for older people but choice of services lacking for younger people Proactive in providing innovative services but varied across county

Direct Payments and Individual Budgets will provide big opportunities to provide tailor made services

Advocate for older people Promoting partnership working

Belief / Faith Individual assessment e.g. Polish speaking staff

To meet individual needs

Disability

Drop in services now available (Woking) 800-900 members in Surrey Coalition

Care Manager process has provided a positive increase in Direct Payments Support with transport

Gender Aware some people need support to undertake tasks

Some room sharing in residential homes although now mainly for couples and on request

Sexual Orientation Individual assessment

Race Impact not known although good examples of individual services

Trans Gender/ Sexual Impact not known

HR issues only: Mandatory Equality & Diversity training

Ethnic and Disability monitoring of county council workforce

Please continue and attach a separate sheet if necessary

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4. Give details of involvement, consultation and or research undertaken for each relevant equality and diversity strand, upon which this policy/service has had an impact either internally or externally:

Age

Carers groups across county 50 plus network

Older People Commissioning Strategy Surrey Age Concern

Surrey Alzheimer’s Society

Belief / Faith Some multi faith groups Surrey wide

Disability

Surrey Coalition regularly involved Local partnership boards

Borough Diversity Forums – varied involvement across Surrey Surrey Deaf Forum

Surrey Access Groups – county and borough wide

CSCI Putting people first – achieving disability equality in social care services

Gender 50+ Group

Gender Equality in Public Services (discussion paper Equal Opportunities Commission, Wales) Sexual Orientation

Gay Surrey

Age Concern – lesbian, gay and bisexual aging

CSCI Putting People First – providing appropriate services gay, lesbian and bisexual and transgender people Race

Safeguarding Awareness Week

Area wide variations – involvement with local faith groups Equality and Diversity Week

CSCI Putting people first – providing appropriate services for black and ethnic minority people HR issues only: There can be a lack of time for developmental opportunities for staff

Staff network

Surrey Care Links 3 monthly meetings

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“MAP” meetings

There are examples of good practice and role across county Carers groups in Surrey

Surrey staff survey covers all equality strands

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5. Given your answers to the previous questions, how will your service or policy be revised to mitigate, reduce or eliminate negative impacts and enhance positive impacts?

(NB this is in effect the Recommendations to improve this policy)

S net link to Equality & Diversity Good Practice i.e. Sourced a good home/day centre staffing This needs to be explored to see if a staff good practise site would be of value

Training – put learning into practice – link to supervision and appraisal as well as both team and service plans Short sharp training sessions – perhaps within team meetings for all staff appropriate to services provided

Public access website needs to include increasing county wide information and encourage public comment and participation

Involve disabled people and consult and listen proactively – all equality strands to be considered

Safeguarding currently reporting on a monthly and quarterly basis could include equality strands Improved reporting in staff teams of Fairness and Dignity Hate Incidents

Feedback to be made to Human Resources from Families DIG when issues are raised Establish baseline equality and diversity requirements for all partnership working

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6. Actions required to implement the EIA recommendations:

Action Plan: Target Responsibility: Date to be

completed: To ensure training is provided to all front line staff in a

good variety of formats

County training programme

Human Resources and Families DIG

March 2009

People who use services are involved in participating in Equality Impact Assessments

Surrey Coalition – involvement in Equality Impact Assessments EIA assessors countywide March 2009

Complaints are evaluated against equality strands Complaints

database Customer Services manager- Belinda Newth/Caroline Jones (SM lead) January 2009

People who use services should be able to access all county buildings Property services – county team Families DIG to identify relevant lead March 2009

Increase choice to people who use services and their carers and families

Self directed support/Individual Budgets and direct payments County targets to be agreed with Heads of Services Reporting annually March 2009

NB these actions should have SMART Targets

NB these actions should be reported to the DIG and where relevant incorporated into the Equality and Diversity Action Plan, Service Plans and or personal objectives of key staff.

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Action plan review date: April 2009 Name of person responsible for review: Caroline Jones EIA Assessor(s): ___________________________________________________

Name Head of Service: Jon Muller Signed: _________________________________ Date Completed: __________________________________________

1. Signed hard copy and electronic version to be kept in your team for audit purposes

2. Send an electronic copy to the SCC ‘Web Operations Team’ for publication on the SCC website 3. Send Action Plan to DIG for review at its next meeting.

Date sent to Web Operations Team: _________________________________________________