Equality Impact and Needs Assessment Form

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If this document has been printed please note that it may not be the most up-to-date version. Equality Impact and Needs Assessment Form

NB: Use the electronic MS Word template. Add additional rows and increase box size as required. Make sure your final document is suitable for publishing.

A) Description

Name of service, function, policy (or other) being assessed

Devon Youth Service Young People with Disabilities Policy & Guidelines Directorate or organisation responsible (and service, if it is a policy) CYPS

Date of assessment (DD/MM/YY) 29/04/10

Date next assessment due (3 years) April 2013

Names and/or job titles of people carrying out the assessment Quality & Development Team

Accountable person (e.g. Head of Service) Dave Rafferty

Date EINA Form approved by accountable person (e.g. Head of Service) 29th June 2010

1. What are the aims or main purpose of the service, function or policy? What does it provide and how does it provide it?

1.1 Devon Youth Service is a discrete, centrally managed service. It is an integral part of the Children and Young People’s Services Directorate of Devon County Council. DYS offers developmental programmes and opportunities to young people aged 13 -19 in Devon (DYS is a universal service)

1.2 Devon Youth Service contributes to the delivery of the Devon Children and Young People’s Plan 2008 - 2011 , which sees the Youth Service as having a key role in ensuring that young people ‘have the capacity to enjoy a

balanced and fulfilled life … and to contribute more widely to the well being of their communities’. DCC has therefore committed itself to deliver ‘improved Youth Services to support young people in the transition to adulthood’.

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1.3 Devon Youth Service will contribute particularly to those sections of the Children and Young People’s Plan relating to the Integrated Youth Support Service

• access to good information, advice and guidance

• positive activities for young people - things to do, places to go

• volunteering

• targeted youth support to achieve earlier intervention, built on a clear picture of need and personalised packages of support.

2. Location or any other relevant information (such as profile of the area)

Presence in most of the coastal and market towns and a rural dimension which makes use of differing delivery methods.

3. List any key policies or procedures to be reviewed as part of this assessment. Young People with Disabilities.

4. Who is intended to benefit from the service, function or policy? Young people with disabilities and their families primarily. 5. Who are the stakeholders? What is their interest?

Young people aged 11 – 25, but principally those in the 13 – 19 age range, they are the service users. Families and carers and communities also have an interest in the provision of suitable services.

6. Are there any concerns at this stage which indicate the possibility of inequalities/negative impacts? For example: complaints, comments, research, outcomes of a scrutiny review. Please describe:

Data about users of the service may not have the necessary detail. DYS recording systems have been poor at providing information. There is a lack of DCC training about Disability in this

particular area (ie attracting young people with disabilities, conducting needs assessments and obtaining support for them if required, liaising with their carers). Recent returns have shown Return for “Aiming High for disabled children” (Specialist & Universal provision)

No of YP 400 No of hours 2093

B) Relevance – Note: if not relevant, do not complete this form

Select all that apply: Scale of relevance

7. Service or function that people use. M/H Low 8. Discretion is exercised, or potential for people to

experience different outcomes or level of satisfaction.

H Medium 9. Employment policy – where discretion is not exercised. M Medium

Section C applies 10. Employment policy – where discretion is exercised (e.g. L High Sections C & E

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If this document has been printed please note that it may not be the most up-to-date version. 11. Concerns at a local, regional or national level of

discrimination/inequalities.

L High

12. Major change such as the closure, removal or transfer of a service/provision.

L High

13. Community and regeneration strategies, local area agreements and organisational or

directorate/partnership strategies/plans.

L _High

Other:

State why it is relevant: Management plan for service includes Work towards the recommendations in Aiming Higher for Disabled Children so as to achieve Improved outcomes for disabled young people and wider access to DYS provision. To be demonstrated by Increased numbers of disabled young people engaged with DYS. Accurate monitoring reports quarterly

How relevant (high, medium or low?): Medium

Initial Screening:

Mark an ‘X’ in the box to confirm which strands are relevant to the review. Ensure they are assessed against in Section D.

If not relevant, please explain why not (refer to pages 25-30 of the Toolkit for guidance). Do not say “everyone is treated equally/fairly” or similar.

Age

Disability X

Gender (men and women) Race/ethnicity

Religion/belief Sexual orientation Trans-gender Other (state below)

Any other (such as Human Rights, people on low incomes and specific sub-strands requiring particular focus such as Travellers and Gypsies, Deaf people):

Disability occurs across all socio and economic groupings

C) Information

14. What information (monitoring or consultation data) have you got and what is it telling you? Required where relevance is Medium or High.

D) Assessment

15. Describe any NEGATIVE impacts (actual or potential):

Strand/community Impact (how they may be affected). Include assessment of risk (likelihood and severity).

All Staffing ratio needs to improve to support some forms of disability providing less staffing across other projects and programmes .

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16. Describe any POSITIVE impacts:

Strand/community Impact (how they may be affected)

Disability 1) More young people with disability would have access to DYS provision.

2) There would be improved acceptance by all young people of differing types of disability.

17. Provide any information about NEUTRAL impacts that have been identified (there is neither a positive or negative impact):

Strand/community Why there is ‘no differential impact’

E) Consultation

18. Did you carry out any consultations? Required where relevance is High. YES/NO Some limited consultation.

19. Who was consulted? Include your findings in 15, 16 and 17 above. A small group of young people. This is currently being extended.

20. Describe other research, studies or information used to assist with the assessment and include your findings above:

The 2008 Thomas Coram Research Unit paper on the dcsf site provides a national framework. This research was commissioned after the 2007 Aiming High for Disabled Children government report.

F) Conclusions

Action/objective/target OR Justification

Resources required Timescale I/R/S/O

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If this document has been printed please note that it may not be the most up-to-date version. A pertinent session leading staff into action

planning is required. course. Link to Service Management Plan current financial year CSM July 5 2010 S b) Communication with targeted groups of

young people & induction tailored to their needs (to include a needs/risk analysis)

Local Man. Plan target/ enhanced induction procedure for all young people

Website links for yp with disabilities As above (Man Plans for 2011 - 12 S S c) Signage & appropriate curriculum offer. Altered priorities and

work practices. Website

Begun in 2010 - 11

S

d) Complaints procedure standardised and used in all DYS outlets.

Altered practice – short training packages.

As above S

e) Information collection and collation on service use by young people with disabilities to improve

Monitor use and

programmes / outcomes

From Oct 2010

S

f) Monitor staffing levels required to increase offer to young people with disabilities.

Report to go to YSMT From Oct 2010

S

(I) Taking immediate effect.

(R) Recommended to Council/Directors through a Committee or other Report*. (S) Added to the Service Plan.

(O) Added to the Fair for All Programme (as an organisational improvement)**

Send your form to the person responsible for equality in your directorate for publishing on the website at: www.devon.gov.uk/equality_impact_needs_assess.

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POLICY HISTORY

Policy Date

Date Summary of Changes Contact Implementation Date Review Date 2005 2009 2010 Changes to case studies, EINA completed SY June 2010 2013

DEVON YOUTH SERVICE

YOUNG PEOPLE AND DISABILITIES POLICY AND GUIDELINES

Policy Date: 2010

If you require further help with the interpretation of this policy and guidelines please contact Devon Youth Service at

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If this document has been printed please note that it may not be the most up-to-date version.

CONTENTS 1. Policy Statement

2. Principles and Values

3. Disability – What the legislation requires 4. What Devon Youth Service will do

5. Dealing with Complaints 6. Medication

7. Employment

APPENDIX 1 Summary of Guidance from the Disability

Rights Commission

APPENDIX 2 Medication

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1. Policy Statement

Devon County Council (DCC) is committed to eliminating

discrimination against people with disabilities and ensures that people with disabilities can participate fully as equal residents of the County. DCC is also committed to the principles of

individuality and diversity.

As part of Devon County Council, Devon Youth Service strives to fulfil these commitments.

We will work to ensure that all our youth services are accessible to all young people wherever possible. The Single Equality Scheme, Section 4 – the Disability Equality Duties, in particular provides the tool by which we can measure and evaluate our work in this area.

2. Principles and Values

The principles and values of Youth Work are long established. Youth work has long been a profession that has challenged social injustice, campaigned for change and worked in ways to empower individuals. The same principles should be applied to work with young people with disabilities.

Key Values:

• All young people regardless of ability have a right to request access to youth services. They should be encouraged to make their own choices about the type of provision and service they wish to access, and when and where they wish to do so.

The twin purposes of Youth Work in Devon are:

• to support, challenge and enable the learning of young people in order that they may realise their full potential in shaping their own lives

• to promote the social and economic inclusion of all young people so that they can contribute to influence and be valued as part of their

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• Youth services should seek to maximise the independence, choice, and self esteem of all young people, including those with disabilities

• Young people with disabilities are first and foremost individuals with the same range of hopes, fears and ambitions as any other young person

• We should only focus on a young person’s disability where it provides a barrier to equal access, or is identified as an issue by the young person or their parent/carer concerned

• All of the aims and principles of youth work contained in the Youth Work in Devon – Policy Statement and Quality Standards document apply to work with young people with disabilities, in particular the commitment to working in an anti-discriminatory, inclusive, empowering, non-stigmatising and participative way.

3. Disability – What the legislation requires

There have been several pieces of legislation over the past few years that affect youth work. The main law is the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995, which affects both the physical access to buildings and access to services. It is illegal to

discriminate against young people with particular needs because of their disability. There are four other laws which should also be observed; the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act

(SENDA), the Data Protection Act, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Children’s Act 1994.

The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 definition of disability states:

“A person has a disability if he/she has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities.”1

The effect must be substantial – more than 12 months duration and adverse.

The DDA says you must not:

• Treat people with disabilities ‘less favourably’ than others

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• You should make an effort to find out if people have particular needs and act on the information

• You should make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to

buildings, programmes, materials or venues to make participation possible.

The Data Protection Act requires you deal confidentially with information disclosed.

4. What Devon Youth Service will do

Devon Youth Service should be active in assessing and promoting the interests and needs of young people with disabilities and seek to remove the barriers that might prevent access to services. We will endeavour to ensure that young people with disabilities can access information in a suitable form e.g. Braille, large print, hearing loop etc. For further information about communication methods and sources of advice see Appendix 3.

We will approach the needs of young people with disabilities positively and thoughtfully and we will seek to use appropriate language and ask young people how they prefer to name things. We will try to ensure that the views of young people with

disabilities are sought both in our own work and in strategy documents.

We will ensure that our buildings, transport and rented accommodation are accessible within reasonable limits.

We need to be aware that some young people with disabilities have the need for the support of an advocate or enabler and that the advocate/enabler should be appropriately trained. We should also regularly review this need, with the young person, with the aim of encouraging them to be independent members of our

provision. (See also Devon Youth Service Volunteering Policy and Guidelines for the involvement of enablers/carers).

We will make every effort to facilitate all young people’s

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people with disabilities to participate on the same terms as other young people.

We will seek to raise the awareness of all young people about issues of disability through our curriculum work and involve them all positively.

We will ensure that our staff are appropriately trained and know where to go to seek advice about specific issues.

Occasionally, assessment of local need, and/or the specific request of young people with disabilities, may demonstrate the requirement for separate provision, but this should not be the only provision that Devon Youth Service seeks to provide for young people with disabilities.

5. Dealing with complaints

Complaints from young people, staff or members of the public should be dealt with in they same way as any other complaint, following standard procedures as set out in Devon County Council’s Customer Feedback Policy. There is a requirement here to take account of the ability of the individual to communicate and to understand the situation.

6. Medication

Guidance concerning medication and young people with disabilities can be found in Appendix 2.

7. Employment

Employment issues are dealt with by the Devon County Council Corporate employment policies and Devon Youth Service’s Staff Development Policy.

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APPENDIX 1

Summary of Guidance from the Disability Rights Commission. This affects:

• Work with young people

• Employment Practice – voluntary or paid

• Contracting with others to provide services Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA)

• The key legislation affecting the lives of people is the Disability Discrimination Act, which gives people with disabilities

substantial rights.

• It sets out duties for organisations

• Youth services and other educational services will be open to prosecution if they fail to make reasonable efforts to meet the needs of people with disabilities.

People covered by the law

Anyone who has a mental or physical impairment, which has an effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities. The effect must be:

• Substantial

• Adverse

• Long Term (12 months or more)

DISABLED GROUPS COVERED INCLUDE: People with:

• Physical, Mental & Sensory Impairment

• Hidden Impairments e.g. clinically recognised mental illness

• Learning Difficulties – includes dyslexia etc

• Medical Conditions e.g. diabetes, epilepsy

• Severe Disfigurements – but not tattoos or body piercing

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Protection Against Discrimination

The law sets out to ensure that people with disabilities are enabled to access provision in the same way as any other person. They look at discrimination in two ways:

• issues around less favourable treatment

• making reasonable adjustments. Less Favourable Treatment

This is defined as treating a person differently and less favourably because of reasons relating to their disability. This is judged

against:

• How you would treat another person without the same disability

• Whether your action relates to the disability specifically

• Whether your action is unjustified

• Whether you know about the disability Some Examples

It is worth trying to test examples against the points above in your own mind.

a) A youth worker treats all members badly – this is poor practice but not discrimination related to disability

b) Drama Production – You say that a young person with a

hearing problem can’t be in the drama but can help paint the set – this may well be discrimination you should try make it possible for the young person to be in the drama.

c) You normally ban young people who swear at staff. If the young person has Tourette’s Syndrome (may swear or be abusive without meaning to as a direct result of their disability) you must take this into account. If you banned the young person in this case it would be because of behaviour directly related to his/her disability. The club would be expected to make a reasonable adjustment to its policy.

d) A Young person in a wheelchair gets drunk and abusive – you refuse them entry – it is not discrimination if it is based on the action not the disability. You would treat any young person in the same way

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e) You give away a young person’s place on a trip because they failed to bring in the money by last week’s deadline – what you did not realise is that the young person is sporadically affected by a disability which caused them to be absent i.e. they did not tell you. This is not discrimination because you did not know. BUT you must be pro-active in encouraging young people to express their need.

Data Protection could make the situation more complicated

for example a young person tells you that they are HIV positive but asks you not to tell anyone else. They have the right to state who can have access to information about their disability. Your course of action would be to point out any problems this may cause and ask them how they would like you to deal with it (See Data

Protection).

Making A Reasonable Adjustment

You are not allowed to take decisions or actions that create a ‘substantial disadvantage’ for the disabled person compared to a person who is not disabled. In judging Substantial Disadvantage the key considerations are time, inconvenience, effort or

discomfort compared with other people. Some examples:

a) The Youth Club does not allow dogs into premises. It must make an adjustment for a guide dog as this is a substantial need for the person.

b) A person of restricted growth can read notices but finds the boards a bit high and demands they are all lowered- this may well not be considered substantial enough disadvantage to respond with time and funds. You might, however, arrange to provide the person with copies of printed notices or someone to read the notices to them.

c) A person in a wheelchair wants an Introduction to Youth Work training course (IYWT) at a local venue. The venue chosen is not accessible but the same course happens close by at an accessible venue – this is probably acceptable and would be considered reasonable assuming the alternative venue is at a convenient location.

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d) A young person with cerebral palsy wants to join a series of music workshops upstairs in the youth club. She can manage stairs but needs rails on both sides. It is probably reasonable to expect the centre to fit them.

Making it possible for disabled people to participate is not just about responding to individuals. A service should anticipate needs and plan to meet them. This means that the youth service should be training staff, thinking about venues, locating sources of aids, checking how people with needs wish to be treated, thinking about posters etc (Large print versions etc), adapting processes and activities to allow access.

Audits – must be undertaken each year to assess barriers to participation. This should lead to an action plan identifying

priorities. It should be noted that major funders require you to have both a disability statement and an audit process.

WHAT IS REASONABLE?

These factors may be taken into account when judging situations:

• The need to maintain academic and other prescribed standards

• Financial resources available – Note, even if the team has no resources the authority may be required to contribute. You should always report problems to senior managers at County Hall

• Grants available directly to the disabled person

• Excessive costs involved

• How practicable an action may be

• Alternative possibilities for provision of aids/services.

• Health & safety requirements – these must be justified.

• Relevant interests of other people including students.

In the end many of the decisions to be made are complex and you may wish to seek advice. The Disability Rights Commission will respond to complaints about discrimination against disabled people. The Courts will decide case law. This may mean that advice and understanding will change over time.

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Note – The Disability Rights Commission will only deal with complaints that have first been through an organisation’s complaints procedure.

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APPENDIX 2 Medication

Young people may need to take medication in order to take part in youth activities. Full guidance can be found in the DES publication ‘ supporting pupils with medical needs’ and the LEAs Health & Safety Manual Volume 2, Section - The

administration of medicines.

Key points include

• Staff cannot be compelled to administer medication, but may volunteer to do so.

• The organisation must make arrangements to support the young person

• No young people under 16 years should be given medication without parental permission. This also applies to people over 16 years who cannot give ‘informed consent’.

• Prescription medicines should be accompanied by written instructions from parents or a doctor, the prescribed dose and the expiry date.

• In all but exceptional circumstances staff should only deal with short-term support for young people.

• Long term medication support should be planned with relevant health staff.

• Staff should not, in normal circumstances give out non-prescription medicines e.g. aspirin, paracetamol. You may not know what previous doses have been taken or the effect on any other medication.

• Training and support for staff administering medication should be supplied. This should include knowledge of possible side effects and the possible effects of not taking medication e.g. ADHD, epilepsy, diabetes.

• Staff should not force unwilling young people to take medicines, but should inform carers of the problem.

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• Some medication may involve potentially invasive methods e.g. injection or anal administration. Advice and help should be sought in this case.

• Organisations should be prepared to offer a secure place to people requiring privacy for the administration of medication

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APPENDIX 3

Some ideas and sources of help and advice

1. Communication

We particularly need to be aware of the needs of people who:

• Have problems seeing visual materials

• Have difficulty understanding complex messages

• Have difficulties hearing what is being said

• Have difficulty expressing what they want to say Here we only note the options available for overcoming communication difficulties.

Methods for dealing with visual impairment

Braille - Well-known system of raised dots read by touch. Read from left to right.

Moon - Raised shapes more like the shapes of alphabet letters. Used by people who find Braille too difficult to learn, or simply prefer the written word.

Large Print and Audio Cassette

RNIB Transcription Service based at Ivybridge are able to produce documents in an appropriate format.

Methods for assisting those with a hearing impairment Finger Spelling

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Uses both hands to represent letters of the alphabet. Forms a part of the major systems.

British Sign Language

The most used system of signing using some finger spelling, facial expression, body movement and lip movement. You can see it in action on the website http://www.britishsignlanguage.com/ and http://www.british-sign.co.uk/.

It is important to note that BSL is not English and so users have the same needs as those whose first language is not English. For further information about British Sign Language/English

Interpreters - Guidance for Council Employees and Elected Members this website might be useful

http://www.devon.gov.uk/british_sign_language.htm Lipreading

This needs lots of concentration. It can be difficult to distinguish words, sentences are easier to understand. Maintain rhythm of speech and stop to check you have been understood.

Total Communication

This is for people with communication, language, literacy

difficulties. Small vocabulary, essential words. Graphic symbols, and sign-supported speech are used.

Methods For Dealing With Difficulties In Understanding Picture Communication System

Over 4000 PCS symbols in colour and black and white – pictoral and abstract. Used in a variety of ways. Useful for posters, leaflets etc. sold by Widgit Software Ltd www.widgit.com

Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS)

Uses pictures as a means of exchange to teach communication. Young person exchanges picture for object e.g. picture of drink given to worker, worker provides a drink immediately.

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www.pecs.org.uk Rebus Symbols

Another symbol system linked with words as a way of helping to develop reading.

www.widgit.com

Printed Documents

Guidance produced by The Institute of Personnel and

Development and Devon Lifelong Learning offers the following advice:

• Discuss needs with the people you are serving

• Paper – Avoid glossy or thin paper

• Contrast – have good contrast between print and background. Black or blue on white or primrose are good. If using other paper colours choose pale shades.

Avoid yellow ink, pale ink on pale paper (e.g.grey on blue), the same colour in different shades (e.g. dark green on light green). Do not use shading.

• Print Size – Where large print is needed use 14 point for text 16 point for headings and titles. These are minimum sizes 16 point is often the preferred size. (Royal National Institute For The Blind)

• Type Styles – the best are Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman and Univers. Avoid fancy, italic and indistinct typefaces.

• Headings and Titles – centralise headings and titles. It makes easier to locate new sections within a document.

• Spacing – there should be a reasonable space between lines. Lines should be no more than 50-65 characters long.

• Numbers – 3, 5 and 8 can cause problems. Make numbers as distinct as possible

• Case – Do not print whole words in capitals. Using lower case and capitals, as in this sentence, makes word shapes easier to recognise.

• Navigation – content lists, clear headings, titled illustrations all help.

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Flip Charts

• Avoid – green, yellow, red pens. No block capital words – use large lower case letters.

Overhead Projector/ Powerpoint

• Use 24 point font. 25 words maximum on one slide or acetate

• Use uncomplicated colour schemes (see contrast above)

• Avoid use of moving letters and images.

• Embolden key words. Avoid Block capital words. Web Pages And Computers

• Use the advice in ‘printed documents’

• More detailed advice is available from RNIB.

• Web-based advice on www.w3.org/WAI/ TRANSCRIPTION SERVICES

All forms of transcription service are available from

RNIB 2 White Oaks Court, Davids Lane, Ivybridge, Devon, PL21 ODW

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Sources of information and help

ADVICE – The Disability Rights Commission have an Advice Service Tel 0345 622 633 Textphone 0345 622 644 or write to DDA Help Freepost MID02164, Stratford-Upon-Avon, CV37 9BR