Equality Impact Analysis Template

Equality Impact Analysis (EqIA) (or Equality Impact Assessment) aims to make services and public policy better for all service-users and staff and supports value for money by getting council services right first time.

We use EqIAs to enable us to consider all relevant information from an Equality requirements perspective when procuring or restructuring a service, or introducing a new policy or strategy. This analysis of impacts is then reflected in the relevant action plan to get the best outcomes for the Council, its staff and service-users.

EqIAs are used to analyse and assess how the Council’s work might impact differently on different groups of people. EqIAs help the Council to make good decisions for its service-users, staff and residents and provide evidence that those decision conform with the Council’s obligations under the Equality Act 2010.

Title of Project/Service/Policy	Grant Funded Capital Project for two Youth Hubs
Team/Department	Early Help and Social Care
Directorate	Children’s Services
Provide a comprehensive description of your Project (Service/Policy, etc.) including its Purpose and Scope	This equality impact assessment relates to the proposals to utilise the provisionally awarded external funding for East Sussex County Council to redevelop Peacehaven Youth Centre (The Joff) and rebuild Heathfield Youth Centre into Youth Hubs. New after school/weekend sessions will be delivered in the reconfigured/new buildings. East Sussex County Council’s (ESCC) proposal consists of 2 capital build projects as set out below. The JOFF Youth Centre, Peacehaven The proposal is to extend, reconfigure and renew this existing youth centre into a Youth Hub to increase the number of regular positive activities and clubs available to young people aged 11 to 19 (up to 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) in this deprived coastal area. We are currently delivering targeted and some open access youth provision from this established youth centre site. Heathfield Youth Centre Our proposal is to demolish and replace the existing building with a state-of-the-art rural Youth Hub that will increase the number of regular positive activities and clubs available to young people aged 11 to 19 (up to 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) from the town and surrounding villages where young people experience a lack of services and rural isolation. Summary for both Youth Hubs The planned capital improvements will allow the development of new open access universal youth services that are in line with the Family Hub / Youth Hub strategic development. This new youth service approach will be delivered from both sites by ESCC Youth Service and partner youth organisations. To support the needs of young people we will also be providing a range of preventative services to respond to the needs young people told us about when we consulted with them. The current underused facilities will be repurposed into a Youth Hub operating seven days a week. The new fully accessible youth facility will have structured opening times offering a range of positive activities and support services available for young people during the day, afterschool, in the evenings, at weekends and during school holiday times. The high-quality universal youth offer provided at both the Youth Hubs will be delivered by trained youth workers, specialist staff and trained volunteers. The youth services delivered there will build on and improve current provision which we know improves outcomes for the young people as evidenced in service performance data and user feedback. Our Youth Hubs will: · enable young people to learn life skills and social skills in a fun and safe environment · increase engagement in physical activity · improve their emotional health and wellbeing · increase their confidence, resilience and coping strategies · Raise aspirations and increase their educational engagement, training and employment opportunities · improve their understanding and awareness of healthy relationships and risk linked behaviours · Improve their understanding and awareness of being part of the community

Initial assessment of whether your project requires an EqIA

When answering these questions, please keep in mind all legally protected equality characteristics (sex/gender, gender reassignment, religion or belief, age, disability, ethnicity/race, sexual orientation, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity) of the people actually or potentially receiving and benefiting from the services or the policy.  

In particular consider whether there are any potential equality related barriers that people may experience when getting to know about, accessing or receiving the service or the policy to be introduced or changed.      

Discuss the results of your Equality assessment with the Equality Lead for your department and agree whether improvements or changes need to be made to any aspect of your Project.

	Question	Yes	No	Don’t Know
1	Is there evidence of different needs, experiences, issues or priorities on the basis of the equality characteristics (listed below) in relation to the service or policy/strategy area?	X
2	Are there any proposed changes in the service/policy that may affect how services are run and/or used or the ways the policy will impact different groups?	X
3	Are there any proposed changes in the service/policy that may affect service-users/staff/residents directly?	X
4	Is there potential for, or evidence that, the service/policy may adversely affect inclusiveness or harm good relations between different groups of people?		X
5	Is there any potential for, or evidence that any part of the service/aspects of the policy could have a direct or indirect discriminatory effect on service-users/staff/residents ?		X
6	Is there any stakeholder (Council staff, residents, trade unions, service-users, VCSE organisations) concerned about actual, potential, or perceived discrimination/unequal treatment  in the service or the Policy on the basis of the equality characteristics set out above that may lead to taking legal action against the Council?		X
7	Is there any evidence or indication of higher or lower uptake of the service by, or the impact of the policy on, people who share the equality characteristics set out above?	X

If you have answered “YES” or “DON’T KNOW” to any of the questions above, then the completion of an EqIA is necessary.

The need for an EqIA will depend on:

· How many questions you have answered “yes”, or “don’t know” to;

· The likelihood of the Council facing legal action in relation to the effects of service or the policy may have on groups sharing protected characteristics; and

· The likelihood of adverse publicity and reputational damage for the Council.

Low risk	Medium risk	High risk
	X

1. Update on previous EqIAs and outcomes of previous actions (if applicable)

What actions did you plan last time? (List them from the previous EqIA)	What improved as a result? What outcomes have these actions achieved?	What further actions do you need to take? (add these to the Action Plan below)
Not applicable	Not applicable	Clarification that all provision from both centres has been relocated to temporary locations.

2. Review of information, equality analysis and potential actions

Consider the actual or potential impact of your project (service, or policy) against each of the equality characteristics.

Protected characteristics groups under the Equality Act 2010	What do you know? Summary of data about your service-users and/or staff	What do people tell you? Summary of service-user and/or staff feedback	What does this mean? Impacts identified from data and feedback (actual and potential)	What can you do? All potential actions to: · advance equality of opportunity, · eliminate discrimination, and · foster good relations
Age	In East Sussex, our children and young people have lower rates of attendance and higher exclusions than their peers nationally. We know that the programmes delivered in the Youth Hubs will build resilience, raise aspirations and improve emotional wellbeing; access to positive activities and additional support available from professionals will help increase engagement in education, and consequently improve attendance and attainment. Working with colleagues in the Business Service Property team five youth centre sites were considered initially. Complex issues were highlighted around ownership and lease agreement for two of those sites. In another area we were aware that a significant bid by voluntary sector partners was being developed for the Youth Investment Fund so it was agreed that we would focus on other areas in East Sussex to distribute the potential Youth Offer in different geographies. The two remaining sites are in areas of high need, one in a rural area where services are diminishing (closure of Sports Centre recently) and difficult to access; and the other is in a coastal region containing wards of high deprivation.	Young people and staff who we consulted said that the current youth centres are old, unwelcoming and not fit for purpose. They said that the current layout hampers service delivery and limits numbers that can attend. Of all the young people we asked, 83% thought it would be a good idea if the Youth Hubs were open more often. 83% of young people told us that having outdoor areas where it's safe to hang out would be one of the best uses of space at the Youth Hubs. 65% of the young people who responded to the survey want to be actively involved in decorating and styling the youth hubs 46% of young people told us that they want to come to play games, 32% want to do sports and 19% are keen to come and dance, our hope is that we can offer all of this, and more. 67% of young people thought that having outside sports organisations running sessions was important. Our consultation told us that 79% of young people want to come to Youth Hubs to hang out with their friends and 60% want to come to make new friends.		To support the needs of young people we will also be providing a range of preventative services to respond to the needs young people told us about when we consulted with them. The current underused facility will be repurposed into a Youth Hub operating seven days a week. The new fully accessible youth facility will have structured opening times offering a range of positive activities and support services available for young people during the day, afterschool, in the evenings, at weekends and during school holiday times. The facility will be redesigned to create distinct, fully accessible zones, each will have outdoor spaces with seating, picnic areas and growing spaces. Young people will be supported by the architects to finalise the details of the new buildings. The new multi-use facilities will allow a range of different providers to deliver specific activities in different spaces along-side the core Youth Work programme. This multi-use approach will maximise use of space, ensure a broad range of activities are available to children and young people and foster a partnership approach to delivering a local Youth Offer. For example, a young person’s youth dance academy could operate in the Health and Fitness Zone at the same time as a session for young people with disabilities in the Activities Zone. New after school drop-in sessions in reconfigured café/lounge areas will create a safe space for young people to meet friends and make new ones.
Disability		We know through talking to young people that emotional wellbeing is an issue that they want support with. 82% of young people told us that it was important for them to have someone to talk to about how they're feeling when they are struggling with their mental health and/or emotional wellbeing. 47% of young people told us the reason that they would want to come to the Youth Hubs would be to get help, guidance and information about things. Our consultation highlighted that 63% of the young people told us they thought being able to access other disability services, like Amaze was important. Young people told us they also wanted some quiet spaces in the consultation we completed.		All zones will have their own fully accessible toilet facilities. The new Youth Hubs will deliver of a range of positive activities and health and wellbeing lifestyle programmes focusing on building resilience, raising aspirations, supporting positive emotional well-being, and diverting young people away from risk taking behaviour. Our youth work programmes are underpinned by the NHS promoted ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ and each aim is embedded in our Youth Hub approach; connect, be active, take notice, keep learning and give. In parallel to the activity programmes we will be offering a range of support services through drop-in sessions available alongside our positive activities’ programmes provided by our existing keyworkers including sexual health guidance, reducing harm from substance use, smoking/ vaping cessation, emotional well-being support and healthy lifestyles. Our experience tells us that young people will talk about what is on their mind to trusted adults in a social setting and often when they are doing activities. Our Support Model in the Hubs will involve having trained and experience Family Keyworkers present in our Hubs during opening times (operated as a Duty Service) who will be available to have one to one conversations with any young person who asks for support or who is sign posted by a Youth Worker. Sign posting could be a direct introduction of a young person to a Keyworker – we know that this direct contact is important so young people get the support they need. Our Keyworkers have clear referral pathways to a wide range of specialist services and can work with young people to create personal action plans to assist them to make changes in their lives that are ready to address. This additional support will be further extended through a wide range of partners delivering their own services from the new Youth Hubs. This partner led provision will include mental health support from i-rock (an award-winning mental health drop-in service for young people), employment and training support delivered by a range of local partners (eg CXK Careers Service). Working with young people with disabilities continues to be a priority for us. We have successfully run Funky Teens Activity Clubs across the county for young people with disabilities and have recently developed working partnership with AMAZE a local charity commissioned by ESCC Disability Services. AMAZE will extend their provision into our Youth Hubs and will support young people with disabilities to be part of the Youth Advisory Groups. There will be a Quiet Area/Sensory Room in each of the two new Youth Hubs buildings. Quieter spaces and quieter sessions will be available for young people who prefer calmer less noisy spaces to take part in activities like art, craft and cooking supported by trained youth workers –
Gender reassignment	Approximately 1% of the population is trans or gender diverse	The LGBTQ+ needs assessment carried out recently, led by Public Health, identified that young people disproportionately experience difficulties with their emotional wellbeing and mental health.		The Youth Hubs will be welcoming of people of all genders. The Youth Hubs will support an inclusive and safe environment, promoting good relations and positive connections between young people of all genders.
Pregnancy and maternity		66% of young people told us that they want access to Sexual Health Services (including contraception, pregnancy test, options support and STI testing)		The preventative activities provided by the new Youth Hubs will include support and guidance on prevention of teenage pregnancies and support for young parents. Trained youth workers and keyworkers will be on hand to offer information, support, and guidance on a range of support needs, health and wellbeing, mental health and sexual health and relationships.
Race (ethnicity) Including migrants, refugees and asylum seekers	We know from engagement with young people supported by race  equality groups locally in East Sussex that young people from global majorities and minority ethnic people have experienced racism in their school and community context.			As a Youth Service we are actively reaching out to minority ethnic local young people who have been underrepresented in our centres; we have also taken positive steps to extending our recruitment, so our staff teams are more representative of our local communities. Getting young people from minority ethnic groups engaged in the Youth Advisory Groups will be a key target for us.
Religion or belief	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant
Sex	We know that young women’s involvement in sport and fitness declines significantly in their teenage years and that young women identify the need for more safe spaces in the community for them to exercise and to meet (Make Space for Girls Report Jan 2023). We know from our work creating a safe space for girls and young women is crucial and providing good access to support services is crucial.			New sports activity sessions will be offered for different age ranges and gender so that staff can provide additional support for specific challenges, reducing barriers to young people allowing them to get involved in new activities and getting active.
Sexual orientation	LGBTQ+ needs assessment shows that between 3.1% and 7% of people are LGB+	50% of LGBTQ young people reported they had experienced homophobic or bi-phobic bullying		The preventative services provided by the newly developed Youth Hubs will include spaces and activities for the LGBTQ young people’s youth groups.
Marriage and civil partnership	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant
Armed Forces				Children and young people of members and former members of the Armed Forces will be specifically targeted, if known, to encourage them to participate in the Youth Hubs.
Impacts on community cohesion	We know that youth-focussed buildings have the potential for making a positive impact on community cohesion, particularly when they are focussed on providing safe and engaging activities for young people.			New after school drop-in sessions in reconfigured café/lounge areas in the new buildings will create a safe space for young people to meet friends and make new ones. While the building work is being undertaken, Heathfield Youth Centres provision will relocate to Union Church Hall, Heathfield and JOFF provision will relocate to Council House, Peacehaven Town Council Building on the Meridian site. Peacehaven. Both are a short walk from the existing buildings and all provision will operate at the same times on the same days as now – no interruption in service. You people and parents have already been made aware and the closure date of each centre is 31 December 2023. The new temporary sites are scheduled open first week of January 2024.

Additional categories

(identified locally as potentially causing / worsening inequality)

Characteristic	What do you know?	What do people tell you?	What does this mean?	What can you do?
Rurality	We are already delivering some youth services from these established youth centre sites, but the buildings are old with notable ongoing maintenance costs and accessibility challenges. We held early engagement sessions in August 2022 and a series of roadshow in the autumn to engage with a wide range of youth service providers.	We have worked closely with voluntary sector provider partners via the voluntary sector led Youth Infrastructure Forum. A wide range of partners have confirmed that they are keen to continue or extend their use of the refurbished facilities.		One of the two developments will be in Heathfield, in a semi-rural part of the county. Our early-stage feasibility study looked at how this funding could enable us to develop the youth centres to work as attractive Youth Hub facilities that serve a wider catchment and allow the facilities to be marketed and used by a range of partners/providers who are looking for suitable venues to deliver youth work provision.
Carers	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant
Other groups that may be differently affected (including but not only: homeless people, substance users, care leavers etc)	Young people and the impact of the pandemic: Our detailed planning processes across the department for future service delivery have taken into consideration the impact of the pandemic. Whilst the entire long-term impact remains unclear, we do know that the following factors have increased short and medium-term pressure on and the need for services: · the post pandemic high demand for early help and social care support · the impact on children and young people of long periods out of school · the widely recognised impact of the pandemic on children and young people’s mental health			The Youth Hubs will offer information, advice and guidance to support school attendance. The Youth Hubs will provide be used to engage with young people to and prevent and address substance misuse by young people.

Assessment of overall impacts and any further recommendations - include assessment of cumulative impacts (where a change in one service/policy/project may have an impact on another)

The proposal will have a positive impact on young people in areas of coastal deprivation (Peacehaven) and rural isolation (Heathfield) This proposal to accept the funding for the development of two youth centres in Youth Hubs is aimed at having a positive impact on young people in the locality.

Local young people will be the main beneficiaries along with the wider local community and delivery partner organisations from the voluntary, community, and social enterprise sector.

The two Youth Hub sites are in areas of high need, one in a rural area where services are diminishing (closure of Sports Centre recently) and difficult to access; and the other is in a coastal region containing wards of high deprivation.

As a local authority we are committed to the key role we have in the development of strong partnerships and bringing together organisations who have a stake in improving outcomes of children and young people.  There is an ever-growing recognition that local authorities need to be enabling the delivery of preventative services. Locally, prevention is a priority in the Sussex NHS Integrated Care System Strategy, and it is referenced throughout the recent Independent Review of Children’s Social Care. The creation of the two Youth Hubs will further strengthen our work with partner agencies (statutory, voluntary and businesses) and increase the provision of positive activities for young people aged 11 to 18 (up to 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), thus increasing the provision of early help and prevention work.

Our Youth Hub model has key elements in place to ensure they are successful:

· Fully accessible, environmentally sustainable state of the art facilities

· Youth services providing universal and targeted support

· Support service available alongside a range of engaging positive activities

· Specialist trained staff and dedicated trained volunteers

· Embedded youth voice and participation mechanisms

· Close partnership working to facilitate early intervention

We are confident that the additional open access youth provision and the significant increase in the number of young people attending our Youth Hubs will build resilience of young people and reduce the demand for some of our targeted services because of improved outcomes for the young people attending the Youth Hub sessions.

The new and improved facilities will be more resource efficient, providing reductions in the running costs for the buildings and will support the economic development of third sector provider partners who will be delivering more activities from them.

The proposals will also assist with lowering the carbon emissions of the sites. Both current youth centres are old with no sustainable technologies supporting their longer-term energy independence. They both have rating of C (as DEC’s) and therefore present opportunities for beneficial improvements in the way energy is created and consumed. Both properties are powered by gas fired boilers and do not have PV panels to generate electricity. If delivered these capital projects will allow us to maximise building efficiency and enable us to contribute to the Council’s Climate Change agenda through improved environmental sustainability and assist the County Council to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Evidence of the impact/outcomes for young people will be collected by youth workers via a range of existing (QR code linked evaluations) and new mechanisms co-designed by young people who use the facilities and other stakeholders. We will build on our current use of pre and post questionnaires, consultations, participatory interviewing techniques and focused sessions to ensure we know what works to improve outcomes for young people and to inform future service design. The area youth workers have recently attended training with the Tavistock Human Relations team, who facilitated a workshop to design, create and execute evaluations with young people and provide qualitative data for ongoing service improvements.

While building works are being undertaken, Heathfield Youth Centre provision will relocate to Union Church Hall, Heathfield and

JOFF provision will relocate to Council House, Peacehaven Town Council Building on the Meridian site. Peacehaven. Both are a short walk from the existing buildings.

All provision will operate at the same times on the same days as now – there will be no interruption in service. Young people and their parents and carers have already been made aware that the closure date of each centre is 31 December 2023 and that the new, temporary,  sites will open the first week of January 2024.

3. List detailed data and/or community feedback that informed your EqIA

Source and type of data (e.g. research, or direct engagement (interviews), responses to questionnaires, etc.)	Date	Gaps in data	Actions to fill these gaps: who else do you need to engage with? (add these to the Action Plan below, with a timeframe)
In person group consultations held with existing users of Heathfield Youth Centre and Peacehaven Youth Centre (The JOFF) to discuss ideas and suggestions for changes to the existing space. These sessions were run in the evenings, at the youth centres.	24^th & 27^th January 2023	Planned ongoing opportunities for young people to be involved in local decision making, particularly linked to East Sussex County Council’s Youth Offer.	Establishing Youth Advisory Groups in each of the Youth Hubs across the county to increase participation of different groups in each community.
Direct engagement with practitioners from ‘Make Good Trouble’ who collated a short film of young people documenting their hopes for their Youth Centres and how they felt being included in the process.	24^th & 27^th January 2023	No Gaps
Online Consultation: Family Hubs and Youth Hubs in East Sussex: Community Consultation. Questionnaire collecting information about the importance of different spaces/services/groups/operating times within the youth centres. Shared via partnership mechanisms including, Youth Infrastructure Forum, Holiday Activity and Food providers, Hastings Youth Partnership, Eastbourne Youth Partnership, Rother Voluntary Action, Hastings Voluntary Action, 3VA: Voluntary Action in Wealden, Eastbourne and Lewes, Family Focus newsletter, Public Health network, VCSE Alliance and the CYPT stakeholders. 626 responses – from young people/parents/carers and professionals.	14^th February 2023 – 11^th April 2023.	No Gaps
School Consultation: Family Hubs and Youth Hubs in East Sussex: Community Consultation. Questionnaire collecting information about the importance of different spaces/services/groups/operating times within the youth centres Area Youth Workers liaised with the local schools to include existing and potential users of the Youth Hubs. 385 responses collected by Area Youth Workers	14^th February 2023 – 11^th April 2023.	No Gaps
Place Based Consultation: Family Hubs and Youth Hubs in East Sussex: Community Consultation. Questionnaire collecting information about the importance of different spaces/services/groups/operating times within the youth centres Area Youth Workers facilitated young people answering consultation questions, during existing youth centre sessions, mobile youth work sessions and detached outreach sessions.	14^th February 2023 – 11^th April 2023.	No Gaps
Focus Groups with Architects and Project Managers Young people were invited to meet with architects and project managers at Heathfield Youth Centre and Peacehaven Youth Centre to view initial designs and share their feedback.	15^th & 16^th March 2023.	No Gaps

4.     Prioritised Action Plan

Impact identified and group(s) affected	Action planned	Expected outcome	Measure of success	Timeframe
The proposal impacts on a number of equality protected characteristics, as identified in the sections above.	The impacts on protected characteristics have been identified in the grant application and these will be monitored through the governance mechanisms for the new builds.	Improvements in young people’s wellbeing, sense of belonging and positive community cohesion in the local area.	The key measures of success regarding impact on different equality protected characteristics  will be: increased participation of different groups and positive feedback about engagement with the activities offered at the new Hubs. These have been included in the ongoing monitoring and review processes and governance mechanisms of the building of the new Youth Hubs.	It is proposed to complete the builds by December 2024.