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Strategies and policies
Equalities and Diversity
Adur District and Worthing Borough Councils are committed to providing equality of opportunity in all our activities and to ensuring that discrimination does not occur.
We will strive for a workforce that reflects the diversity of the local community in order that our services are provided appropriately and the Council benefits from a wealth of experiences.
The Councils will involve the wider community in our decision-making processes and use our influence to progress equality issues in the Adur District and Worthing Borough.
Equalities and Diversity documents and information
- The specific duties of the Equalities Act 2010
- Equalities Policy
- Equalities and Diversity Action Plan
- Community Equality Working Group (CEWG) - including minutes and events
- Equality Impact Assessments
- Adur & Worthing Equality and Diversity Working Group (AWEDWG) - including minutes
- Adur & Worthing Community Cohesion Mapping Report
- Disability Issues Review - Is the Adur District a disability friendly place?
- Events and News
For more information on Equalities and Diversity:
The specific duties of the Equalities Act 2010
A public authority is required to publish sufficient information to demonstrate its compliance with the general equality duty across its functions.
This must be done by 31st January 2012 and at least annually after that, from the first date of publication. It is good practice to publish information as soon as it is available in order to keep it up to date.
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recommended that monitoring and demonstration of progress will be easier if information is published at regular intervals and in a format that allows compatibility with previous information.
This information must include:
- Information on the effect that its policies and practices have had on people who share a relevant protected characteristic, to demonstrate the extent to which it furthered the aims of the general equality duty for its employees and for others with an interest in the way it performs its functions.
- Evidence of analysis that they have undertaken to establish whether their policies and practices have (or would) further the aims of the general equality duty.
- Details of the information that they considered in carrying out this analysis.
- Details of engagement that they undertook with people whom they consider to have an interest in furthering the aims of the general equality duty.
The information must be available in a manner that is reasonably accessible to the public. The information can be published within another document or separately.
The information that would be expected is:
- The race, disability, gender, age breakdown and distribution of the workforce;
- Indication of likely representation on sexual orientation and religion or belief, provided that no individuals can be identified as a result;
- An indication of any issues for transsexual staff, based on your engagement with transsexual staff or voluntary groups;
- Gender pay gap information
The ECHR have stated that in cases where limited experience of workforce monitoring, it is important to start by publishing the information that already exists and to be open about what improvements to the information will be made over time.
The ECHR in relation to services has stated that they would normally expect to see the information that you routinely publish broken down by protected group.
Equalities Policy
The Councils' Equalities Policy sets out the measures the Councils are taking to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. This is a council-wide policy that outlines the equalities commitment to staff and members of the public.
For more information on the Equalities Policy
Equalities and Diversity Action Plan
Following the introduction of the Local Government Equalities Framework, the Councils produced and Equalities and Diversity Action Plan 2009-2011 (see below). The action plan was subject to performance reviews by the Joint Overview and Scrutiny and Joint Strategic Committees. The councils have made good progress against the action set out in the plan.
A review of this action plan was undertaken and a shorter and more focused action plan for 2011-2013 has been produced (see below).
- Adur and Worthing Equalities and Diversity Action Plan - 2011/13 (.PDF 18kb)
- Adur and Worthing Equalities and Diversity Action Plan - 2009/11 (.PDF 18kb)
For more information on the Equalities and Diversity Action Plan
Community Equality Working Group
The Community Equality Working Group (CEWG) is made up of individuals and organisational representatives from within communities deemed to be disadvantaged or marginalised who have an interest in promoting equality, diversity, inclusion and cohesion.
Meetings are held bi-monthly and a Chairperson is annually elected. The council provides the administrative support to the group. The terms of reference are below and minutes of each meeting will be made available on the site.
Minutes:
- CEWG Minutes - 9th November 2011 (.PDF 17kb)
- CEWG Minutes - 14th September 2011 (.PDF 17kb)
- CEWG Minutes - 11th May 2011 (.PDF 21kb)
- CEWG Minutes - 9th March 2011 (.PDF 20kb)
Events:
Events that are organised by/ involving groups that are part of the Community Equalities Working Group will be placed on this part of the website.
- Fishersgate Computer Open Day - 29th October 2011 (.PDF 25kb)
- Black History month - October 2011 (.PDF 515kb)
- Being Gay in the UK talk - Chichester Humanists - 15th August 2011 (.PDF 480kb)
Useful links:
The following links to external websites may be of use:
For more information on the Community Equality Working Group
Equality Impact Assessments
Adur and Worthing Councils have agreed a standard format for undertaking Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs). The template and guidance for EIAs is attached below.
- Equalities Impact Assessment - guidance and sample form (.PDF 110kb)
- Equalities Impact Assessment - form template to type into (.DOC 35kb)
This webpage also includes completed EIAs for you to view.
- EIA - Social Media Policy - July 2011 (.PDF 17kb)
- EIA - Mentoring Scheme - March 2011 (.PDF 20kb)
- EIA - Recruitment & Selection Policy - March 2011 (.PDF 20kb)
- EIA - Disability in Employment Policy - March 2011 (.PDF 20kb)
- EIA - Disciplinary Policy - June 2010 (.PDF 20kb)
- EIA - Grievance Policy - June 2010 (.PDF 20kb)
- EIA - Worthing Core Strategy Submission - April 2010 (.PDF 540kb)
- EIA - Community Strategy, waves ahead - March 2010 (.PDF 175kb)
- EIA - Customers of concern procedure - October 2009 (.PDF 25kb)
- EIA - Choice Based Lettings Policy - September 2009 (.PDF 15kb)
- EIA - Integrated HR & Payroll System - July 2009 (.PDF 20kb)
- EIA - Worklife Balance Policy - May 2009 (.PDF 25kb)
- EIA - Pilot Lean Improvement Exercise, Revenues & Benefits WBC (.PDF 20kb)
For more information on the Equality Impact Assessments
Adur & Worthing Equality and Diversity Working Group
The Adur & Worthing Equality & Diversity Working Group (AWEDWG) consists of service leads from across the council and the Strategic Director who leads in equalities and diversity issues.
The group has responsibility for considering issues that arise from the Equalities Policy and will devise and oversee the implementation of the Adur and Worthing Equality and Diversity Action Plan and Adur and Worthing Service Blocks Summary Action Plan.
As individuals, members of the group will be responsible for driving requirements through to their own services.
The terms of reference and minutes from the group's meetings can be found below.
Minutes
- AWEDWG Minutes - 9th June 2011 (.PDF 15kb)
- AWEDWG Minutes - 8th November 2010 (.PDF 15kb)
- AWEDWG Minutes - 2nd June 2010 (.PDF 20kb)
- AWEDWG Minutes - 28th October 2009 (.PDF 20kb)
- AWEDWG Minutes - 29th July 2009 (.PDF 45kb)
- AWEDWG Minutes - 20th May 2009 (.PDF 25kb)
For more information on the Adur and Worthing Equality and Diversity Working Group
Adur & Worthing Community Cohesion Mapping Report
This report has been produced as part of a programme of work to tackle community cohesion in Adur and Worthing which has been funded through Area Based Grant, specifically provided for this work (this grant was also given to Arun and Crawley). Community cohesion is broadly about the issues of inclusion, integration, good community relations and building social capital.
The report outlines the finding of a mapping exercise which considered: disadvantaged groups; the voluntary and faith sectors; economic disadvantage and areas of tension. The consideration of these different aspects shows the current nature and state of community cohesion in Adur and Worthing, and identifies lines of action to support and foster its further development.
A Community Cohesion strategic group has been formed in order to take this work forward and develop a partnership action plan. This group will report to the Adur and Worthing Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) (please note the LSP structure is currently being discussed and so where this group reports to is not yet determined) and is comprised of Council Officers, the two Cabinet Members for Wellbeing and partner agencies from the statutory and voluntary sector.
For more information on Adur and Worthing Community Cohesion Mapping Report
Disability Issues Review - Is the Adur District a disability friendly place?
Report by the Overview and Scrutiny Working Group.
This review has examined if people think that the district is a user-friendly place for people with a disability and if people have been prevented from doing certain things because of their disabilities or had problems gaining access to buildings/commercial premises.
This report highlights areas of concern which have been identified during the consultation. It is acknowledged that the Council cannot improve disability access on its own but in partnership with others it is believed that the Council can seek to influence those that can make improvements to make the Adur District more user friendly. The conclusions and recommendations in the report are based on the evidence that the Working Group has received from the interested parties who have given evidence to the review.
The main conclusions in the report are that there are considerable facilities and help available in the Adur District for people with all kinds of disabilities but it is considered that there is room for improvement in certain areas which have been highlighted in this report.
For more information on the Disability Issues Review
Events and News
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender - History Month (.PDF 1.1mb)
- Holocaust Memorial Day - 27 January 2012 (.PDF 44kb)
- Councils say more can be done for homeless - 10 January 2012 (.PDF 10kb)
- Ever though about volunteering? - 31st August 2011 (.PDF 10kb)
- Being Gay in the UK talk - Chichester Humanists - 7pm, Monday 15th August 2011 (.PDF 480kb)
- First we play too! and now we cycle too! (.PDF 10kb)
- Aiming High - 27th February 2011 (.PDF 695kb)
- Blue Starfish Club - Valentine Theme (.PDF 10kb)
- Holocaust Memorial Day - 27th January 2011 (.PDF 10b)
