Equality Impact Assessment - Disciplinary Procedure

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Function being assessed:

Disciplinary Procedure

Is this a new function or a review of an existing function?

This procedure is an existing procedure which has been in place for a number of years known as RBK’s Procedures for dealing with Problems at work involving Conduct and Capability.

What are the aims/purpose of the function?

The aim of this procedure is to provide a framework for dealing with problems which arise as a result of an employee's conduct and to help and encourage all employees to achieve and maintain required standards of conduct and performance. The aim is to ensure consistent and fair treatment for all.

Is the function designed to meet specific needs such as the needs of minority ethnic groups, older people, disabled people etc?

The Procedure is designed to meet the needs of all RBK employees. It does not apply to service users. It is not specifically designed to meet the needs of particular groups however reasonable adjustments within the procedure would be made for example being flexible when arranging times and locations of hearings. In addition, any requests for  specialist equipment will be accommodated where practical.

What information has been gathered on this function? (Indicate the type of information gathered e.g. statistics, consultation, other monitoring information)? Attach a summary or refer to where the evidence can be found.

Statistics:

Cases dealt with under the Disciplinary Procedure are recorded on a spreadsheet on an annual basis. Each spreadsheet shows cases from April to March each year and includes information on whether the case was handled at an informal or formal level. It also lists the outcome of the case, what sanction was imposed, whether or not the employee appealed against the decision, and information on the 6 equality strands (where available on the employee’s personal record).

The data is split by department and directorate and the total number of cases are recorded in the annual HR Team Plan. Numbers of cases are at a sufficient level for effective conclusions to be drawn in relation to gender, age and ethnic origin, however the number of staff subject to the disciplinary procedure represents on average only 1.5% of the workforce, so caution must be taken when considering the breakdown of this group of staff and comparisons to the overall RBK workforce. In relation to disability, sexual orientation and religion or belief, recorded data is very limited and so no effective conclusions can be drawn on these strands, however they will continue to be monitored and it is hoped that the data check which took place in late 2009 will allow more data to be collected on these strands which could improve future analysis.

Consultation & Training:

The disciplinary procedure is outlined in the new managers induction which takes place twice a year, depending on recruitment of new managers. These sessions are supported by two hourly briefings sessions for middle managers which are held twice a year. The sessions cover how and when the procedure should be used and explain the distinction between the capability procedure and the disciplinary procedure. The procedure if available on the RBK intranet for staff and managers to view and managers are asked to distribute paper copies of the procedure for those staff who do not have regular access to the intranet.  

In addition to middle managers training, where particular departments or types of workers are identified as higher involvement in disciplinary cases, targeted training sessions have been run in order to enable managers in these areas to identify where disciplinary matters may occur and deal with these in these in accordance with the Disciplinary Procedure. As discussed below, Community Care Services was identified as one of these high risk areas due to the nature of the work – as a result, training sessions were held in 2008 with the managers in this area.

Does your analysis of the information show different outcomes for different groups (higher or lower uptake/failure to access/receive a poorer or inferior service)? If yes, indicate which groups and which aspects of the policy or function contribute to inequality?

Age – for the year 07/08, there is a higher representation of staff in the 40-49 (41%) age band involved in disciplinary cases (compared to the overall representation of this age band amongst the RBK workforce (31%). This is also true for the 50-64 age band (45%) compared to the 33% of the overall RBK workforce in this age band. As such, there is a lower representation of workers involved in disciplinary cases in the age band 25-39 (8%) compared to the 30% representation in the overall RBK workforce. This is at odds to the year 08/09 in which levels of representation across the age bands, is very similar to that of their representation across the overall RBK workforce with the exception of the 50-64 age band whose representation is higher in disciplinary cases (46%) compared to the overall RBK workforce (33%).

Gender – it has been identified that representation of males in disciplinary cases (07/08 – 31%, 08/09 – 53%) is higher than male representation in the overall RBK workforce (21%).

Ethnic Origin – it has been identified that BME staff are more highly represented in disciplinary cases (37%) compared to BME staff representation within the overall RBK workforce (15%).

Are these differences justified (e.g. are there legislative or other constraints)? If they are, explain in what way.

Age - There is no obvious reason why this may be the case, however it could be linked to length of service and age in different areas of work. It has previously been identified that a large number of disciplinary cases occur within the Community Services Directorate, in particular in Community Care – the reason for this has been identified as due to the nature of the work. In Community Care Services employees often work on night shifts and deal with the distribution of medication, as a result of this, there have been a number of cases involving sleeping on night duty and medication errors. It could potentially be the case that these staff fall into the age bands between 40-49 and 50-64 which could explain their higher representation in disciplinary cases overall. In order to establish whether this is the case, further analysis will need to be undertaken.

Gender - It is unclear why this could be the case, so further analysis at the directorate/department level is required in order to make comparisons between male and female representation at these levels compared to their representation within the disciplinary cases as this could be skewing the data.

Ethnic Origin – A possible explanation of the high representation of BME staff within disciplinary cases could be again related to the differing levels of BME staff representation across the directorates and departments. Community Services has the highest number of staff within RBK, and also has the highest number of disciplinary cases (07/08 - 72% 08/09 - 68%), Community Services also have the highest representation of BME staff (17.5%) which could go someway to explaining why there is a higher overall BME representation, however the % representation still remains high so further analysis and action may need to be taken to identify causes and reduce levels if possible.

What action needs to be taken as a result of this Equality Impact Assessment to address any detrimental impacts or meet previously unidentified need? Include here any reasonable adjustments for access by disabled people. Include dates by which action will be taken. Attach an action plan if necessary.

Further analysis on age, gender and ethnic origin on a directorate and departmental basis to establish whether this is a explanatory factor in differing levels of representation in disciplinary cases compared to the overall RBK workforce.

When will you evaluate the impact of action taken? Give review dates.

Data will be recorded over the next year and this will be analysed and compared to previous years in February 2010.

Assessment completed by:

Helen Burman, HR Assistant

Human Resources

27 February 2009