Equality Impact Assessment - Kingston Workstart

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The Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames

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

What are the aims/purpose of the function?
Supported Employment Project for disabled people living in the borough of Kingston. Kingston Workstart supports disabled people to prepare, seek and secure paid employment.

Is the function designed to meet specific needs such as the needs of minority ethnic groups, older people, disabled people etc?
Yes it is aimed at disabled people.

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.
There is significant evidence to suggest that disabled people are under represented in the labour market, and disabled people want additional support and assistance to enter the workforce (Disability Rights Commission)

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?

We have noticed that there is a significant difference between the take up of the service within the disabled groups. People who have a physical or sensory impairment use our service less than people with learning disabilities. One of the reasons for that could be that people with physical impairments, often have acquired their disability, therefore it is likely that before their disability they were working. Therefore they are familiar with the recruitment process and have experience.

The service users that do access support with a physical impairment tend to have been out of work for sustained periods of time, and in our experience seem to find it difficult to commit the time and energy that it takes to apply for paid work. Often they have been involved with day services/activities for many years. This is a familiar area of difficulty when working with older people with a learning difficulty.

Younger people from any disability group often have much higher expectations and are motivated to find employment. However, very few younger physically disabled people access support from Kingston Workstart. I believe that these individuals often do not require the support of a supported employment project to access employment.

The take up of service or lack of it from BME groups needs to be looked into and if there are reasons for this it needs addressing.

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

There are no legislative constraints. There may be a lack of awareness of our existence. We need to ensure that our services are effectively published. The service can be provided to only a small number of services users but we have to ensure that everyone will be able to access this.

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.

Better recording mechanisms
Analyse the evidence in relation to local statistics to this particular group, age range. Also the stats on people who receive a disability/ill health related benefit who are of working age
Create an action plan following on from the above analysis.
Improve working relations with local schools/Connexions, to try and increase the referral rate from the younger age group in all disabled groups
Advertise our service to communities that are currently under represented.

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

September 2007 – 6 months

March 2008 – 1 year

Assessment completed by:

Andrea Biggs
Kingston Workstart

20 February 2007

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