Borough of Poole’s
Equality Impact Assessment on the
Medium Term Financial Plan 2012/13
1.0 Introduction
1.1 The Council is committed to delivering Fairness for All for people living, working and visiting Poole. One of the cornerstones of our approach to securing fairness is to complete assessments of the impacts our decisions have on people, particularly younger and older people, disabled people, black and minority ethnic people, lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people and men and women.
1.2 This document sets out an overview of the impacts of our budget setting decisions. Sections 2-4 provide a summary Equality Impact Assessment for the Borough of Poole’s Mid-Term Financial Plan for 2012/13. This includes a brief description giving the context of the changes; key actions that have been taken to minimise any impacts of the overall budget changes; and an overview of the approach the Council has taken in minimising impacts.
1.3 Section 5 provides greater detail of the ways specific groups will be affected and how the Council intends to minimise impacts.
2.0 Background to changes
2.1 The Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) is a 3-year plan that is reviewed, updated and rolled forward on an annual basis to deliver the Council’s priorities. It is fundamental to the Council’s policy and service planning cycle. It outlines the likely challenges to be faced by the organisation and seeks to align resources to priorities in setting out the overall financial direction over the coming three years. The annual budget is produced in accordance with the parameters of the MTFP, with specific proposals for the year ahead. It is brought forward for Council approval in February.
2.2 During 2011/12 a substantial review of the Council’s MTFP has been required for the second year running. This is as a consequence of the change of Government and their resulting policies, including their primary focus on reducing the national deficit while securing economic stability at a time of continuing uncertainty in the global economy.
2.3 The scale of the financial challenge is significant. There is going to be a further loss of Government funding of more than £2.5 million to Poole over the next year. Borough of Poole has a forecasted resourcing gap of £13 million into 2014/15 that does not include major changes in Government policy that will have significant financial consequences for the Council.
2.4 Different funding and expenditure factors impact across different services but key drivers are: known cuts in government funding, including a further £9 million over the MTFP period; Council Tax levies are not keeping pace with inflation, resulting in reduced funding for increased costs (about £6million over MTFP); increasing service pressures and demands. Total cost and expenditure pressures would be much higher if substantial savings and efficiencies, and new ways to generate additional income were not being found by the Council.
2.5 Demographic change has also influenced budget setting. A rapidly rising birth rate continues to be a driver in the need for more services for children and pupil places in key ‘hot spots’. The growing numbers of older people and people of all ages with disabilities who have more complex needs has led to an increase in growth requirements for the Adult Social Care budget. Wider changes, such as the having to re-assess older people and people with a learning or physical disability who are currently funded through Continuing Health Care, have also been reflected in the budget.
3.0 Key actions taken to minimise impacts
3.1 It is recognised that the cuts will have impacts on equality groups in Poole. The priority for the Council in reducing its budget has therefore been to protect the most vulnerable members of the community. The approach has been to cut inefficiencies before cutting services and seek out opportunities for saving costs, for example, through efficiency review and developing partnership approaches.
3.2 In addition to reducing back office costs, there has been a freeze on Member allowances and on employee pay increments, as well as other changes to employment terms and conditions for staff.
3.3 Central to the decision making process has been a desire to protect and where possible, enhance those services which have the greatest impact on vulnerable people. The budget for Adult Social Care has been increased to accommodate rising demand and the Council has protected the budget for Children’s Social Care. In addition, safeguarding services related to anti-social behaviour and domestic violence have been retained without cuts. Increasing needs for housing and homelessness advice has been reflected in a budget increase in this area, protecting some of the most disadvantaged people in Poole.
3.4 More detail about the impacts for different protected characteristics are in Annexe 1 and the process for considering impacts different stages are set out in Annexe 2.
4.0 Overview of approach to minimising impacts
4.1 As well as universal services, such as bin collections and education, much of the Council’s work is to provide services to the most vulnerable in the community, for example, support and care to older and disabled people, services to those suffering domestic violence, or to protect children from neglect and abuse.
4.2 In addition some Council services aim to prevent people falling into difficulties and seeing a decline in their circumstances, for example, activities to reduce the isolation of older people or positive activities for young people. Clearly the more reliant people are on our services the more affected they may be.
4.3 The Council has taken an approach that aims to minimise impacts on equality groups, action taken includes:
a) Additional funding to the tune of £1,704,000 in 2011/12 and £1,629,000 in 2012/13 for adult social care services of benefit to health. These funds have come from the Department of Health via NHS Bournemouth and Poole and the use of the monies have now been agreed between the two organisations. The money is being used to fund the care costs of residents who are deemed no longer eligible for health funding via Continuing Health Care as a consequence of NHS Bournemouth and Poole reviewing the needs of the individual, and to fund new joint health and social care re-ablement services which will provide free care and support to people leaving hospital to support them to regain skills in independent living.
b) Launched a new website and increasing the use of social media to improve how we provide information, resident engagement and web accessibility standards, and continue to offer different ways for people to access our services. The use of social media helps us access younger audiences for instance. We are aware that while technology benefits some people, there are others who are unable to access information in this way and printed publications, as well as telephone and face to face contact remain part of our overarching strategy.
c) Begun developing our approach to Localism. To support this:
o we will engage with local communities wishing to bring forward Neighbourhood Plans and ensure that such neighbourhood forums represent different sections of the community
o we will work with the development community to ensure that developments submitting large scale planning applications are undertaking consultation with the local community and engage with all sections of that community.
o the level of community development resources is being maintained and will continue to focus in areas of highest deprivation
o support is being provided to the ‘Communities First Initiative’ in Poole Old Town, which will give small grants to local groups to work together to take action on local priorities they identify
o we are working with older people in Turlin Moor in the ‘Ageing Well’ project to reduce their isolation and encourage them to be more active
o funding has been maintained to Poole’s Council for Voluntary Services, which supports the voluntary and community sector and can advise on funding opportunities
o a Community Foundation for Poole has been launched
o a pilot mapping of local community groups of Poole Old Town is being carried out so people can find out what is available to them and engage in their local area
o monitoring developments around how business rates might be redistributed back to Local Authorities.
d) Worked with colleagues in the community and voluntary sector to understand the impact of reducing Poole’s funding to the sector and maintained a small grants pot to support organisations which have been unable to source funds from other grant giving bodies.
e) Maintained funding to Poole’s Citizen’s Advice Bureau so they can continue to provide their invaluable support to people experiencing difficulties, particularly in the current tough economic conditions.
f) Council approved an unsecured loan of £150,000 to the Coastal Credit Union in December 2010 to assist in funding the development of in-house banking facilities to support its operations and outreach across the local community. The Credit Union play an important role in supporting vulnerable individuals who would otherwise struggle to obtain credit in the mainstream banking sector and have to rely on expensive credit from other lenders. The Coastal Credit Union works closely with Poole Housing Partnership and offers a weekly surgery out of the Civic Centre.
g) Where charges are being raised or introduced, or eligibility criteria have changed, Services have researched and benchmarked others’ practice, where appropriate consulted stakeholders, and recommended changes on that basis. Alternatively, services are trying to identify new income streams. For example, Poole Museum is introducing a café, trying to increase conference use, and offering weddings and civil partnerships at Scaplen’s Court rather than charge residents or visitors an entry fee.
h) Improved the MTFP process so it is more transparent and more explicitly identifies and assesses the impacts of any budgetary changes on the community and voluntary sector and equality groups, starting from the initial proposals set out by Council Service Units, through two rounds of publically available Overview and Scrutiny Reports and through to Council agreeing the MTFP. (see Annexe 2)
In addition, the Council will:
i) Continue to carry out Equality Impact Assessments and undertake ongoing monitoring of changes to services and new policy development. A review of the MTFP Overview and Scrutiny Committee reports identified future EQIAs and, in particular, the need to:
o carry out an EQIA on the Accommodation Efficiency Review Programme to ensure that the Council remains accessible to customers and employees;
o repeat the EQIA on new staff reductions and restructurings, and training budget reductions
o undertake an EQIA on the channel shift to web-based communications.
j) Undertake a brief review on the cumulative impacts of increases in fees to see if there are particular impacts.
k) Undertake a review of the cumulative impacts of the cuts on young people, older people, women and disabled people.
l) Investigate, review and respond to legitimate representations or complaints arising from the changes.
m) Analyse research, including the Shaping Poole Survey, the Poole Opinion Panel and satisfaction surveys, by specific groups of people, for example, age, disability or sex where it is possible to do so. We also use local or national research on specific groups to inform what we do.
n) Monitor and report related risks through the Corporate Risk Register, including that “Long term resources may be inadequate to meet the needs of the community given the current economic climate and cuts in Public Sector funding” (ref KCR 020); a risk related to the anticipated increased costs for Adult Social Care arising from demographic changes (KCR025); a risk identified about the impact of the changes to Benefits will have on the most vulnerable in the community and that will be a significant financial pressure on the Council (KCR030); and a risk related to very limited opportunities to enable additional affordable housing despite high and rising demand because of the current Government funding and economic climate (KCR033).
o) Continue to implement our Fairness for All policy and offer a range of corporate equality training. Equality objectives will be mainstreamed in a new Corporate Strategy in April 2012.
p) Ensure that contract terms and conditions, procurement guidance and policy, the Contract Management System, e-procurement technologies as well as active engagement and education events with local suppliers are updated as required to reflect any changes to equality duties.
Responsible officer
Jan Thurgood
Strategic Director
Contact:
Emma Leatherbarrow
Strategy Team Manager
January 2012
Background papers
MTFP Overview and Scrutiny Reports from September 2011
MTFP Overview and Scrutiny Reports from November / December 2011
Annexe 1: Detail of impact on people from different equalities groups and action to be taken
5.1.1 Demographic information about older people:
a) Poole has a growing number of older people. It is a popular retirement town with an ageing population that is above the national average, particularly for those above 85 years old. Fourteen percent of older people in the Borough are classed as living in poverty. While Poole has high proportions of wealthy elderly, significant inequalities exist in the Borough. Two areas in Poole have over 40% of their older population living in poverty. These are in Poole Town Centre and Newtown North (south of Herbert Avenue). There is strong evidence of the link between poverty and poor outcomes for older people, including poor health and exclusion.
b) At later ages, older people can find themselves living in accommodation that they struggle to maintain to a decent standard without assistance. In Poole, 80% of older people of retirement age own their own homes, significantly higher proportions than for England (68%). However, it is likely there are a number of equity rich, cash poor residents trapped in poor living conditions. Older people are more likely to live in non-decent housing. Inadequate heating is the most common reason for older people’s homes being non-decent. 6% of older people aged 60 and over in Poole lived in households with no central heating. older people are more likely to suffer from fuel poverty.
5.1.2 Impacts on services for older people and actions to minimise these:
Where older people[1] access a range of services and activities they are more likely to be affected. We are working to minimise impacts in the following ways:
a) People over 65 years old receive 52% of Adult Social Care’s services. Their budget for 2011/12 was £38.768 million, which makes up 38% of the Council’s total budget. An additional £4,527,000 extra is being invested in Adult Social Care (ASC) in 2012/13 to meet the demographic changes as there is a growing number of older people and people with more complex needs in Poole. This means a growth in services for older people of £1,751,000 against the backdrop of a 8% further cut in Government funding for 2012/13.