Equality Data 2016/17

Equality information is data from a range of sources that contributes to the Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils understanding of how people covered by the protected characteristics, access and experience the Councils services.

The Equality Duty

The Equality Duty is a duty on public bodies and others carrying out public functions. It ensures that public bodies consider the needs of all individuals in their day to day work – in shaping policy, in delivering services, and in relation to their own employees.

The new Equality Duty supports good decisionmaking – it encourages public bodies to understand how different people will be affected by their activities so that policies and services are appropriate and accessible to all and meet different people’s needs. By understanding the effect of their activities on different people, and how inclusive public services can support and open up people’s opportunities, public bodies are better placed to deliver policies and services that are efficient and effective. The Equality Duty therefore helps public bodies to deliver the Government’s overall objectives for public services.

The new Equality Duty covers the following protected characteristics:

• age

• disability

• gender reassignment

• pregnancy and maternity

• race – this includes ethnic or national origins, colour or nationality

• religion or belief – this includes lack of belief

• sex

• sexual orientation

It also applies to marriage and civil partnership, but only in respect of the requirement to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination.

Equality Service Data 2016 / 2017

This data relates to the period from April 2016 to March 2017.

Of the 148complaints received across both Councils, 34 complainants completed equality and diversity information as follows:

Gender
Female / 8
Male / 8
Prefer not to answer/no answer given / 18
/
Gender reassignment
Gender same as that assigned at birth / 14
Gender different to that assigned at birth / 2
Prefer not to say/no answer given / 18
/
Age
25-34 / 5
35-44 / 2
45-54 / 3
55-64 / 1
65-74 / 3
75-84 / 1
Prefer not to answer/no answer given / 19
/
Ethnic Group
White British / 14
Prefer not to answer/no answer given / 20
/
Disability or long standing health problem
Disability or long standing health problem / 6
No Disability or long standing health problem / 9
Prefer not to answer/no answer given / 19
/
Religion
Christian / 4
Muslim / 1
Atheist / 2
No religion / 2
Prefer not to answer/no answer given / 25
/
Sexual Orientation
Heterosexual / 10
Bisexual / 1
Gay man / 1
Prefer not to answer/no answer given / 22
/

Equality and Diversity Data 2016

Applicants Housed

Ethnicity / Babergh / Mid Suffolk
Bangladeshi / 0.60% / 0%
Black African / 0.30% / 0.30%
Black Caribbean / 0.89% / 0%
Mixed White and Black Caribbean / 0.60% / 0.90%
Mixed White and Asian / 0% / 0.30%
Mixed White and Black African / 0% / 0.30%
Other / 0.30% / 0%
White British / 89.58% / 94.33%
White Irish / 0.60% / 0%
White Italian / 0% / 0.30%
White Latvian / 0.30% / 0%
White Polish / 2.08% / 0.90%
White Romanian / 0.30% / 0%
Any Other Black Background / 0.30% / 0%
Any Other Ethnic Group / 0.30% / 0%
Any Other Mixed Background / 0.89% / 0%
Any Other White / 0.60% / 1.49%
I do not wish to answer / 2.38% / 1.19%
Gender / Babergh / Mid Suffolk
Female / 68.15% / 67.46%
Male / 31.85 / 32.54%
Age / Babergh / Mid Suffolk
17 - 21 / 6.55% / 8.06%
22 – 29 / 25.60% / 20.30%
30 – 39 / 22.02% / 23.28%
40 – 49 / 11.61% / 9.85%
50 – 59 / 9.82% / 12.24%
60+ / 24.40% / 26.27%
Disability / Babergh / Mid Suffolk
Yes / 67.07% / 68.37%
No / 32.93% / 31.63%
Religion / Babergh / Mid Suffolk
Buddhist / 0.30% / 0%
Christian / 42.86% / 43.88%
Muslim / 0.60% / 0.30%
Any other religion / 2.98% / 4.18%
None / 42.56% / 42.69%
I do not wish to answer / 10.71% / 8.96%
Sexuality / Babergh / Mid Suffolk
Bisexual / 0.89% / 60%
Gay man / 0.30% / 0%
Heterosexual / 88.69% / 86.87%
Lesbian / 0% / 0.30%
I do not wish to answer / 10.12% / 12.24%

Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils Housing Benefit & Council Tax Reduction Equalities Information – March 2017

This data is provided by the Shared Revenue Partnership.

Equality Monitoring in Revenues and Benefits

The recognised characteristics for Fairness Monitoring are:-

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Gender Reassignment
  • Marriage and civil partnership
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Race
  • Religion and belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual orientation

Of these, HB/CTR processing only records:-

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Ethnic Origin (Race)

However, the ethnic origin question is voluntary and few claimants complete it.

SRP does hold information on Lone Parents and Children in HB/CTR records, but cannot comment on the other characteristics.

Revenues (Council Tax and Business Rates) holds no equality information at all.

This shows two clear peaks in each area in the 36-45 age range, then again in the 66-75 range – the oldest claimant is 103 in Babergh and 104 in Mid-Suffolk.

The problem here is the “where declared” caveat – only 14.34% of HB and/or CTR Claimants in Babergh and 12.2% in Mid-Suffolk answered the Ethnic Origin questions (Both about double the 2016 percentage). This data is therefore not statistically relevant. This is slowly improving with the new e-forms.

Note that a “Sick or Disabled” Benefit in this context means:-

  • Attendance Allowance (AA),
  • Disability Living Allowance (DLA),
  • Employment & Support Allowance (ESA),
  • Personal Independence Payment (PIP), or
  • Severe Disability Allowance (SDA).

As may be expected, the sick/disabled households are mainly in the social sector housing – thus 17.4% of BDC local authority tenant households receiving housing benefit also have someone receiving DLA Mobility.

It is interesting to compare the change over the last two years.

Note the dramatic increase in those placed in the Support Group of ESA.

Points to note:

  • Households getting at least one sick/disability benefit remained about static in both Councils, despite total caseload steadily falling. BDC went from 1,899 to 1,893 whilst the HB caseload fell from 4,338 to 4,145 and MSDC households getting at least one sick/disability benefit went from 1,832 to 1,870, whilst the HB caseload fell from 3,871 to 3,753.
  • Although DLA numbers fell, the fall was more than off-set by the increase in PIP. DLA recipients are steadily being moved over to PIP.

28.49% (1,581) of the live BDC HB and/or CTR Claims include children in the household (defined as receiving Child Benefit)

Included in that number, 19.82% (1,100) of the BDC live claims have a lone parent as claimant, 68 of whom (6.18% of the caseload) are male.

In MSDC 26.2% (1,349) of the live HB and/or CTR Claims include children in the household and in that number 968 (18.80%) have a lone parent as claimant, 52 of whom (5.37%) are male.

If you are a member of the public using this data we would like to hear from you. Please contact the Business Improvement Team at