Public sector equality duty

Equalities and our budget strategy

Ealing Council’s budget process is designed to make sure that resources are aligned with council priorities. The administration’s principles for the budget process are set out in the council’s medium term financial strategy:

  • Making every effort to protect those at risk in our borough including elderly, disabled, children and young people who use our services.
  • Building residents’ resilience and social capital through acting as an enabling council.
  • Intervening in problems as early as possible to deliver the best results for residents.
  • Seeking solutions that make use of local people’s knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment to the borough.
  • Seeking to maximise employment and economic growth in the borough by being an exemplary employer and by encouraging local business growth.
  • Making our services and those we commission world class and focused on what matters to local people.

Annual budgets are prepared in line with these principles.

These budget principles specifically prioritise the needs of the most disadvantaged in our communities and ensure that when making budget decisions we take the needs of different equalities groups into account.

Evidence of how we have put these principles into practice can be found in a high-level analysis of the nature of the budget proposals that have been put forward since these principles were agreed. For example, the majority of our budget proposals have been achieved through means such as reducing waste and improving efficiency, improving contract management and delayering management structures, rather than through reducing services.

We also ensure that specific equality assessments are carried out on detailed proposals for resource allocation, in advance of any formal decisions being taken by the council. This ensures that the budget is allocated in a manner which takes account of specific potential impacts on equality groups. Considerable effort has been made to ensure specific Equality Assessments contain sufficient information and evidence to enable the council to pay “due regard” to equality groups in its decision making, and identify methods for mitigating or avoiding any potential adverse impacts.

Additional work has also been undertaken to ensure that consideration of equality issues has been embedded in the budget setting process as a whole. Some of the specific additional activities undertaken which demonstrate this include:

  • support and advice to staff and members, including face to face sessions, training and written guidance to remind them of the requirements of legislation and implications of the council’s commitments to equalities for service planning and delivery, from the beginning of and throughout the budget-setting process
  • commitment sought and given by Full Council to principles guiding decision on the budget which explicitly relate to responsibilities around equality and diversity