Impact assessments are most likely to be needed for public bodies during the process of developing equality schemes. However, they are also extremely useful tools for systematically assessing policies to ensure that they are not having an unintended negative impact on any equality strands or disadvantaged groups.

When trade unions are involved in negotiating on policies, doing your own impact assessment on the policies will help you to determine whether or not they are robust enough and promote equality in the workplace.

For organisations that do not have to comply with the equality duties but would like to identify areas for improvement around equality, the downloadable Equality Risk Assessment document helps you to identify in detail all areas of risk, and actions that need to be taken to improve your policies and procedures.
An example of a risk assessment for a recruitment policy is included here.
Equalities Risk Assessment

It is also important to note that private sector organisations who are contracted to carry out work or deliver services on behalf of a public body (such as a local authority), must also ensure that they are compliant with the equality duties.

For more on Equalities Impact Assessment:
Equalities Impact Assessment Flowchart [PDF, 194kb]
Equalities Impact Assessment