Equality and Human Rights Commission

An equality impact assessment is an analysis of a proposed change to an organisational policy to determine whether it has a disparate impact on one gender, ethnic group, those with disabilities or those working part-time. It applies both to external policies, (i.e. those having an impact on the customers - or clients - of the organisation) and to internal policies (that is those affecting the organisation’s employees).

An equality impact assessment in relation to pay is a statistical analysis of an organisation’s proposals to change one or more aspects of its grading and pay structures, with potential impact on one or more groups of its employees.

An equality impact assessment in relation to pay involves:

• Comparing pay data from the old and proposed new pay structures in order to determine the impact of the proposals in relation to gender, race, or disability.
• Reviewing proposed changes to grading and pay structures and changes to other terms and conditions to identify any gender, ethnicity, disability related differences arising from the proposals.
• Deciding whether any disparate impact is justified,
• and, if not, amending the proposals.
• Agreeing an action plan to eliminate any outstanding gender or other diversity-related pay differences.

Other pages in this section

• Why carry out an equality impact assessment?
• Step 1: Deciding the scope of an equality impact assessment and assembling data
• Step 2: Calculating average basic pay and identifying pay gaps
• Step 3: Supplementary checks
• Step 4: Reviewing pay policies
• Step 5: Reviewing other proposed changes
• Step 6: Reviewing proposals and creating an action plan