Communities Scrutiny Committee Item 7 Manchester City Council 16 October Manchester City Council Report for Resolution

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1 Manchester City Council Report for Resolution Report to: Communities Scrutiny Committee 16 October 2013 Subject: Report of: Protected Characteristics Geoff Little, Deputy Chief Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to define the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010 and give a headline of how Manchester City Council is meeting its general and specific duties Recommendations Members of the Committee are requested to note the contents of the report and agree the order in which future committees will examine each of the protected characteristics in detail. Wards Affected: All Contact Officers: Name: Geoff Little Position: Deputy Chief Executive (Performance) Telephone: g.little@manchester.gov.uk Name: Caroline Powell Position: Strategic HR Business Partner Telephone: c.powell@manchester.gov.uk Name: Adam Farricker Position: Senior Equalities Officer Telephone: a.farricker@manchester.gov.uk Background documents (available for public inspection): Equality and Human Rights Guidance 24

2 1.0 Background 1.1 As set out in the paper to the Communities Scrutiny Committee in November 2012, The Equality Act 2010 replaced all previous anti-discrimination laws with a single act with the public sector Equality Duty coming into force on 6 April In summary, those subject to the equality duty must, in the exercise of their functions, have due regard to the three arms of the equality duty which are the need to: Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it; and Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not 1.2 Having due regard for advancing equality involves: Removing or minimising disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics Taking steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different from the needs of other people Encouraging people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low 1.3 The Act sets out the basic framework of protection against direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation and disability discrimination, which are referred to as prohibited conduct. 2.0 Discrimination 2.1 Under the Act, discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic they either have or are thought to have (discrimination by perception), or because they associate with someone who has a protected characteristic (discrimination by association below). 2.2 Indirect discrimination occurs when an organisation has a condition, rule, policy or even a practice that applies equally to everyone on its face value, but in practice has a particularly disadvantageous effect on groups of people who share a protected characteristic. 3.0 Harassment 3.1 Harassment is defined as unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual. Harassment applies to all protected 25

3 characteristics, except for pregnancy and maternity and marriage and civil partnership. In addition, the Equality Act makes employers potentially liable for harassment of their employees by third parties who are not employees of their organisation, such as customers or clients. Employers will only be liable if the harassment has occurred on at least two previous occasions, and the employer whilst aware has not taken appropriate action to prevent it from reoccurring. 4.0 Victimisation 4.1 Victimisation occurs when an employee is treated badly because they have made or supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act; or because they are suspected of doing so. An employee is not protected from victimisation if they have maliciously made or supported an untrue complaint. 4.2 In order to meet its equality duties, the City Council must ensure that all its policies and practices are free of discrimination and promote equality of opportunity. 5.0 Protected characteristics and how Manchester is working to meet its statutory duties 5.1 Previously, equality legislation covered race, gender and disability. The Equality Act 2010 requires the Council to give due regard to the protected characteristics which are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender and sexual orientation. The information below defines each of the protected characteristics in detail and briefly outlines how the city council is currently meeting its statutory duties in respect of each of the protected characteristics. 6.0 Age 6.1 The Act offers protection to people of all ages with the Age Discrimination Ban, which became effective on 1 October 2012, preventing age-related discrimination in the provision of services and public functions. Different treatment of individuals because of age is not automatically unlawful direct or indirect discrimination though, if it can be justified (i.e. it can demonstrated that it is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim). Examples of justifiable discrimination is wide-ranging, but would include: Age-based state benefits Free TV licenses for those aged 75 and over Winter fuel allowance for pensioners Age limits in fostering and adoption arrangements 6.2 Age is the only protected characteristic that allows employers to justify direct discrimination (i.e. where there is an age-related Genuine Occupation Requirement, such as the requirement to be 21 years old or over to hold an HGV license).. 26

4 6.3 Members have retained strand specific role which provides a more holistic approach to each of the protected characteristics. Councillor Susan Cooley is the current Lead Equality Member for Older People and Councillor Daniel Gillard is the Lead Equality Member for Intergenerational issues. 6.4 The Council leads age-related strategies to improve opportunities and outcomes for key age groups in the city. The Valuing Older People (VOP) Strategy and the 10 year Manchester Ageing Strategy 2009 set out how the Council will support older people to improve key areas that have the most impact in their lives. The work is driven by the Valuing Older People Team which works closely with the Valuing Older People Board, a customer-led group which informs the team s work and embeds the principles of coproduction in the Council s work on this agenda. 6.5 Manchester s Valuing Young People Strategy demonstrates how the Council values young people aged (up to 25 for those young people with a Learning Disability or Care Leaver) by describing it s commitment (offer) to all those who reside, study or work in the city. It s vision is that Every young person will have the opportunity to achieve their full potential and benefit from the economic prosperity of the City. They will contribute to, and benefit from, supportive and dynamic neighbourhoods. Valuing Young People is the City s aspiration to place the voice, and citizenship of young people at the heart of the City s current and future identity, recognising that young people are the future of Manchester, economically, socially and culturally: they will come to define our city, and its relationship with the wider world. 7.0 Disability 7.1 The Equality Act defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term (i.e. it has lasted or can reasonably be expected to last longer than 12 months) adverse effect on that person's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. 7.2 The Act has strengthened the rights of disabled people and now places a proactive duty to make reasonable adjustments to prevent disabled people experiencing disadvantage in relation to accessing employment, services, public functions and associations. The duty regarding reasonable adjustment is an anticipatory one, and it is not acceptable to wait for a disabled person to experience disadvantage before affecting an adjustment 7.3 Manchester City Council is committed to the social model of disability which states that it is not people s conditions or impairments themselves that disable people, but it is environmental and societal conventions that do not accommodate difference, and therefore disable people. 7.4 Councillor David Royle is the current Lead Equality Member for disability, working closely with the Equality Team to identify and progress some of the key disability issues within the city. Manchester enjoys a good representation of vocal and nationally recognised disability groups with which to engage, offering a wealth of insight into the priorities for this characteristic. 27

5 7.5 The Council has a well established and active disabled staff group, which has recently acted as a consultative forum to help to embed disability equality in some of the organisation s core HR policies. As a result, the Council s approaches to initiatives ranging from flexible working to employee health and wellbeing reflect disability equality and make significant progress towards a best-practice model. 8.0 Gender reassignment 8.1 A transsexual person is someone who proposes to, starts or has completed a process to change his or her gender. The Act no longer requires a person to be under medical supervision to be protected, therefore a woman who decides to live as a man but does not undergo any medical procedures would be protected. Equally, the Act does not require such a proposal to be irrevocable. It is important to note that under the Act, gender reassignment is a personal process rather that a medical one. 8.2 It is discrimination to treat transsexual people less favorably for being absent from work because they propose to undergo, are undergoing or have undergone gender reassignment than they would be treated if they were absent because they were ill or injured. A Gender Reassignment guide for managers was introduced in 2011 and refreshed in 2013 for managers who are supporting colleagues thinking about or undergoing gender reassignment. 8.3 Whilst the Council does not have a designated representative to lead on Gender Reassignment equality at Member level, Councillor Bev Craig (lesbian issues) and Councillor Kevin Peel (gay men s issues) also include gender reassignment issues in their respective portfolios. 8.4 Within the Council s workforce, to enhance the protection provided to transsexual staff by the Act, the Council has produced the Trans Guide for managers. This guide helps manager to provide the appropriate support for their staff who identify as transsexual, aiming to recognise the Council as a safe and welcoming environment for transsexual people to enjoy work 9.0 Marriage and civil partnership 9.1 The Act offers protection on the grounds of marriage or civil partnership only in regard to discrimination. Whilst this includes both direct and indirect discrimination, the Act does not offer protection from harassment or victimisation on these grounds. 9.2 Marriage is defined as a 'union between a man and a woman'. Same-sex couples in a 'civil partnerships are also covered by the Act. Civil partners must be treated the same as married couples on a wide range of legal matters. The Act does not protect single people or people who are unmarried. 9.3 Manchester City Council recently responded to the Government consultation looking at legislative changes that will allow same-sex marriage to be 28

6 recognised by law. Equality for marriage and same sex couples in civil partnership is included in the Council s Equal Opportunities and service provision policy which is currently being revised. 9.4 Manchester City Council has a long standing commitment to equal rights for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered people and we believe that the current provision of two distinct forms of partnership Marriage and Civil partnership perpetuates the notion that relationships between same sex couples are different and not as stable. The Council suggests that religious organisations wishing to celebrate same sex marriage should be welcomed and faith organisations should be allowed to do so without inappropriate intervention or obstruction by the state and/or other groups Pregnancy and maternity 10.1 Pregnancy is a reference to the period during which a woman is pregnant, whilst maternity refers to the 26 week period after the day of giving birth. Throughout this period, a woman is protected against discrimination. Discrimination in these terms is regarded as unfavorable treatment directly because of the pregnancy or because of illness suffered as a result of it. This includes the woman being treated unfavorably because she is breastfeeding. Discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy and maternity is therefore distinctly separate from sex discrimination The City Council s employment policy sets out the employment rights of pregnant women and those on maternity leave. The policy includes details of maternity leave together with maternity leave support, maternity leave for women who are adopting paternity leave and the right to request flexible working for parents so that they can achieve a work life balance Race The City Council benefit for working parents also includes access to childcare vouchers and health schemes The Act defines race as including colour, nationality (including citizenship) ethnic or national origins. The Act does not give an exhaustive list. A person has the protected characteristic of race if they fall within a particular racial group. A racial group is a group of people who have or share a colour, nationality or ethnic or national origins. All racial groups are protected from unlawful discrimination under the Act Nationality (or citizenship) is the specific legal relationship between a person and a state through birth or naturalisation and is distinct from national origins. Everyone has an ethnic origin but the provisions of the Act only apply where a person belongs to an ethnic group as defined by the courts. This means that the person must belong to an ethnic group which regards itself and is regarded by others as a distinct and separate community because of certain characteristics. These characteristics usually distinguish the group from the surrounding community. 29

7 11.3 There are two essential characteristics which an ethnic group must have: a long shared history and a cultural tradition of its own. In addition, an ethnic group may have one or more of the following characteristics: a common language; a common literature; a common religion; a common geographical origin; or being a minority; or an oppressed group National origins must have identifiable elements, both historic and geographic, which at least at some point in time indicate the existence or previous existence of a nation Councillor Luthfur Rahman, the current Lead Equality Member for race provides and works closely with the Equalities team to set the strategic priorities for Race equality in the city. The Council provides support to a wide range of voluntary and community and private sector partners that provide services for BME communities from across the City, through targeted commissioning and grant funded programmes 11.6 The City Council also actively works to ensure that as an employer it meets it s statutory obligation in relation to race, again through the City Council s Equal opportunities in Employment and Service provision policies, setting out how it intends to eradicate discrimination and promote equality across the organisation s diverse workforce The Councils BME staff group structure is currently being refreshed to ensure it is aligned with the organisation s strategic priorities and objectives and has senior level support moving forward. It is intended that the revised staff group framework will be more effective in meeting the needs of BME staff Religion and belief 12.1 Religion or belief includes any religion and any religious or philosophical belief. It also includes a lack of any such religion or belief so that atheists, agnostics and humanists are all protected. To be protected, a belief must satisfy various criteria, including that it is a weighty and substantial aspect of human life and behavior. Denominations or sects within a religion can be considered a protected religion or religious belief. It does not include political beliefs, scientific beliefs, or supporting football teams. Minority religions are treated with the same consideration and respect as more prominent religions Figures from the 2011 Census show that a total of 75.3% of the population of Manchester reported as having some religious affiliation. There has been a large decrease in the proportion of people identifying themselves as Christian in Manchester since 2001, falling from 62.4% in 2001 to 48.7% in Conversely, there has been an increase in those not identifying with any religion, rising from 16% to 25.3% and a rise in the proportion of people identifying themselves as Muslim, rising from 9.1% in 2001 to 15.8% in In Manchester, the approach to working with faith communities has been to build and support inter-faith dialogue that builds understanding and celebrates 30

8 commonly held values between the different faith groups. The City council supports groups such as the Faith Network for Manchester, (FN4M) an interfaith and multi-faith network and the Inter Faith Hate Crime forum which is chaired by the Dean of Manchester Cathedral and brings together faith and community leaders from across the city to discuss issues of hate The Council aims to enable the voice of faith communities to influence all stages of local decision making and planning and to ensure that faith groups are supported in the delivery of community and social activity Sex 13.1 The protected characteristic of sex refers to a man or a woman, a reference to people who share the protected characteristic of sex is a reference to people of the same sex The City Council remains committed to promoting equality for both men and women and this is evident by it s political leadership. Councillor Sameem Ali is the current Lead Equality Member for Gender and also includes issues of domestic violence within her portfolio. While domestic violence affects both sexes, it disproportionately impacts on women with it reportedly affecting one in four women nationally. There is also rising evidence to suggest that gay men on men domestic violence is on the increase and often goes unreported. To address this, the City Council has worked in partnership with partners from across the statutory and voluntary sector including GMP to develop the Manchester Multi Agency Domestic Violence Strategy to support victims of domestic violence. The strategy will be revised in the New Year The City Council also continues to support and promote International Women s Day (IWD) which is an opportunity to highlight some of the key issues and achievements for women locally, nationally and internationally. Councillor Suzanne Richards chairs the steering group which leads on the planning and organising of month long programme of events throughout March including the annual IWD Awards on the March 8, with partners from the statutory, voluntary and private sector Sexual orientation 14.1 Sexual orientation is defined by reference to a person s sexual orientation towards: persons of the same sex (i.e. the person is a gay man or a lesbian); persons of the opposite sex (i.e. the person is a heterosexual); persons of either sex (i.e. the person is bisexual) A reference to people who share this protected characteristic is in relation to people who are of the same sexual orientation. Therefore, a gay man and a lesbian share the same sexual orientation because they have a sexual orientation towards persons of the same sex as them. If a gay man is treated 31

9 less favourably than a lesbian, then this might amount to direct sex discrimination, not sexual orientation discrimination because they share the same sexual orientation It is important to note that sexual orientation discrimination includes discrimination because someone is of a particular sexual orientation, and it also covers discrimination connected with manifestations of that sexual orientation. These may include someone s appearance, the places they visit or the people they associate with Manchester City Council has a long history of championing the rights and equality for lesbian and gay and bi-sexual people and again this commitment is embedded in the political structure of the council. Councillor Bev Craig is the Lead Equality Member for lesbian and bi-sexual issues and Kevin Peel is the Lead Equality Member for gay and bi sexual issues To understand and to meet the needs of LGB service users the City Council has a number of arrangements in place. Regular engagement and consultation events take place to provide an opportunity for organisations across the city to highlight key issues for LGB communities so that this can inform service provision and delivery In addition, the Council holds a large portfolio of targeted and mainstream commissioned and grant funded programmes to support LGB residents and visitors in Manchester 14.7 As well as working to eliminate discrimination and promote equality for LGBT people, the City Council celebrates its LGBT community and continues to support Pride which is the largest LGBT festival in Europe and is now in its 20 th year In addition, the Council has made a number of advances as an employer for LGBT staff, with the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index recognising Manchester City Council as being in the top 100 employers for LGBT people nationally each year since it was established. In addition, the revised staff group framework will enable LGB colleagues across the organisation to support the Council realise its strategic equality objectives under the aims of the Community Strategy Characteristics not covered by the Equality Act Manchester City Council takes a holistic approach to analysing equality impact when proposing changes to service provision and/or policy development. This primarily looks at disproportionate impacts against the above protected groups however, as part of any decision making process wider impacts on communities and characteristics are taken into account. This could include socio-economic factors and sub-cultures or characteristics During the development of Manchester s Hate Crime Strategy it was recognised that a group of people or Sub-Culture not covered under The Act 32

10 have and continue to be suffer discrimination, harassment and victimisation as a result of hate crime and incidents in the UK. Working closely with Greater Manchester Police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Sophie Lancaster Foundation it was advised and evidenced as a result of a joint the Equality Impact Assessment that Sub-cultures in relation to Moshers and Emo s should be recognised and recorder under the Hate Crime categories. We were the only Local Authority and Police Force in the country to do this and many have since followed Conclusion and forward planning 16.1 Since the creation of the Centre of Excellence, Lead Equality Members in their roles as Equality Champions have continued to play a significant role in promoting the needs and interests of the protected characteristics they represent. The activities undertaken by Lead Equality Members in respect of their equality strand has been based on a combination of historical arrangements namely in relation to events, stakeholder engagement and priorities identified by the voluntary and community sector Councillor Sue Murphy who as well as being the executive member for equalities is also the Deputy leader for the Council. This arrangement ensures and demonstrates that there is a very clear and specific commitment to equality and meeting our statutory duties in relation to many of the protected characteristics both managerially and politically The Council also recognises that discrimination against one protected group does not exist in a vacuum and that often people belong to a number of protected characteristics for instance, a gay man may also be disabled, and therefore it is for this reason that the City Council as well as having specialism s for many of the protected groups also takes a holistic approach to meeting its statutory duties via the Centre of Excellence for Equalities To highlight the work being undertaken in respect of each of the protected characteristics and understand the future priorities for the City Council it is proposed that the committee examines each of the protected characteristics in the following order: November 2013 Race Recap on Black History Month initiatives and MCC s commitment to tackling race inequality across the city. December 2014 Age A paper looking at the work of the VOP and VYP in relation to tacking discrimination and reducing inequalities. (Invite representative from the Manchester Youth Council) Disability - A paper outlining the Council s work relating to Disability History Month, including an overview of Council supported provision across the city. 33

11 (Invite a representative from the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People to discuss their work with young disabled people) January 2014 Religion, Faith & Belief An overview of Manchester s faith and religious communities including an update on the support available to enhance interfaith dialogue and community cohesion across the city. (Invite a representative from FN4M to discuss their Equalities Funded work and the Dean of Manchester Cathedral to discuss the Inter Faith Hate Crime Forum) February 2014 COI Report Introduce the updated Communities of Interest Report to Members and invite a member of the Equalities Hub to discuss how the VCS and Commissioners can utilise this. March 2014 Sex A paper outlining the Councils work relating gender equality with a focus on International Women s Day and activities throughout March 34