Engagement Newsletter

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1 The Helpline advises and assists individuals on issues relating to equality and human rights, across England, Scotland and Wales. We also accept referrals from organisations who may not have the resources to provide in-depth advice to users of their services. EASS can be contacted through the following ways: Telephone Textphone via website Post to FREEPOST EASS Helpline FPN 6521 Webchat Available via website Engagement Newsletter Welcome to the May 2018 edition of the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS) newsletter. The aim of this newsletter is for you to get a regular insight in to how we function and how we provide advice, guidance and support to individuals experiencing discrimination. As well as offering a window into the EASS, we will also share some of the successful outcomes from our advice and support. In this edition we will be looking at some of the common types of discrimination complaints received recently by the EASS. Some of our success stories are also featured along with an update on our engagement work. Also we will be sharing details of the new helpline operated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which is designed to provide advice to professionals who may be supporting individuals with complex equality or human rights cases. We would also like to thank you for continuing to receive the newsletter. To ensure that we are fully compliant with the new GDPR we asked everyone to confirm that they are happy to receive this newsletter update. You can of course subscribe or unsubscribe at any time by making a request to andrew.goldsby@uk.g4s.com We would also like to welcome all our new subscribers to the newsletter. We would encourage you to share the newsletter with your networks. We are very grateful for all your hard work in ensuring people know where to receive free advice and support should they face an incident of discrimination. If you wish to subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, please andrew.goldsby@uk.g4s.com Engagement Newsletter This Month Engagement Spotlight: Social Media EASS teams up with Disability Wales - Reference Group Round-up - EHRC Adviser advice line Success Stories: Cases where the EASS has helped reach an informal outcome Common Issues: Our most recent common and trending issues New to EASS? May 2018 Edition

2 Engagement and Events Through this newsletter we also aim to highlight some of the engagement work we carry out. It is important the EASS develops relationships with other organisations to help set up referral routes both in and out of the service. If you want to talk more to us about how our organisations could work more closely together then please contact EASS to team up with Disability Wales Keep an eye on Social media on the 20 th June as EASS are teaming up with Disability Wales to run a two hour twitter question and answer session. #Disabilityrights will invite people from across Wales to share their experiences of using services across Wales as a disabled individual. We will also be answering any immediate questions people may have on the Equality Act. The event will run between 2pm and 4pm on this date so please be sure to join in, retweet and like the various content we will be sharing. Also, follow to ensure you are receiving all the messages linked to this event. We will begin the promotion of this event in early June. Reference Group Meetings During April and May we held our twice yearly reference group meetings in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff. Since October 2016 we have been committed to ensuring that partners and stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on our performance, share working practices with us and, listen to common or trending discrimination and human rights issues we receive via the helpline. All three meetings were well attended by a good cross-section of organisations representing various sectors or specific rights groups. In each meeting we shared common trends with the group which provided an opportunity to talk in more detail on how we can support individuals experiencing these types of issues. On the agenda were cases around mental health discrimination in the workplace, the continued high volume of sexual harassment issues received by the EASS, and issues around access to public transport for disabled individuals. We will talk more about public transport access within the common issues section of this newsletter. We have also identified increased reports of discrimination against some people from Gypsy and Traveller communities with insurance being refused to individuals residing on traveller sites. The final area of potential discrimination we discussed during the reference group meetings focused on issues that could be attributed to the Post-Brexit environment. In particular, the EASS has received more complaints from individuals facing more blatant harassment because of nationality when in employment. Also, employers appear to be refusing to offer work to individuals without UK identification or passports with some EU nationals being refused work because the employer has not been sure whether they will have a right to work in the UK once Britain leaves the European Union.

3 Engagement and Events Throughout the reference group meetings we talked about how the EASS can advise and support individuals experiencing all these common themes of discrimination. In work issues we can provide advice on how the Equality Act may apply, whereas with non-work issues we may be able to provide more practical support should an individual s initial complaint not resolve the incident. Reference group meetings are incredibly useful to the EASS in sharing our experiences with other organisations but it also helps provide a barometer for the EASS to assess whether we are being contacted about the right types of issues. If we are able to identify, via the reference groups, additional areas that we could advise on, we can engage with stakeholder groups working in those areas to ensure that people know we can help. We will be hosting reference group meetings again later in the year. If you would like to attend one of these meetings then please get in touch directly with us. IPSEA You may recall in our March issue that we featured the services and training that can be provided by IPSEA on Special Education Needs Law. IPSEA have now launched their new website which can be viewed here EHRC Advisor Support If you are an adviser or front line agency who supports individuals who may have experienced discrimination you will be interested to know that the Equality and Human Rights Commission now has an advice line to provide you with an expert opinion on an individual s case. The service is only available to advisers or support groups where support is being provided to individuals experiencing discrimination The EHRC Adviser Support helpline offers frontline agencies high quality advice on equality and human rights issues. You can call them to: Ask a question about equality and human rights law Talk through a case with potential equality and human rights issues Tell them how they can help you to help individuals affected by equality and human rights issues Tell us about emerging trends and issues The service is free and is designed to run as a complimentary service to the EASS helpline. Individual members of the public who contact the EHRC advice line will be signpost to the EASS helpline instead. Please note that the EHRC can only support advisers and agencies who are supporting individuals, they can t advise individuals or, organisations directly about your responsibilities within the Equality Act. Advisers supporting individuals can access the EHRC advice line via or by calling: England: Scotland: Wales:

4 Success Stories It is always nice to hear when our advice and support resolves an issue. It is also important for us to know when the helpline is being effective in helping people understand their rights and progress their complaints. The following two cases show that there are various different ways we can help individuals progress a complaint. While we can offer informal support to individuals, in some situations we will identify a case that may be of interest to the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Following our initial advice and support, it is also pleasing to hear when the Commission is able to get a successful outcome from one of our referrals. This really demonstrates the importance of us working collaboratively with the EHRC. Racial abuse in-store A gentleman of Chinese ethnicity contacted the helpline unsure on how to tackle a vile incident of discrimination at a local well-known low-price retailer. The individual had attended the store and noticed that he was being followed by two younger members of staff. After a short time it became obvious that they were mimicking a Chinese accent and making noises as if they were trying to speak the language. The individual took deep offence to this and was left feeling unsafe. So much so that he left the store. Really hurt by the exchange, the individual took a few days to contact the EASS to enquire whether he had any rights in this situation. Our adviser confirmed that individuals are protected from race discrimination when accessing goods, facilities and services. The adviser also confirmed that what happened to the individual may amount to both direct discrimination and harassment. Because of the nature of the incident, we felt it inappropriate that a complaint should be made directly to the store. To avoid causing the individual any further distress, the EASS wrote on his behalf to the store to request an explanation, describe the his rights under the Equality Act 2010 and seek confirmation that steps would be taken. The response we received from the store was incredibly empathetic and apologetic. They confirmed that they had investigated and were able to identify that the incident had occurred as described to the EASS. At the end of the investigation they also felt it appropriate to dismiss both members of staff involved in the incident. They are also going to ensure that all staff are aware of how to interact with customers and that no discrimination in any form will be tolerated. Neighbourhood parking A caller to EASS was having difficulty with his housing association and his parking provisions. His wife has a mobility disability and he is her sole carer. They used a communal car park close to the property but started to have difficulty following a dispute with a neighbour on a different issue unrelated to parking.

5 Success Stories The neighbour started to park in a manner that made it impossible for the caller and his wife to use their usual space. There was not enough room left to get the door open to exit the vehicle. At one stage he was left with no option but to park across a dropped kerb close to his home and navigate a difficult path with his wife. Having parked by this dropped kerb he later received a letter from the housing association advising him not to do so in future. He complained to the housing association who advised there was nothing they could do. The individual decided to involve Occupational Health to assess the parking arrangements. They confirmed that two spaces should be allocated for disabled use with one specifically allocated to the caller and his wife. The change in parking was made by the housing association. The change however, escalated the neighbour s behaviour where he was now parking across both bays. The final straw was when the neighbour waited until the couple left to attend a hospital appointment before moving his car to take up both spaces. The neighbour then proceeded to go on a two week holiday making it impossible for the couple to use the space. The couple were having to park across a dropped kerb again and risked complaints being made about them to the housing association. The housing association replied to the couple following a further complaint about the neighbour stating that it is not able to police the use of the bays. Despite advice from the EASS and support from the helpline to try and get a more positive response from the housing association, a decision was made to refer this to the EHRC. The EASS undertakes an important role in the referral of cases to the EHRC. The EHRC was able to seek an agreement with the housing association that it would ensure the car parking bays were signposted appropriately, displaying who could use the bays. They agreed that no action would be taken should the couple need to block the drop kerb and, finally, they will be writing to all residents in the strongest terms explaining the appropriate use of the car park having identified sanctions should the bays be abused in the future. Sometimes for strategic purposes, it is useful for the EASS to refer a case to the EHRC. This is important for cases that may fit within the Commission s strategic priorities or should we identify cases of systemic failures under the Equality Act EASS Helpline Facts Usually between 62 and 65% of contacts made with EASS are about disability discrimination. In April 2018 we received 2702 calls, 800 s, 76 webchats and 39 letters requesting advice and support. We manage to answer nearly 97% of all calls made to EASS with around 91% answered within 60 seconds. Our website gets over 10,000 hits each month with people accessing the wealth of information in our resources section. EASS will be celebrating our 6 th anniversary in October this year. Opening hours for EASS are weekdays 9am 7pm and Saturday 10am 2pm. Our contact number is free and we will never charge for any advice and support.

6 Common Issues Single Sex Services It is quite common for the EASS to receive complaints about services that are only provided to one sex. However, we have noticed that there has been a slight increase in the number of these complaints recently. In particular, we have noticed a rise in complaints regarding barbers who only cut men s hairstyles. The Equality Act does allow for services to be provided to one sex if certain conditions are met. These are (taken directly from the Act); The service is also provided jointly for persons of both sexes, and the service would be insufficiently effective were it only to be provided jointly. A joint service for persons of both sexes would be less effective, and the extent to which the service is required by persons of each sex makes it not reasonably practicable to provide separate services. The service is provided at a place which is, or is part of a hospital, or another establishment for persons requiring special care, supervision or attention. The service is provided for, or is likely to be used by, two or more persons at the same time, and the circumstances are such that a person of one sex might reasonably object to the presence of a person of the opposite sex. There is likely to be physical contact between a person (A) to whom the service is provided and another person (B), and B might reasonably object if A were not of the same sex as B. As well as meeting one of the above conditions, a decision to restrict services to a single sex must be objectively justified as a fair way of reaching a legitimate aim. However, difficulties can arise even if it is quite clear that a service is, for example, a barbers cutting men s hair. What could they lawfully do if a woman wanted a male style haircut? In these situations, it may be difficult to rely on the above conditions. There is unlikely to be a requirement that a male barbers must also provide services to cut hairstyles usually selected by women, however it could be discriminatory to refuse to provide that service to a woman if she was to request a hairstyle usually selected by men (which the barber specializes in).

7 Common Issues The EASS has received complaints from women wishing to get a style of haircut that is usually associated with men and being refused because the barbers state they only cut men s hair. In some situations though, the EASS has received complaints where women have been asked to leave the premises completely, for simply wishing to wait for a male companion to have their hair cut. In this case, consideration would need to be given to whether use of a waiting area could be considered an aspect of the overall service. If this is the case, again we would have to look at the conditions above to establish whether the services could be refused. Disability and transport Race discrimination and car insurance Another issue we have previously reported focuses on online quotes for car insurance. What we are experiencing is that companies request a country of birth. If other countries outside the UK are input then this will affect the price of the quote. There appears to be no scope to explain where an individual has obtained their license or, in some cases, how long they have lived in the UK. This makes it much more difficult to understand the reason for questioning about a person s nation of birth. Next edition Our next edition will be a statistical update where we share information on the discrimination and human rights issues we have received across England, Scotland and Wales. Although we have reported similar issues in past we thought this common issue worth mentioning due to the volume of complaints we are hearing. Both bus and train companies are leaving disabled passengers stranded where accessibility policies are not being followed. Companies advise how assistance can be provided to disabled passengers, however the poor execution or, in some cases, complete lack of help from staff leads to passengers sat on trains having to shout for help. In some cases leaving the individual missing connections and delaying journeys. The EASS will advise and support individuals, however our experience is that the standard response from transport companies is simply to explain their policies. On paper, the policies detail the support that should be provided yet the reality is, if the polices are not being carried out by the staff on the ground, that disabled passengers still face these incidents.