By Jaimie Kaffash
5 October 2010
The Equalityand Human Rights Commission has released a practicalguide to help ensure public bodies are transparent and fair when making decisions over spending.
The guide shows how organisations can comply with equality legislation when considering cuts. It helps them assess the impact of proposed changes, such as relocations, redundancies and the cutting of services, on different groups.
Helen Hughes, the chief executive of the Equality & Human Rights Commission, said: ‘As we approach the Spending Review, we know all public bodies will be making difficult decisions. This [equality] legislation is not designed to prevent reductions in public expenditure.
‘Its role, and the commission's role as a regulator tasked with monitoring and enforcing the legislation, is to ensure that fairness and transparency are at the heart of decisions. And [that] when decisions do have a disproportionate impact, policy makers think carefully about what they can do to mitigate it.’
Women’s rights campaign body the Fawcett Society is currently seeking a judicial review to establish whether Chancellor George Osborne’s June Budget would increase inequality between women and men.
