Policy Council Tax Discretionary Discount and Exceptional Hardship Fund policy

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7. Equality Impact Considerations

Equality impact considerations – the policy is high relevance to equality if it has a big impact on residents and users of the service

Low

4.1 This Equality Impact Assessment considers the impact of this policy on the relevant protected characteristics, as defined by the Equality Duty, which are:

  • Age (including children and young people)
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Race
  • Religion or belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual orientation
  • Marriage or civil partnership status (in respect of the requirement to have due regard to eliminate discrimination)
  • An additional EDDC local factor of community considerations such as socio-economic factors, criminal convictions, rural living or Human Rights

4.2 This policy has a positive or neutral impact on all protected characteristics.

4.3 The protected characteristics which are positively impacted are age, disability and EDDC local factors. This is because the policy, when considering EHF awards, considers household composition and disability related expenditure when looking at expenditure calculations.

4.4 The positive impact on local factors is high as the EH awards support vulnerable Council Taxpayers who may not otherwise be able to pay their Council Tax. Also the discretionary discounts help to support local areas which may be affected by natural disasters which affect the households.