GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL
Equality Impact Assessment
Employee Expenses
-1-
Equality Impact Assessment
Step One – identification and scope
1.0 The title of this assessment:
Removal of Employee Expenses
1.1 Date assessment completed: 15 August 2011
1.2 Responsible officer:
Lindsay Eddleston, HR Officer, Corporate Human Resources and
Karen Welsh, HR Officer, Corporate Human Resources
1.3 Contact details:
Corporate HR
20 Cochrane Street
Glasgow G2 1DU
0141-287-5483/4492
1.4 This is an assessment of:
The impact of the removal of certain employee expenses from the terms and conditions
of Glasgow City Council’s non teaching workforce.
1.5 These are the aims and objectives of the policy/function and the scope of the
assessment:
In April 2011, Glasgow City Council removed the following expenses from its conditions
of service:




excess travelling expenses (for journey costs, based on qualifying criteria,
where an employee had to move to a different place of work);
personal expenses while on Council business (for additional expenses
incurred when purchasing meals while travelling on Council business);
relocation packages (for expenses incurred if an employee had to move
house as a direct result of taking up a post); and
interview expenses (for reasonable travelling and subsistence expenses
incurred when attending interview).
The scope of the assessment is to assess the impact of the removal of these expenses
on employees. It should be noted that claims for interview expenses in the research
period were from external candidates, who are not asked to provide equalities
information on the claims forms. As such, no equalities data for interview expenses is
available.
Data on the three remaining expenses was obtained on four of the protected
characteristics: disability, ethnicity, gender and age.
-2-
No data was available with regard to religion and belief, sexual orientation and
transgender or transsexual identity.
Step Two – research and consultation
Research
Desk based research considered information from a number of sources to inform the
Equality Impact Assessment:



Review of the payment of excess travel and personal expenses within other
Scottish local authorities.
Analysis of statistics in relation to the uptake and usage of these allowances.
Glasgow City Council’s workforce profile data.
Stakeholder consultation
Consultation meetings were held with the following stakeholders:


Trade Union Equality Group (11 May 2011).
Corporate Policy Equality Working Group (9 June 2011).
Following these meetings, the respective forum members were given the opportunity to
provide any further feedback on the information presented. Members of the Employee
Equality Working Group were also invited to provide feedback on findings.
Research Key Findings
Benchmarking and best practice:
Benchmarking data in relation to excess travelling expenses was obtained from other
Scottish local authorities and public sector organisations. It was found that their
provisions were broadly similar to the Council’s.
Comparison with other Scottish local authorities in relation to personal expenses found
that many use the meal allowances as laid down in the red book. In October 2008,
Glasgow adopted the higher rates paid to Elected Members under the Local Government
(Allowances and Expenses) (Scotland) Regulations 2007. Analysis of best practice within
the private sector was undertaken utilising IDS HR Studies and other policies and found
Glasgow City Council’s provisions to be more generous overall.
In relation to relocation expenses, claims from employees during the reference period
were minimal (four in total) and as such no benchmarking data was obtained.
Statistical Analysis
-3-
Excess travelling expenses and personal expenses while on Council business
Data was obtained on claims for excess travelling expenses during the period
1 January – 31 December 2010 and for personal expenses, from
1 April 2008 – 21 January 2011.
Analysis of claims for these expenses revealed that the majority were from employees
who:




did not disclose whether or not they had a disability;
were white;
were female; and
were aged 31-60.
These findings are in line with the Council’s workforce profile.
Relocation package
Data was obtained on claims during the period 1 April 2008 – 21 January 2011. Analysis
of these claims revealed that the majority were from employees who:




did not disclose whether or not they had a disability;
did not disclose their ethnicity;
were female; and
were split between two age groups: 31-40 and 51-60.
These findings are in line with the Council’s workforce profile with the exception of
ethnicity, where 75% of relocation claims were from employees who did not disclose their
ethnicity against a workforce profile of 23.3% non disclosed.
These findings reveal that employees in the four protected characteristics won’t be
affected more than others by the removal of these allowances. However, it should be
noted that there were a high number of claims in relation to excess travelling expenses
and personal expenses while on Council business where disability status was not
disclosed.
Consultation Key Findings
Consultation generated interesting discussion about the removal of employee expenses
but did not yield much feedback on the issue of equality across protected characteristics.
Themes which emerged from the consultations were as follows:

Perceived impact on the travel arrangements of disabled employees where excess
travelling expenses were removed.

Concerns regarding the high number of employees who did not disclose whether
or not they had a disability and Glasgow City Council’s equality monitoring
arrangements.

Perceived concentration of impact upon a group of employees within one particular
Service. On closer examination, there was no evidence to support these concerns.
-4-

Request for additional benchmarking. However, as extensive research has been
conducted, there is no requirement for further benchmarking.
Step Three – assessing the impact
Based on evidence sourced via research and consultation, the positive, negative and
neutral impacts the policy/function are identified as follows:
Black and ethnic minority people
Neutral impact.
Disabled People
Neutral impact.
Women/Men
Neutral impact.
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender people
No data available.
Older people/younger people
Neutral impact.
Faith or religion
No data available.
Stage Four – taking action
Analysis of best practice and consultation with relevant stakeholder groups did not
identify any negative impacts on any protected characteristic. However, it is recognised
that there is a high level of non disclosure in relation to disability which will be addressed
with improved monitoring arrangements.
In addition, whilst not equality related, it is recognised that employees will from time to
time be required to undertake Council business which results in travel away from their
normal place of work. This will be addressed separately via guidance that will be issued
regarding personal expenses incurred whilst travelling on Council business.
Stage Five – monitoring and evaluation
-5-
As part of Glasgow City Council’s Equality Action Plan, the introduction of an employee
self service (ESS) system will enable employees to update their own personal
information, which will include equality monitoring. The Council will monitor this
information as it is implemented and assess whether it helps to reduce the rate of nondisclosure in equality monitoring.
Step Six – approval
Approved by Margaret Conner, Executive Human Resource Manager
-6-