Evidencing paying due regard to protected characteristics: Equality Impact Assessment form
Updated June 2023
Project 4039 - Financial Systems AR, DD
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Equality Impact Assessments are public documents. Equality Impact Assessments accompanying reports going to county councillors for decisions are published with the committee papers on our website and are available in hard copy at the relevant meeting. To help people find completed Equality Impact Assessments, we also publish them in our website's equality and diversity section. This will help people to see for themselves how we have paid due regard in order to meet statutory requirements.
Name of directorate and service area:
Central Services, Transformation
Lead officer and contact details:
Shuwan Wang, project manager.
Names and roles of other people involved in carrying out the Equality Impact Assessment:
Kalvin Cheung, projects and change officer.
How will you pay due regard, for example, working group, individual officer:
Continual review by project team.
When did the due regard process start?
Project initially kicked off as part of Local Government Reorganisation financial systems project - 3588 - and current project started in May 2023 to continue delivering the work related to Oracle AR following the closure of Local Government Reorganisation financial systems project - 3588.
Section 1. Please describe briefly what this Equality Impact Assessment is about. For example, are you starting a new service, changing how you do something, stopping doing something?
This Equality Impact Assessment is required for the project 4039 Financial Systems AR, DD.
Section 2. Why is this being proposed? What are the aims? What does the authority hope to achieve by it? For example, to save money, meet increased demand, do things in a better way.
The deliverables associated with this project initially fell within the scope of the Financial Systems Project - 3588 - as part of the Local Government Reorganisation Finance programme. The decision was taken to postpone the implementation of Accounts Receivable / AR, Direct Debit / DD due to issues with time constraints, resource availability and issues related to the Oracle AR solution, specifically direct debits and periodic payments functionality.
It was agreed to continue the Financial Systems project after 1 April as a second phase specifically to deliver the paused AR and DD work. This will enable sundry debt invoices raised to customers to be raised through Oracle E-Business Suite Account Receivables and Direct Debit can be collected in an Automated Direct Debit Instruction Service - AUDDIS - compliant way.
Whilst workarounds were developed and put into place as part of the Financial Systems Project for day one of the local government re-organisation, these were not deemed to provide sufficient control, and to provide the required outcomes to facilitate the next phase of Finance Transformation. An outcome of this project will be that all invoicing and AR activity can transfer from legacy district systems to Oracle. This will provide opportunity for future system and process consolidation - not within the scope of this project.
The project is intending to achieve the following:
- to enable Oracle E-Business Suite to raise sundry debt invoices and undertake Direct Debits in an AUDDIS compliant process
- to provide a refund functionality that does not require the setup of an AP account
- to enable Oracle E-Business Suite email invoices and all DD associated documentation to sundry debt customers
- to raise or update sundry debt related data to Oracle E-Business Suite by using bulk upload templates / interfaces
- to migrate former seven district and borough councils sundry debt customers and invoices legacy data to Oracle E-Business Suite and use Oracle E-Business Suite to raise and manage sundry debt invoices after each migration - Go Live
Section 3. What will change? What will be different for customers and / or staff?
The impact identified from screening is Allpay - Allpay is a software which enable a barcode to be printed on the invoice which customers can use the barcode and pay by cash, card or cheque at convenience shop/post office - as a payment method to four former district / borough councils, that is, Scarborough, Craven, Hambleton and Ryedale, sundry debt customers will not continue after Go Live.
After Go Live, sundry debt customers will still be able to pay using a variety of payment methods offered by NYC going forward, including Direct Debt, Cheque, BACs, Standing Order, Bank Transfer, ABC Slip to pay at bank, Card via website, Automated Telephone Payment, etc. These payment methods are offered to existing NYC customers and council (for instance, former NYCC) was not having problem receiving payments based on past experiences.
Meanwhile, the following changes have been identified but do not have significant impact on equality:
- North Yorkshire Council staff will manage - create invoice, manage payment and more - sundry debt invoices in Oracle E-Business Suite instead of current financial systems. For example, Scarborough will use Oracle E-Business Suite instead of T1.
- Sundry debt customers will pay outstanding invoices using the North Yorkshire Council payment methods provided instead of legacy council payment methods. Apart from above mentioned Allpay, impact on other payment methods is relatively low because, although payment method details will be updated - for example, ATP to North Yorkshire Council as area 4 instead of Scarborough as area 7, bank details would be North Yorkshire Council bank details instead of former council bank detail, North Yorkshire Council offers ABC payment while Scarborough doesn’t - to North Yorkshire Council instead of former council, they are more like to like options to customers with minor updates on details which will be printed at the back of invoice to guide customers.
Section 4. Involvement and consultation. What involvement and consultation has been done regarding the proposal and what are the results? What consultation will be needed and how will it be done?
High-level customer journey scenarios have been discussed with project team and customer service team and identified Allpay as having the highest impact to customers.
Customer journey mapping about Allpay in Scarborough has been carried out with staff currently managing Allpay, and impact has been identified as part of the exercise. See the details of this process.
Allpay customer journey mapping in other three former councils will be carried out in the near future because Scarborough is the chosen pilot to Go Live.
Decision of not configure Allpay to Oracle E-Business Suite has been concluded pre vesting day, thus no consultation has been carried out by this project for not offering this payment method to customers.
Section 5. What impact will this proposal have on council budgets? Will it be cost neutral, have increased cost or reduce costs?
Not offering the Allpay payment method would save some cost because the council would need to pay an admin fee per transaction - approximately 50p to 60p per transaction.
Section 6. How will this proposal affect people with protected characteristics?
| Protected characteristic | No impact | Make things better | Make things worse | Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and / or service user data or demographic information. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | X | Elderly people who may not be as mobile may lose the convenience to pay locally at a nearby shop or post office, but payments can be made in alternative payment methods offered by North Yorkshire Council. Existing North Yorkshire Council - that is, former North Yorkshire County Council - customers, which also include elderly people, can make payments using the payment methods offered including Direct Debit, cheque, BACs, Standing Order, card payment via website, automated telephone payment and others. Thus, on-boarding formed district / borough councils by offering the same payment methods offered to former North Yorkshire County Council customers will change the way customers pay - if they are now paying by using Allpay - but sufficient alternatives will be provided to enable customers to make payments. | ||
| Disability | X | Disabled customers who may have previously used a local shop or post office may lose the convenience, but payments can be made in alternative payment methods offered by North Yorkshire Council. Existing North Yorkshire Council - that is, former North Yorkshire County Council - customers, which also include disabled people, can make payments using the payment methods offered including Direct Debt, cheque, BACs, Standing Order, bank transfer, ABC slip to pay at bank, card via website, automated telephone Payment and others. Thus, on-boarding former district / borough councils by offering the same payment methods offered to former North Yorkshire County Council customers will change the way customers pay - if they are now paying by using Allpay - but sufficient alternatives will be provided to enable customers to make payments. | ||
| Sex | X | Not applicable | ||
| Race | X | Not applicable | ||
| Gender reassignment | X | Not applicable | ||
| Sexual orientation | X | Not applicable | ||
| Religion or belief | X | Not applicable | ||
| Pregnancy or maternity | X | Not applicable | ||
| Marriage or civil partnership | X | Not applicable |
Section 7. How will this proposal affect specific groups of people
| People | No impact | Make things better | Make things worse | Why will it have this effect? Provide evidence from engagement, consultation and / or service user data or demographic information. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| People who live in a rural area | X | Customers who live in a rural area may lose the convenience to pay locally at a nearby shop or post office, but payments can be made in alternative payment methods offered by North Yorkshire Council. Existing North Yorkshire Council - that is, former North Yorkshire County Council - customers, which also include people living in rural areas, can make payments using the payment methods offered including Direct Debt, cheque, BACs, Standing Order, bank transfer, ABC slip to pay at bank, card via website, automated telephone Payment and others. Thus, on-boarding former district / borough councils by offering the same payment methods offered to former North Yorkshire County Council customers will change the way customers pay - if they are now paying by using Allpay - but sufficient alternatives will be provided to enable customers to make payments. | ||
| People who have a low income | X | Customers who are on low income may not have the means to be able to afford travel to their nearest pay point or have phone credit to call to pay over the phone or be able to pay by credit card or have internet access. However, this group of customers also exists in other areas across North Yorkshire Council. Libraries across North Yorkshire Council provide free IT sessions which offer free access to internet to make payments if required. Existing North Yorkshire Council - that is, former North Yorkshire County Council - customers, which also include low income customers, can make payments using the payment methods offered including Direct Debt, cheque, BACs, Standing Order, bank transfer, ABC slip to pay at bank, card via website, automated telephone Payment and others. Thus, on-boarding former district / borough councils by offering the same payment methods offered to former North Yorkshire County Council customers will change the way customers pay - if they are now paying by using Allpay - but sufficient alternatives will be provided to enable customers to make payments. | ||
| People who are carers - unpaid family or friend | X | Customers who are carers may not have the means to be able to afford travel to their nearest pay point or to be able to leave the person they care for to travel to pay. Existing North Yorkshire Council - that is, former North Yorkshire County Council - customers, which also include customers who are carers, can make payments using the payment methods offered including including Direct Debt, cheque, BACs, Standing Order, bank transfer, ABC slip to pay at bank, card via website, automated telephone Payment and others. Thus, on-boarding former district / borough councils by offering the same payment methods offered to former North Yorkshire County Council customers will change the way customers pay - if they are now paying by using Allpay - but sufficient alternatives will be provided to enable customers to make payments. | ||
| People who are from the Armed Forces Community | X | Not applicable |
Section 8. Geographic impact - please detail where the impact will be
| Area | Impact |
|---|---|
| North Yorkshire wide | X |
| Craven district | X |
| Hambleton district | X |
| Harrogate district | X |
| Richmondshire district | X |
| Ryedale district | X |
| Scarborough district | X |
| Selby district | X |
If you have ticked one or more districts, will specific towns or villages be particularly impacted? If so, please specify:
Though only four former districts are offering Allpay, sundry debt customers may live across North Yorkshire or outside of North Yorkshire. Data is not available to specify which specific towns / villages will be particularly impacted.
Section 9. Will the proposal affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics?
(For example, older women or young gay men. State what you think the effect may be and why, providing evidence from engagement, consultation and / or service user data or demographic information.)
No, the proposal will not affect anyone more because of a combination of protected characteristics.
Section 10. Next steps to address the anticipated impact. Select one of the following options and explain why this has been chosen. Remember that we have an anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people can access services and work for us.
| Option | Chosen |
|---|---|
| 1. No adverse impact - no major change is needed to the proposal. There is no potential for discrimination or adverse impact identified. | |
| 2. Adverse impact - adjust the proposal - the Equalities Impact Assessment identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We will change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, or we will achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. | |
| 3. Adverse impact - continue the proposal - the Equalities Impact Assessment identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. We cannot change our proposal to reduce or remove these adverse impacts, nor can we achieve our aim in another way which will not make things worse for people. There must be compelling reasons for continuing with proposals which will have the most adverse impacts. Get advice from legal services. | X |
| 4. Actual or potential unlawful discrimination - stop and remove the proposal – the Equalities Impact Assessment identifies actual or potential unlawful discrimination. It must be stopped. |
Explanation of why the option has been chosen - include any advice given by legal services:
The decision to use Oracle E-Business Suite Account Receivables and Direct Debt does remove the ability for a minority of clients to use Allpay in the four districts. However, Oracle E-Business Suite is currently used by North Yorkshire Council across the county for AR / DD invoices, without any adverse effects. Oracle unfortunately lacks the capability to print the Allpay barcode on invoices. Therefore, Allpay is not a viable option if the councils existing system for AR / DD invoices is to be extended across the districts.
Section 11. If the proposal is to be implemented, how will you find out how it is really affecting people? How will you monitor and review the changes?
To benchmark the current methods of payment in the four districts’ including the use of Allpay to the methods of payment post implantation.
Additionally, monitor the level of non-payment of invoices in the four districts and their reasons, in comparison to the rest of the council.
Monitor the level of unresolved comments following the removal of Allpay.
Section 12. Action plan.
List any actions you need to take which have been identified in this Equalities Impact Assessment, including post implementation review to find out how the outcomes have been achieved in practice and what impacts there have actually been on people with protected characteristics.
| Action | Lead | By when | Progress | Monitoring arrangements |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identify communications plan and roll out communication to sundry debt customers - phase one: Scarborough | Leanne Cahill - communications representative | 31 August 2023 | In progress |
|
| Identify communications plan and roll out communication to sundry debt customers - phase two: other | Shuwan Wang - to be replaced by communications representative once resource is confirmed | 31 January 2024 | Not started |
|
Section 13. Summary.
(Summarise the findings of your Equalities Impact Assessment, including impacts, recommendation in relation to addressing impacts, including any legal advice and next steps. This summary should be used as part of the report to the decision maker.)
The decision to use Oracle E-Business Suite Account Receivables and Direct Debt does remove the ability for a minority of clients to use Allpay in four districts. However, the greatest impact falls on those clients who wish to pay cash for invoices and are not near a Barclays or a cash office. There are a number of alternative payment methods that can be used including phone, online, post, ABC and in person at a cash office.
A comprehensive communication campaign to outline how to pay invoices should mitigate any problems.
High lighting the use of libraries for IT and help.
Section 14. Sign off section
This full Equalities Impact Assessment was completed by:
Name: Shuwan Wang
Job title: Project manager
Directorate: Transformation
Signature: Shuwan Wang
Completion date: 31 July 2023
Authorised by relevant Assistant Director - signature: Karen Iveson
Date: 31 July 2023