In this section
Equalities data
Why we collect equalities data
You may be asked equalities information when you apply for a service, participate in a consultation or satisfaction survey, make a complaint, or apply for a job with the council.
This is because under the Equality Act 2010, the council has a legal responsibility to promote and advance equality and in order to do this, we need to know more about who is using or would like to use our services.
With up-to-date equality information we are able to:
- Learn more about who is living in Watford
- Check that our services are available for all our residents
- Adapt our services, as necessary, to meet the needs of our diverse community
- Find out who is making use of our services
- Improve how we do things
- Recruit staff fairly and ensure applicants with protected characteristics are not unfairly excluded from job opportunities in the council
- Make it easier for residents to get the services (or information about them) they need, especially those in the greatest need
- Avoid discriminating against anyone when we carry out our duties
- Identify what we can do to avoid or tackle discrimination or harassment
- Make sure our policies and decisions do not have unintended consequences for groups sharing one of the nine protected characteristics
These are:-
- Age
- Disability
- Gender
- Gender reassignment
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Race
- Religion or belief
- Sexual orientation
- Marriage and civil partnership
What data we collect
This will depend on what the information is needed for and we won’t ask for it unless it is necessary or relevant.
We will tell you what we need it for and how it will be used.
- If you are applying for benefits or housing, for example, you do need to provide all the necessary details to prove that you meet the criteria and are eligible
- When we ask for personal information on customer satisfaction surveys, it is so we can check that we are getting feedback representing residents from across the borough
- We treat all personal information in confidence and unless it is critical to the piece of work, your anonymity will be maintained.
- You may not even need to give your name, and a postcode on its won’t give away your identity
