The NASUWT – the Teachers’ Union has secured a
significant legal victory over the Government regarding the
publication of evidence on the equality impact of its Covid-19
emergency measures for schools and colleges.
Following legal action by the NASUWT, the Department for
Education (DfE) has been forced to release Equality Impact
Assessments (EIAs) prepared at the height of the pandemic in 2020
which show how the re-opening of schools would impact black and
minority ethnic children, young people and adults. The
Government’s EIA should have been readily available to inform and
assist schools and colleges to plan for safe reopening during the
pandemic.
At the time, the Government refused the NASUWT continual requests
for the DfE’s EIA to be published and maintained that it was “not
in the public interest” to publish these reports. It was
plainly wrong to do so.
The NASUWT has maintained throughout that, where life and death
decisions are being made by Government, Ministers must explain
the impact of those decisions, whether they will give rise to
discrimination and how any discriminatory impacts will be
prevented or minimised.
Following the legal challenge by the NASUWT, the DfE has now been
forced to release the four EIAs.
NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach said:
“This is a victory for equal rights and equal treatment, and for
the legislation that exists to advance equalities at work and
across all areas of our society.
“The Government must be held accountable for its decision-making
and for demonstrating whether or not its decisions will lead to
widening disparities on the grounds of their race, gender,
disability or on other grounds.
“For too long, the Government has taken the view that it can duck
its legal obligations on equalities, which has encouraged many
school and college employers to take the view also that the
Equality Act is irrelevant, that it doesn’t apply, or that it
won’t be enforced.
“Rather than being open and transparent, Ministers sought to hide
behind legal devices to prevent publication of their own
assessments and have wasted taxpayers money on its attempt to
hide the impacts of its own policies.
“We have witnessed over the course of the last two years the
disproportionate impact and deaths from the Coronavirus pandemic
on particular communities. We were especially concerned about how
the easing of restrictions in relation to school re-opening would
impact on black and minority ethnic pupils and staff, given the
evidence that these communities were 3-4 times more likely to die
from Covid-19. It is wholly unacceptable that at the time when
the Government was claiming to be reaching out to these
communities, they were also saying that Ministers’ decisions were
not open to question.
“The belated publication of analyses from 2020 is welcome, but it
will provide cold comfort for those whose lives have been
seriously impacted during the pandemic.
“Our victory confirms that even despite dogged and determined
refusal by Ministers over an 18 month period, the NASUWT will
never hesitate to hold THE Government to account.
“This is a significant victory for our members and their rights
to fair and equal treatment at work.
“It remains important that regulators also step up to ensure that
Government and employers do the right thing and not their own
thing when it comes to their equalities duties. The Public Sector
Equality Duty must be used rigorously by regulators in ensuring
that Government and employers do not discriminate, that they take
action to advance equality, and that they work to secure good
relations in the workplace and across society generally.
“The action taken by the NASUWT once again shows our
determination to fight for the rights of our members and to do
everything possible to protect teachers from discrimination and
unfair treatment at work.”
