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Disability Equality Scheme

1. Introduction

This document sets out Birmingham City University’s approach to the promotion of disability equality across all student and staff functions and reinforces our commitment to providing a positive environment for students and staff where all are respected and enabled to achieve their study and career aspirations.

This is Birmingham City University’s first Disability Equality Scheme prepared to meet the requirements of the Disability Equality Duty and was drawn up in consultation with local external disability groups and disabled students and employees. This scheme is part of a number of three year equality schemes which address the University’s overall Equality and Diversity Strategy. It provides background information on our current position regarding disability equality for students and staff and identifies where we have already taken action to support the further development of a supportive and inclusive environment.

Disability is defined by the DDA 1995 as a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a persons ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) estimates that 16% of the working adult population meet the definition of disability in the DDA 1995.

In conjunction with the DDA definition, Birmingham City University recognises the social model of disability and the need for the removal of attitudinal, organisational and environmental barriers to disabled people’s participation in society.

The University recognises its responsibility to make itself more accessible to its users and interest groups by removal of physical barriers where possible and making reasonable adjustments in terms of buildings, service delivery and employment.

The three year action plan within this scheme identifies the further actions the University will take in order to meet its responsibilities under the Disability Equality Duty.

Involvement of disabled people in drawing up the scheme

The following consultations were carried out to inform the prioritising of areas for improvement and enhancement:

• A voluntary survey of all disabled staff who had previously declared a disability
• Staff disability focus group
• Postal survey of a sample number of disabled students
• Survey of disabled students who had received personal support during 2005-06
• Feedback by individual interviews with disabled students on issues relating to retention and progression
• Analysis of the 2006 Birmingham City University Student Satisfaction Survey by disability
• In conjunction with the University of Aston, local community groups were contacted but the response was too low to be representative and was not used to inform this scheme

2. Context

The University

Birmingham City University is a large, diverse urban university with a commitment to widening participation, graduate employability, professionally orientated teaching programmes, regional economic development and applied research and consultancy.

The seven faculties, located on eight campuses across the city, deliver over 300 courses to around 24,000 students. The catchment area extends from inner Birmingham to the Far East and the USA and local, regional and international partners play a key role in much of the University’s work.

Over 60% of the full-time undergraduate students are drawn from greater Birmingham or the West Midlands and 44% of all students study part-time.

The University employs 2,728 staff, (1,683 full-time and 1,129 part-time)

The University’s commitment to widening participation was recognised in 2005 when we became the first recipients of the Times Higher Award for widening participation.

The University’s Values and Mission

The University’s Statement of Educational Character and Mission, (Annex 1), approved by the Board of Governors in 1999, sets out the values we wish to promote. This statement informs the development of all of the University’s policies and procedures and its strategic planning. The values expressed in the statement are represented in the University’s Equal Opportunities Statement, (Annex 2). They confirm our commitment to widen access to higher education and to maintain and strengthen our services to local and regional communities.

The Statement positions Birmingham City University as an institution which is rooted in, and deeply engaged with, its local and regional community. We achieve this by a variety of means: through work to widen participation and combat social exclusion, through the pursuit of excellence in teaching and learning, through the promotion of technology and knowledge transfer to support economic development, and through community engagement to improve the quality of life for the people of Birmingham and the West Midlands.

Work to date

In 2001 the University reviewed its Admissions, Examinations and Assessment Policies in line with SENDA legislation and these policies are reviewed on a regular basis.

In 2002 the University Estates Department implemented a consultation to improve physical access across the University sites. An Access Survey was commissioned and the results discussed with staff and students to determine an action plan that prioritised the implementation of improvement works.

Since 2002 the Disability Services team has increased its staffing three fold and increased the range of services offered to students. These include the recruitment of a dedicated member of staff to work with deaf and hearing impaired students; the recruitment of a Mental Health Advisor; improved access to financial support; the introduction of dyslexia awareness sessions for staff; dyslexia screening support and assistive technology training – this latter was short listed for a Times Higher award in 2006.

Since 2002 the University has developed a training course to outline its response to SENDA and to explain how this impacts on the roles and responsibilities of staff and students. This training has now been adapted and improved to meet the needs of specific faculties and processes and to date over 400 staff have attended these sessions. Other disability related training has included Disability Awareness sessions and a Disability Awareness Day, Mental Health Support, Dyslexia support and BSL (British sign Language) stage 1. The University’s Staff Induction Day for new staff also has a section devoted to disability awareness and SENDA and the PG Cert, a required qualification for all academic staff without a teaching qualification, contains specific content on equality and diversity issues.

In 2003, following feedback from staff attending the SENDA training, a Disability Handbook for Staff was prodBirmingham City University d. This provides an overview of the roles and responsibilities of staff and students, details of various impairments and a guide to good practice in, for example, teaching and learning and marketing.

The local economic and social context

Nationally, regionally and locally there are legislative and policy agendas directly driving and impacting on the higher education sector. These include improving the attainment of school pupils at GCSE and raising the participation rate of students aged 16 and over; decreasing the numbers of young people not in employment, education or training; raising the awareness of, and aspiration to enter, higher education amongst under represented groups; increasing the participation of 18-30 year olds in higher education; the promotion of life long learning and improving the educational attainment and/or skills of the workforce. The West Midlands additionally seeks to improve the retention of graduates in the region as a means of improving the workforce by increasing the numbers with higher level skills employed in the region.

The West Midlands seeks to have a growing number of high-performing organisations, a knowledge-based economy and a strong enterprise culture. Nevertheless, the regional population is under-qualified: as much as 35% of the working population to Level 2 (GCSE) compared to a national average of 30%. The region is predicted to need an additional 50,000 people qualified to degree level in the next five years. Total recruitment demand, accounting for growth, retirement and turnover is estimated at 170,000 managers, 140,000 professionals and 200,000 associate professionals.

This increased need for a workforce with higher level skills is reflected in the projection that numbers of UK and EU full-time and part-time students are expected to rise by between 70,000 and 97,000 FTEs by 2011/12.

Birmingham City University’s commitment to these agendas is articulated in its Corporate Plan:

‘The real challenge for Birmingham City University, with other educational providers, is to improve the educational retention rates, raise the general level of qualifications among young people and adults, improve progressions to higher education through traditional and vocational entry routes, and to focus on the demands of employers in order to improve the retention of graduates in the West Midlands’.

Regionally and locally the impact of these initiatives has seen an increase in the educational attainment of young people. In the West Midlands, those achieving 5 or more GCSE passes at A* - C has risen from 42.1% in 1997-98 to 54.2% in 2004-05. In Birmingham, this increase has been more marked, increasing from 35.9% to 56.4% in the same period. For comparison the 2004-05 achievement rate for England was 56.3%.

At level 3, (A2 level or equivalent ), the average point score has risen and FE level 3 success rates rose from 64% in 2002-03 to 71% in 2004-05.

This, and the rising demographic of young people, provides a greater pool of locally based potential students for the University and this should include students with disabilities. However, government statistics suggest that although 10% of 16-24 year olds are disabled, only 4% of university applications from Birmingham and Solihull students were from those who also declared a disability.

At Birmingham City University this low rate of participation is reflected in the HESA Performance Indicators for the participation of students with disabilities. From 2002-01 to 2004-05 the University has consistently failed to achieve benchmark in this participation rate, even though the actual numbers of enrolled students with disabilities has risen.

Table T7 - Participation of students in HE who are in receipt of Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA): All undergraduates* - UPDATED FOR 2004/05 DATA
(Acrobat PDF)

The challenges for Birmingham City University are to increase the participation of students with disabilities by increasing our responsiveness to student and client need and by increasing the accessibility and flexibility of our provision.

The Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) identify that, in comparison with non-disabled people, disabled people are nearly twice as likely to be unemployed; nearly seven times more likely to be out of work and claiming benefits; and nearly half as likely to have academic qualifications.

For any given level of qualification, a disabled person is between two and three times as likely as a non-disabled person to be lacking but wanting work according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion 2005. In addition, disabled adults are twice as likely to live in low income households as non-disabled adults and the gap has grown over the last two decades.

The introduction of the Disability Equality Duty reflects the governments’ desire for the public sector to act as an exemplar of good practice and contribute in a demonstrable way to a more inclusive society.

The University’s Corporate Plan and Objectives 2006-09

The Birmingham City University Corporate Plan 2005-09 sets out the overall vision of the University (see above) and includes this statement:

‘Birmingham City University serves a wide variety of communities. Located at the heart of a highly diverse and changing region, Birmingham City University’s programmes and services should be available to all who can benefit from them, irrespective of social, economic, cultural, and ethnic differences. Birmingham City University is active in reaching out to all parts of the community and will continue to be a major force in the struggle against social exclusion. We try to identify and overcome institutional barriers to the progress of particular sections of the community, including those who face obstacles caused by their economic situation, racism, disability, gender, age, or sexual preference. The University will also try to be a good neighbour to those who live near its campuses and to play an active part in the provision of service to those communities, including securing improvements to the local environments’.

The Corporate Plan details its objectives under the four main areas of Learning and Teaching, Widening Participation, Business and Community Engagement and Research. Each area includes objectives designed to fulfil the vision and mission of the University and many of these relate to equality and diversity :

Learning and teaching

• To foster an environment which recognises diversity and promotes equality of opportunity;
• To meet changing patterns of student, employer and stakeholder demand;
• To foster and support the development of excellence in teaching;
• To support the development of the teaching and learning infrastructure in terms of the fitness for purpose and accessibility of the physical estate, and of equipment, facilities and learning resources;
• Student support arrangements will continue to develop in ways tailored to the diverse values, experiences, expectations, and specific learning needs of our students.

Widening participation

• To continue to work to promote equality of opportunity and to identify and overcome institutional barriers to the progress of different sections of the community;
• To foster an environment which recognises diversity and promotes equality of opportunity.
• To work in partnership with others to improve progression to higher education and to eliminate barriers to entry for those with the potential to benefit.
• To at least maintain, and, if possible, increase Birmingham City University’s contribution to widening participation, with a particular focus on groups that are under represented in the Birmingham City University population – whether generally or in specific subjects – as well as in HE more widely.

Business and community engagement

• To continue to develop our continuing professional development and training provision in response to market demand.

Research

• To extend participation in research through developing new researchers and improving the ethnic and gender composition of research – active staff.

In addition to the corporate Plan and Human Resources Strategy, the University’s Access Agreement, approved by OFFA, sets out the agreed development plan for its outreach activities with the objective of continuing to meet or exceed performance indicator benchmarks

The Access Agreement points out that, although not statistically significant, the participation of students with disabilities is slightly below the sector benchmark and specific initiatives will be undertaken to improve the participation of these students, with the aim of achieving benchmark performance in the national performance indicators.

Internal Review Systems

Responsibility for monitoring the implementation of the action plan and for reporting on progress made against identified objectives rests with Vice-Chancellor supported by the PVC Students and the Director of Human Resources. The action plan will be reviewed annually and a report sent to the Board of Governors and Personnel and Remuneration Committee. It is proposed that progress on actions taken in accordance with the scheme will be detailed in an annual University Diversity Report. There is a perceived need for a more co-ordinated and sustained approach for the monitoring, review and implementation of the Scheme and Action Plan and the provision of expert advice on equality issues. These will be considered as part of the forthcoming review of the University’s committee structure.

3. Where We Are Now

The Human Resources reviewed existing personnel data held on disabled staff at the beginning of 2006 and determined that the existing data was insufficient to form a basis for decision making in relation to the Disability Equality Duty. Historically the University has not undertaken any disability monitoring for current employees and only limited information on the number of staff who had declared a disability when they commenced employment was available. Recruitment statistics identified numbers of disabled job applicants and their progression through the recruitment process; however this data was not collected in a systematic manner to allow ready access and analysis.

Data Capture

To begin to address the short comings of existing data, a voluntary survey of all disabled staff who had previously declared a disability was conducted as an initial step in seeking the views of disabled staff on their experience of working for Birmingham City University. (The conclusions from this survey can be found at Annex 3).

Analysis of the results of this survey enabled the Human Resources Department to improve the quality of existing data and focus on issues of importance for disabled staff.

Disability Focus Group

The voluntary survey also sought volunteers to take part in a staff Disability Focus Group which has provided valuable feedback on issues affecting disabled staff within the University. The Disability Focus Group has reviewed this scheme prior to publication and it will play an important part in the future revision and development of the scheme.

Collaborative Working

Birmingham City University has exchanged good practice, advice and guidance with other Universities and public sector organisations. The University has sought guidance from Remploy Interwork on the accessibility and suitability of its recruitment advertising. The Human Resources Department has also engaged the disability consultancy Pertemps Mouzer to review this scheme and work with us to deliver our commitments within the schemes action plan.

The Human Resources Department has begun the process of impact assessing its policies that directly affect staff and has identified the need and made recommendations for amendments in the following:

• Sick Pay and Absence Management Scheme
• Recruitment and Selection Policy
• Probationary Procedure
• Induction Policy
• Training and Development Policy
• Guidance for Promotion, Regrading and Accelerated Progression along Pay Scales
• Management Pay – Application of Pay Rates within Defined Grades to Account for Role Variance

A range of different methods were used to identify the current understanding of the experience of disabled students, any barriers they face and what they consider to be priority issues to be addressed by the University. These include the following data collection:

• Progression and achievement of disabled students
• First degree qualifications gained by UK full-time and part-time disabled students
• Postal survey of a sample number of disabled students
• Survey of students who received personal support during 2005-06
• Feedback from students on support, financial concerns and issues rlating to retention and progression
• Birmingham City University Student Satisfaction Survey
• Analysis of cases considered under the Student Complaints and Student Disciplinary Procedures 2004-05

Identified Initial Actions

The requirements for initial action identified through consultation with disabled staff and students are included in Appendices 3 (staff) and 4 (students) and the scheme’s Action Plan details how these will be addressed. The University recognises that further actions will be required as a result of future evidence gathering and consultation and as a result of the impact assessment process. Such actions will be included in future revisions of the action plan.

Some of the requirements contained in the action plan are linked to wider activities within the University, particularly those activities which are related to race and gender equality and which run in parallel to activities related to disability equality. The requirements of the action plan will not divert the Human Resources Department and Disability Services from supporting staff and students on an individual case by case basis i.e. supporting the provision of reasonable adjustments.

Birmingham City University Priorities

• Consultation with disabled staff & students
• Services for staff & students
• The physical environment
• Student admissions systems
• Communication
• Greater awareness amongst staff & students about disability issues

Promotion of Disability Awareness

The review of disability related data held by the Human Resources Department and anecdotal evidence indicates that disability levels amongst staff are under reported. Although not borne out by analysis of cases considered under the Student Complaints or Student Disciplinary Procedures, analysis of the 2006 Birmingham City University Student Satisfaction Survey shows evidence of disabled students reporting anonymously that they believe they have been victims of discrimination, harassment or bullying because of their disability.

The University believes that the active promotion of disability awareness will result in greater levels of understanding and help foster a positive environment in which disable people will have the confidence to divulge disability matters and instances of discrimination, harassment and bullying.

4. Impact Assessment

The Human Resources Department has begun the process of impact assessing its policies that directly affect staff and has identified the need and made recommendations for amendments in the following:

• Sick Pay and Absence Management Scheme
• Recruitment and Selection Policy
• Probationary Procedure
• Induction Policy
• Training and Development Policy
• Guidance for Promotion, Regrading and Accelerated Progression along Pay Scales
• Management Pay – Application of Pay Rates within Defined Grades to Account for Role Variance

Draft revisions of these policies will be made available for consultation in accordance with the action plan. The Human Resources Department has also issued guidance to faculties and departments on how to carry out impact assessments so that faculty and department level policies and procedures can be impact assessed over the next three years. Human Resources will continue to carry out impact assessments on its own activities in parallel.

Policies and procedures affecting students are already undergoing impact assessment under the Race Equality Scheme and most are also assessed for disability impact as well. Policies identified for priority are:

• Learning, Teaching and Assessment strategy
• Student Complaints, Disciplinary and Appeals Procedures

More detailed data collection to inform the analysis of student admissions, progression and achievement may be necessary to enable analysis at course or even module level, if appropriate. This will be available during the timescale of the Action Plan as the Student Record System is implemented more fully.

5. Action Plan

The Action Plan for 2006-09 is attached at Annex 5 (Acrobat PDF). It is organised by the areas under which HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) are required to report annually to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) on their progress against the objectives in their Race Equality Scheme. Although it is not clear currently as to whether that requirement will extend to the Disability Equality Scheme, we have constructed both the Race and Disability Action Plans similarly in order to facilitate such reporting. This should also facilitate the move to a Single Equality Scheme in the future, in line with government Policy.

6. Reporting on Progress

As explained above, there is a perceived need for a more co-ordinated and sustained approach for the monitoring, review and implementation of the Scheme and Action Plan and the provision of expert advice on equality issues. These will be considered as part of the forthcoming review of the University’s committee structure.

Meanwhile, staff named as lead personnel in the Action Plan will be accountable for ensuring the reporting of progress against the Action Plan to the relevant committees or forums. These include the Teaching and Learning Forum; Committee for Academic Regulations and Policies; Personnel and Remuneration Committee; IT standards Committee; Course boards and Faculty Boards; Representations Committee; Senate; and the Board of Governors.

An annual report on progress will be made to the Board of Governors and reported to the University’s Senate.

The Scheme and Action Plan will be published on the University’s website along with each Annual Report.

7. Looking Ahead

As mentioned in section 5, above, it is envisaged that the University will move to a Single Equality Scheme over the life of the Disability Equality Action Plan, i.e. by 2009.

It is also envisaged that the University will address the need to co-ordinate the monitoring, review and implementation of the various equality strands within a single scheme and the provision of University wide expert advice and guidance on equality and diversity issues.

It is also hoped that the next few years will see the clarification of guidance on equality issues from those professional bodies that have a major role in the experience and future employment of many of our students.

Sally Westney
Pro-Vice-chancellor
November 2006