Equality Impact Monitoring in Our Accommodation
Blackfriars Hall fosters an inclusive culture which promotes equality, values diversity, and maintains a working, learning and social environment in which the rights and dignity of all its staff and students are respected, recognising that particular contributions to the achievement of the Hall’s mission that can be made by individuals from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
Equality impact monitoring at Blackfriars takes place through the Hall’s Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, guided by our EDI Policy.
Equality Impact Monitoring in Our Accommodation
The accommodation team supports this process by conducting equality impact assessment and creating monitoring reports on our accommodation so that policies and practices are fair, accessible, and effective for everyone. This monitoring helps us spot barriers early, make evidence based improvements, and meet our legal and ethical duties.
What we mean by “equality impacts”
“Equality impacts” are the real world effects that our decisions, services, and buildings have on different groups of students, including disabled students and those with protected characteristics (as defined in the Equality Act 2010). We use this insight to remove or reduce disadvantage, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations in our accommodation community.
How we monitor our accommodation
- Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs): We complete an EIA (sometimes called an Equality Analysis) when we introduce or change policies, refurbish buildings, set allocation criteria, or alter services.
- Data and feedback: We combine anonymised/aggregated data with qualitative feedback (surveys, focus groups, complaints/compliments, maintenance and helpdesk logs).
- Regular reviews: We will review trends annually.
- Co design: Where appropriate, we invite students (including those with lived experience) to help test proposed changes and solutions.
We will monitor patterns, not people. Decisions about individual students (e.g., allocations or adjustments) are always made case by case and with sensitivity.
What we aim to track in our accommodation (examples)
- Reasonable adjustment journey: time to acknowledge, time to decision, time to implement; % completed before move in; % alternative solutions offered
- Room moves linked to disability/health reasons and time to resolution
- PEEP coverage: % of students who need a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan with a current plan in place
- Incidents and reports: accommodation related reports of harassment, discrimination, or safety concerns (tracked by theme/location, not individuals)
- Satisfaction and experience: survey results and qualitative feedback, including from disabled and neurodivergent students
- Repairs and maintenance: average response/rectification times for accessibility critical issues
- Communication accessibility: preferences honoured (e.g., email vs phone), clarity of pre arrival information, and readability scores
Acting on findings
When monitoring shows a barrier or gap, we work to:
- Identify the root cause (policy, process, environment, information, or training)
- Agree corrective actions with owners, timelines, and funding
- Implement and test (often with student users)
- Report outcomes and confirm whether the change reduced the barrier
- Bake it in to future designs, refurbishments, and staff training
Recent examples might include: updating allocation criteria for transparency; adding vibrating alarms or visual doorbells in specific staircases; improving wayfinding; or adjusting cleaning products/routines following low?allergen requests.
Privacy, consent, and your data
- Minimisation: We only collect the least amount of personal data needed to deliver your accommodation and any adjustments.
- Choice: Equality monitoring questions (e.g., about protected characteristics) are voluntary. You can select “prefer not to say.”
- Anonymisation: Monitoring is reported in aggregate and, where possible, anonymised.
- Access and rights: You can request access to your data, ask for corrections, or raise concerns at any time. Please see our privacy notices.
- Retention: We keep data only as long as necessary and in line with our Records Retention Schedule.
- Security: Information is shared only with staff who need it to provide accommodation or support.
Governance and reporting
- Oversight: Reports about the Hall’s equality impact monitoring go to its Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee.
- Escalation: Significant risks or unequal impacts are escalated to senior leadership with a time bound action plan.