Staff record 2012/13

This field records the disability of a member of staff, on the basis of their own self-assessment

All staff

To monitor equal opportunities issues in the higher education sector and support higher education institutions (HEIs) in meeting their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and Disability Equality Duty

Disability is recorded on the basis of the member of staff's own self-assessment.

Code 00 'No known disability' should be returned when the member of staff indicates that they do not have a disability.

Codes 51, 52 and 53 are all types of learning disability or cognitive impairment.

Under the Equality Act 2010, a person has a disability 'if they have a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities'.'Substantial' is defined by the Act as 'more than minor or trivial'.
An impairment is considered to have a long-term effect if:

• it has lasted for at least 12 months
• it is likely to last for at least 12 months, or
• it is likely to last for the rest of the life of the person

Normal day-to-day activities are not defined in the Act, but in general they are things people do on a regular or daily basis, for example eating, washing, walking, reading, writing or having a conversation.

Only serious visual impairments are covered by the Equality Act 2010. For example, a person whose eyesight can be corrected through the use of prescription lenses is not covered by the Act; neither is an inability to distinguish between red and green.

The same logic does not apply to hearing aids. If someone needs to wear a hearing aid, then they are likely to be covered by the Act. However, both hearing and visual impairments have to have a substantial adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities in order for a person to be covered by the Act.

The new coding frame has been designed to ensure that institutions do not have to re-survey or re-code continuing staff members. Where for 2011/12 a staff member recorded two disabilities in DISABLE1 and DISABLE2 this should be mapped to code 08 'Two or more impairments and/or disabling medical conditions' in DISABLE.

Although there is no requirement to resurvey staff annually, HEIs should be aware that if they choose to resurvey their staff then these fields should be updated even if the member of staff declares a disability in the first instance and then not when resurveyed.

The Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) has a number of resources relating to gathering information across the protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act 2010. These resources can be found at Equality Challenge Unit . If you have any further queries regarding equality monitoring, please email ECU at admin@ecu.ac.uk.