Equally Ours – Written Evidence (LBC0289)

1. Introduction 1.1. Equally Ours (formerly the Equality and Diversity Forum) is the national network of organisations committed to making a reality of equality and human rights in people’s lives. Our members include Age UK, Mind, Stonewall, the TUC, the Runnymede Trust, Child Poverty Action Group, the Traveller Movement, the Fawcett Society, Inclusion London and Disability Rights UK. 1.2. Many of our members provide vital front-line services and advocacy for and with people with protected characteristics who are likely to be disproportionately affected by Covid-19 and its wider social and economic impacts in relation to their protected characteristics or human rights. This evidence is informed by Equally Ours’ and our members’ knowledge of the issues and problems that people and communities are facing due to the virus, and what needs to change or improve. 1.3. We submitted evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee inquiry into the unequal impacts of Covid 19 on those with protected characteristics in April1 and to the Joint Committee on Human Rights in July 20202. Those submissions focused on the immediate needs emerging from the crisis, ongoing risks to human rights resulting from the crisis and where our members see a need to use human rights tools to build back better as a society. This submission builds on those submissions.

2. Are there any positives you would take from this pandemic? 2.1. The pandemic has demonstrated, in a dramatic and at times horrific way, the systemic, structural inequalities that exist within the UK and beyond. This may be a strange aspect to identify as a positive, but the reality is that any action to tackle these inequalities must be rooted in a recognition of their existence. That this is increasingly happening within public and political discourse is positive. 2.2. The second positive that we have seen is the level of cooperation and collaboration within and between communities. While this isn’t universal – there has been a worrying increase in hate crime which we discuss below – it shows that it is possible to develop a more inclusive society respectful of difference.

3. What are the things that you are most worried about? 3.1. We are worried that the Government is seeking to return to business as usual, with a real risk that inequalities will become even further entrenched in ‘life beyond Covid’. We are also worried that the disempowering narrative of

1 https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/3172/html/ 2 https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/9509/html/ vulnerability, coupled with an increase in hate crime, will take society back even further if it is not replaced with a more inclusive, rights-based approach. ‘Business as usual’

3.2. As the pandemic and the Government response to it have progressed it has become clear that those already facing discrimination and disadvantage have been the worst hit. This has less to do with the nature of the pandemic and more to do with systemic, structural inequalities. The most well documented example is race inequality, with reports from Public Health England,3 Professor Kevon Fenton4 and Independent Sage5 all connecting existing inequalities with a higher susceptibility to Covid-19. There is also substantial evidence that women have been harder hit by the economic impacts of the pandemic due to existing inequalities.6 3.3. More broadly, there is a clear relationship between health and socio- economic status, with those at the bottom end of the gradient experiencing significantly worse health than others. The intersection between discrimination and disadvantage means that people with protected characteristics are more likely to have poorer health outcomes overall. The pandemic has demonstrated just how much more susceptible those with protected characteristics are to Covid-19 itself and its wider social and economic impacts in areas such as employment, housing, education and access to justice.

Disempowerment

3.4. Responses to the pandemic have been dominated by a narrative of protection and vulnerability, with rights viewed as optional at best and unnecessary at worst. As a result, many individuals and groups have seen their rights curtailed in law or infringed in practice beyond what is necessary and proportionate to combat the public health crisis resulting from the pandemic. 3.5. The government chose to use the Coronavirus Act 2020 to introduce ‘easements’ to duties under the Care Act and important protections under mental health legislation. Not only does this remove important rights and safeguards from disabled people at a time when they are most likely to need them, it also sends a strong message that disabled people are less important than others. This, combined with existing ageist and disablist attitudes, led to actions that may have violated the right to life of older and disabled people. Research by the Queen’s Nursing Institute found “serious ethical and professional concerns, for example GPs, Clinical Commissioning Groups and hospital trusts making resuscitation decisions without first speaking to residents, families and care home staff or trying

3 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-review-of-disparities-in-risks-and-outcomes 4 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-understanding-the-impact-on-bame- communities 5 https://www.independentsage.org/disparities-in-the-impact-of-covid-19-in-black-and-minority- ethnic-populations-review-of-the-evidence-and-recommendations-for-action/ 6 See for example, https://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/uk-govs-approach-to-lifting-of-lockdown- women-and-girls-are-being-left-behind to enact ‘blanket’ ‘do not resuscitate’ decisions for whole groups of people.”7 A report from the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Programme that reviewed the deaths from Covid-19 of 50 people with learning disabilities found that 78% had a do not attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation (DNACPR) decision made and recorded prior to their death.8 The report raises a concern that the high number of deaths of those with mobility impairments and/or mental health needs may reflect “prejudicial attitudes towards the care and treatment of those with COVID19 and judgements about ceilings of care”.9 This confirms what our members had been telling us, and despite clarification from NHS England10 we remain concerned that such practices may be continuing, in breach of the right to life guaranteed by the Human Rights Act 1998. 3.6. Within society at large the central importance of rights has been clear and goes beyond those contained in the Human Rights Act. The rights to food, to education, to an adequate standard of living, to housing and to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health are all guaranteed by international law11 and have all been engaged in the fight against the pandemic, but the narrative of vulnerability means that they have been absent from the government approach. 3.7. This has had practical implications. The Government provided lists of people considered ‘clinically vulnerable’, who were prioritised by supermarkets for online delivery. This inadvertently led to the removal of delivery services to many disabled people who, while not clinically vulnerable, relied on delivery services as a reasonable adjustment. Many had to resort to threats of legal action to gain access to food.12 Had the situation been approached from the perspective of a right to food, prioritising the removal of barriers to access rather than ‘vulnerability’, this could have been avoided. Increasing levels of intolerance

3.8. The coronavirus pandemic has seen a worrying rise in the levels of hate crime against disabled people.13 There has been a rise in hate crime scapegoating minority groups for spreading Covid-19, with Chinese, Muslim and Traveller

7 https://www.qni.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/The-Experience-of-Care-Home-Staff-During- Covid-19-2.pdf 8 http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media- library/sites/sps/leder/Summary%20of%20findings%2050%20LeDeR%20reveiws%20of%20deaths% 20related%20to%20COVID19.pdf 9 http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media- library/sites/sps/leder/Summary%20of%20findings%2050%20LeDeR%20reveiws%20of%20deaths% 20related%20to%20COVID19.pdf 10 https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2020/april/response-open-letter-covid-19-and-rights- disabled-people 11 For example, in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CESCR/Pages/CESCRIntro.aspx 12 12 Casserly, C & Fry, C, The Coronavirus Act 2020 and its impact on disabled people, Discrimination Law Association Briefings Vol 70 July 2020 https://www.frylaw.co.uk/wp- content/uploads/2020/07/DLA-Briefings-vol-70-935-947-disabled-impact-CF.pdf 13 https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/campaigns-and-policy/facts-and-information/hate- crime/inclusion-london-briefing-disability-hate-crime/ communities at particular risk.14 The Community Security Trust have reported a rise in antisemitic hate crime during the pandemic, particularly the spread of antisemitic conspiracy theories that have spread through social media.15 The LGBT Foundation has reported on Covid-19 related hate crimes targeting gay men in particular, linking back to HIV prejudice and scapegoating.

4. What do you most hope changes for the better? 4.1. Equally Ours began dialogue within our network on the key issues for life after Covid in May 2020. We have developed a set of principles for recovery from the pandemic and held a dialogue with our members on how these should be put into practice.

What we need to #BuildBackBetter: principles for recovery

We all want to be valued, cared for, and have an equal chance to thrive. Covid- 19 has shown us just how important our shared humanity is, and that we have a responsibility to rebuild a society that works for us all.

Equality and human rights are the tools we use to live together freely and fairly. They are vital to rebuilding a more compassionate, resilient, and just UK that meets the needs and rights of us all.

To #BuildBackBetter, we need to use equality and human rights to create:

1. Investment to address the disproportionate and accumulative health and socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 on the women, Black and ethnic minority people, disabled people, older people, and others hit hardest by it.

2. An economy that works for all people and the planet, where the goals of prosperity and justice go hand-on-hand. That means sustainable investment in both capital and social infrastructure – including social security, social care and childcare.

3. A society where all people and institutions are subject and accountable to the law. Where the legal system underpins and promotes the rights and freedoms of everyone and is available to us all.

4. A society where we are free from violence and abuse. That means legal, political, economic, and cultural systems that work to end violence and abuse against women and children. That work to prevent discrimination and hate crime.

5. Support for communities to learn, work and live together in ways that break

14 Don’t Fund Hate, evidence to Equally Ours Policy Forum meeting 8.4.20 15 https://cst.org.uk/data/file/d/9/Coronavirus%20and%20the%20plague%20of%20antisemitism.15862 76450.pdf down prejudices, deepen connections, and strengthen the fabric of our society.

Through participation, collaboration, and action in these vital areas, we can #BuildBackBetter for us all.

4.2. These principles have been endorsed by our members and we call on the Government to place them at the heart of recovery and rebuild planning. The following sets out what we believe needs to be done to put them into practice in the following key areas of public policy: Building inclusive communities

4.3. The start of the pandemic saw communities across the UK working together to protect each other and the NHS. This has reduced, but still provides a strong basis on which to build back a more inclusive society and counteract the kind of division that the language of vulnerability and the stereotyping and scapegoating highlighted above risk. 4.4. Inclusive positive public narratives: Both government and media should use this opportunity to promote positive narratives and examples of solidarity between communities at the time of crisis, both now and in the future. 4.5. A Race Equality Strategy should be adopted as a matter of urgency. The pandemic has brought into stark relief the level of disadvantage and structural discrimination within the UK economy, society and justice system. This disadvantage is well documented, and repeated reviews have led to recommendation for action, the vast majority of which remain unimplemented by the Government. Nonetheless, the Government has established the Race Disparity Audit alongside the ethnicity facts and figures website and together these provide an opportunity to act on systemic race inequality across Government in a way that can truly effect change. The Government must take this opportunity to develop a cross-government race equality strategy of the type recommended by the Women and Equalities Committee in its 2018 report into the Race Disparity Audit.16 4.6. Action on hate crime must be a part of the Government’s plan for rebuilding from the Covid 19 crisis. This includes taking forward, with the Law Commission, reform of the law on hate crime to take a more equitable approach across different equality characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010. It also means a greater focus on prevention and political leadership, to support a more positive culture which recognises equality and human rights for all. A more just society

4.7. Embedding respect for human rights into service provision and public narrative is a necessary precondition for a more resilient society. It should have

16 https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwomeq/562/56213.htm been impossible for medical professionals to make resuscitation decisions without first speaking to residents, families and care home staff or to try to enact ‘blanket’ ‘do not resuscitate’ decisions for whole groups of people. Instead, the evidence above suggests this was widespread practice. Similarly, the lack of an embedded culture of respect for human rights left many disabled people without access to food, Travellers on roadside encampments without access to basic sanitation facilities and many migrant families without access to support when they lost jobs because of the pandemic, due to the rules on ‘no recourse to public funds’.17 4.8. A more comprehensive basis of enforceable rights would support a more inclusive society. The rights to food, to education, to an adequate standard of living, to housing and to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health have all been engaged in the fight against the pandemic, but the narrative of vulnerability means that they have been absent from the government approach. Where rights exist in law, enforcement has been absent or, as with the Equality Act 2010, left to those whose rights have been violated to enforce without funding or support.

Social infrastructure (housing, health, education etc)

4.9. A number of issues related to social infrastructure such as housing, health and education have come to the fore during the Covid-19 crisis. These include: precarity of childcare and social care, with ramifications for those using care services and women who pick up the burden; insecure and poor quality housing, employment etc that have contributed to the deterioration of people’s mental health during the crisis; the need for a fit-for-purpose welfare system; and particular issues facing children in contact with the criminal justice system or subject to school exclusions. 4.10. The Government has set out plans for further developing the physical infrastructure, but it has been less clear on how it plans to address such deficits in the social infrastructure. The role of local government, impoverished by a decade of cuts, must also be part of the solution. 4.11. In our discussions with members the following have emerged as priorities for the recovery and rebuild phase:  Investment in care to improve the quality and quantity of support and to ensure that care work is valued and appropriately remunerated.  Reform of the welfare system, including an increase in housing allowance.  Action on violence against women and girls.  Inclusion of mental health in recovery planning.

17 See our submissions to the House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee and the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiries into the impact of the coronavirus Economy and employment

4.12. Even prior to the pandemic the importance of decent work was being highlighted. Research by Carnegie UK Trust, UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies and Operation Black Vote found persistent racial inequalities in accessing work and that disproportionate numbers of black and minority ethnic young people were in precarious work, with the challenges that brings in relation to pay, security, intensity, progression, training and opportunity.18 The tendency for women to be in lower paid part-time work is well documented and the disability employment gap remains despite Government commitments to close it. 4.13. The coronavirus and Government action to combat it have had a significant impact on the economy and employment. While the furlough scheme has helped significantly in the short term, action is needed to address the underlying structural inequalities that see some communities more likely to be in low paid, precarious employment. 4.14. As we outlined above, the Government must now introduce a Race Action Plan to address the widespread structural racism that has placed BAME people at higher risk of death from Covid-19, with responsibility for implementation given to a Cabinet-level Minister. In addition to this, a cross-government strategy is needed to address the deep-rooted inequality experienced by groups that Covid-19 has highlighted, including women and disabled people as well as BAME communities. 4.15. The Government should use work to rebuild the economy to ‘reset’, so that prosperity and justice go hand in hand. For example, the Comprehensive Spending Review and Budget mechanisms should ensure that:  All public procurement, including infrastructure projects, have clear targets and practical actions to create opportunity and drive-up employment rates for women, BAME, disabled people and others facing barriers to employment.  The UK Shared Prosperity Fund and any subsequent funds provide the same level of investment in education, training and employment support for disadvantaged individuals and groups as under the European Social Fund it replaces.  There is significant and sustainable investment in social infrastructure including the NHS, social care, social security, housing and child care, to enhance economic participation and productivity, especially for women. 4.16. In looking at what life after Covid 19 could be like, there are also opportunities to invest in ‘non-traditional’ sectors of the economy that make a significant contribution to GDP (or could do) such as the creative arts and new green jobs. Building stronger social infrastructure in areas such as social care and childcare can also contribute to a stronger economy. There is an opportunity here

18 https://www.carnegieuktrust.org.uk/publications/race-inequality-in-the-workforce/ to professionalise care work, so it becomes a high skilled, well paid growth sector - creating good jobs for young people and others who traditionally face barriers to employment. 4.17. The emergency phase of the pandemic has shown that social security is vital to making the economy resilient to such threats, alongside the NHS and care sector. It has also shown that the current system is inadequate and in need of substantial reform. Many will face unemployment because of the crisis and those who were unemployment prior to the pandemic will face even greater barriers to employment. Investment will be needed in learning and development, improving employers’ practice and to strengthen employment rights. Rule of law and access to legal rights

4.18. The pandemic has had two practical impacts on access to justice: it has led to barriers to access to justice and it has led to a narrative that we must give up our rights to be protected. Protection and vulnerability have become the focus with rights viewed as optional at best and unnecessary at worst. As a result, many individuals and groups have seen their rights curtailed in law or infringed in practice beyond what is necessary and proportionate to combat the public health crisis resulting from the pandemic. 4.19. The difficulties in bringing legal challenges to discrimination are well known and documented. Reliance on individual enforcement was found to be particularly problematic by the Women and Equalities Committee in its 2019 report into enforcing the Equality Act 2010.19 Court reforms already underway have already been criticised for re-enforcing the digital divide.20 The government chose to use the Coronavirus Act 2020 to introduce ‘easements’ to duties under the Care Act and important protections under mental health legislation. 4.20. The Government initially refused to publish its analysis of the equality impacts of its actions on the pandemic, making it impossible to see if and how the public sector equality duty was being used to identify less restrictive options with fewer discriminatory impacts. It has since published its analysis of the Coronavirus Act, which includes useful information that could have helped guide the decision making of those implementing the provisions of that Act. 4.21. If we are to emerge from this crisis as a democratic society that respects the rule of law, then the government response, and plans to rebuild, must be underpinned by a human rights-based approach, including through transparent application of the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010.

19 House of Commons Women and Equalities Select Committee, 2019 Enforcing the Equality Act: the law and the role of the EHRC inquiry, Tenth Report 2017-2019 Session https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/women-and- equalities-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/enforcing-the-equality-act-17-19/ 20 House of Commons Justice Select Committee Court and Tribunal Reforms inquiry, Second Report of Session 2019: https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons- select/justice-committee/inquiries/parliament-2017/court-and-tribunals-reform-inquiry-17-19/ 4.22. Legislation and actions, or inactions, of public authorities must promote the rights and freedoms of us all with the vital check of access to legal challenge assured. This may require strengthening of legal provisions, including the public sector equality duty, and action to secure or even increase the ability of individuals and groups to challenge government decision making through judicial review. 2 September 2020