1. Please indicate whether your local authority has formally adopted the socio-economic duty (Section 1 of the Equality Act 2010). For this purpose, ‘adoption’ of the socio-economic duty, means that the authority must have either passed a motion at full council that adopts the duty, approved adoption via delegated decision or have agreed it via the council’s executive or cabinet. Please provide any relevant documentation to support your response.
The council has not formally adopted the socio-economic duty.

2. Does your local authority consider socio-economic status within all its Equality Impact Assessments and equality frameworks? Please provide any relevant documentation to support your response.
The council has recently updated its EqIA process and templates to require officers to include consideration of socio-economic inequality within this process. A copy of the updated forms and guidance is attached.

3. Has your local authority made a commitment to considering socio-economic status more broadly in strategic decision-making and policy development? Please provide any relevant documentation to support your response.
The council is committed to tackling socio-economic inequality and is due to consult on its ‘Wokingham Anti-Poverty Strategy 2021 – 2026’, the week commencing 17 January 2022. The draft strategy will be accessible on the council’s Engage Wokingham Borough webpage.

4. If your local authority has formally adopted the socio-economic duty (as described in question 1), please describe how the council has implemented the duty, or provide details relating to any future plans it has for implementation.
Not applicable.

5. If your local authority has not formally adopted the socio-economic duty (as described in question 1), are there future plans to adopt it? If so, please indicate the timeline that this will happen within.
There are no plans to adopt the duty but the council’s EqIA process embeds the requirement to give due regard to the implications of a proposal on socioeconomic inequality.