Good practice guide: Getting Equalities Monitoring Right

Stonewall Scotland and Scottish Trans have worked in partnership to create a good practice guide to LGBT monitoring which includes information on secure data collection; examples of good questions to use; and how to analyse the results to identify actions needed.

Not just headcounts

It’s important to remember that the number of transgender people is not currently known accurately and many trans people are extremely wary of revealing that they are transgender. Therefore, think about using a range of different methods to collect information about trans equality. You can monitor progress without necessarily trying to count the numbers of individual transgender service users or employees you have. Headcounts of the number trans people you serve or employ are not the only thing – or even the most important thing – to monitor to check your organisation’s progress on transgender equality.

Other matters that can and should be monitored (either alongside headcounts or instead of headcounts) include:

• Progress against transgender equality action points in your equality scheme action plans or equality outcomes;
• Types and outcomes of service provision complaints;
• Take up and outcomes of staff grievance and harassment procedures;
• Impact of staff equalities training and the amount of transgender equality inclusion within such training;
• Staff and service user attitudes towards transgender equality and rights;
• Information from departing service users and staff about why they are leaving;
• Language used in internal and external communications;
• Internal and external image of the service;
• Number of requests to change gender on staff or service user records.

Further assistance

Contact us for bespoke assistance with your organisation’s equalities monitoring processes and design of survey questions.