Policy paper

Assault on emergency workers in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Equalities Impact Assessment

Updated 2 August 2023

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

Policy Summary

The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 came into force on 13 November 2018. Section 1 of the Act provides for the offence of common assault or battery committed against an emergency worker acting in the exercise of functions as such a worker. A person found guilty of this offence is liable to a term of imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, or to a fine, or both. S.67 and s.68 of the Sentencing Act 2020 (c.17), also sets out the statutory aggravating factor and definition of Emergency Worker respectively.

On 13 July 2020 the government launched a targeted consultation on doubling the maximum penalty for assaulting an emergency worker to 2 years. This was in line with the government’s manifesto commitment. This consultation was directed at representative groups of emergency workers and other key stakeholders. The large majority of those who responded were in favour of doubling the maximum penalty from 12 months to 2 years.

Following consultation, on 15 September 2020, the government announced that it will bring forward legislation to increase the maximum penalty for assaulting an emergency worker from 12 months to 2 years’ imprisonment.

The aim of this proposal is to ensure that the law provides emergency workers with sufficient protection to enable them to carry out their duties, and the options available to the courts to sentence offenders who assault emergency workers are proportionate, reflect the seriousness of the offences committed and provide victims with a sense that justice has been done.

This document assesses the potential equalities benefits and risks that have been identified in relation to doubling the maximum penalty for assaulting an emergency worker. It considers the justification for the change, any necessary mitigating actions which have been proposed to reduce the likelihood of the risks and includes an assessment of any equalities benefits.

Equality Duties

Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 places a duty on Ministers and the Department, when exercising their functions, to have ‘due regard’ to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other prohibited conduct under the Equality Act 2010
• advance equality of opportunity between different groups (those who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not); and
• foster good relations between different groups (those who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not)

Paying ‘due regard’ needs to be proportionately considered against the nine “protected characteristics” under the Equality Act 2010 – namely ethnicity, sex, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief, age, marriage and civil partnership, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity.

We also recognise that the MoJ, as a service provider, has a duty to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people.

Sources of Information

The main source of information used for this analysis is data on Criminal Justice System (CJS) outcomes (specifically sentencing) by age, sex and ethnicity in the annual Criminal Justice System Statistics Quarterly (CJSQ), which is published every year.^{[footnote 1]}

We have also consulted:

• Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2018^{[footnote 2]}
• Statistics on Women and the Criminal Justice System 2017^{[footnote 3][footnote 4]}
• Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Offender Equalities Annual Report 2018 to 2019^{[footnote 5]}
• The Nature of Violent Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2018^{[footnote 6]}
• 2011 United Kingdom Census^{[footnote 7]}

Availability of data

Detailed data about sentenced prisoners in the affected cohort is widely available for three of the nine protected characteristics – age, sex and ethnicity. We have used this data for our equality analysis. Although there are some data available on those serving sentences of imprisonment by other protected characteristics (see Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) Offender Equalities 2018/19 report^{[footnote 8]}) this does not allow us to compare the cohort of prisoners who will be affected by this change as we cannot match offenders by these characteristics to the specific offence committed. We have not presented data where they are not available at sufficient quality and with sufficient coverage to be meaningful. Data is presented where known, therefore where sex, ethnicity or age are not stated or unknown they are omitted from analysis.

Affected Groups

The proposed change will have a direct impact on those offenders who are convicted of Assault of an Emergency Worker. The maximum penalty for this offence would increase from 12 months to 24 months’ imprisonment under the new policy.

This group of offenders could be affected by longer periods of custody, followed by a corresponding longer period of probation on licence. Offenders who may have received other disposals such as community sentences or suspended sentences may now receive custodial sentences due to the increased perceived seriousness of their crimes. The change will also affect the offenders’ families including spouses and civil partners as well as children, but data on the impact on marriage/civil partnership is unavailable.

Offenders

The attached data show the number of offenders who would be affected by this change when applied to 2019 offender statistics, broken down by sex, ethnicity and age, and are based on the number of individuals proceeded against for Assault on Emergency Workers in 2019. For the purposes of this analysis, we have compared those proceeded against for Assault on Emergency Workers to offenders proceeded against for Common Assault and Battery, which would be unaffected by the policy. Where this wasn’t possible, the general population of England and Wales was used as a comparison group (see Annex A). We have also compiled statistics on the conviction rate and custody rate for comparison between the two groups, which are also reported in Annex A.

The data suggests that some characteristics may be overrepresented in the offender population affected by this change, while other characteristics are represented in similar proportions in the affected group and in the comparison group (offenders of Common Assault and Battery). Specifically:

Gender (Sex)

There is a lower proportion of males in the affected group of Assault of an Emergency Worker offenders relative to the comparison group of all Common Assault and Battery offenders. Of the 11,091 offenders proceeded against for Assault of an Emergency Worker, 70.7% were male and 29.3% female, compared to 84.8% male and 15.2% female in the comparison group of Common Assault and Battery offenders.

Ethnicity

Where ethnicity was known, the proportion of White offenders in the affected group is lower than the proportion in the general population of England and Wales (they comprise of 83.6% of offenders but 86% of the general population). There is an overrepresentation of Black people as a proportion of the offenders (8.8%) relative to the total population (3.3%). Offenders that identify as Asian or Chinese and Other are underrepresented in this group (3.6% and 1.0% of offenders relative to 6.8% and 1.7% of the population, respectively) whilst offenders that identify as Mixed are quite proportionately represented (3.0% of offenders, and 2.2% of the population).

The latest ethnicity data about the general population produced by the Office for National Statistics is the 2011 United Kingdom Census, which could be outdated and no longer representative of the population in 2020. Therefore, the comparisons between the offender population and the general population could draw inaccurate conclusions.

Age

Offenders aged 18-20, 21-24, and 25-29 appear to be slightly overrepresented with the effect being roughly consistent for all three cohorts. These three cohorts compose around 3 percentage points more offenders in the affected group than in the comparison group. This is matched by a slight underrepresentation of the older cohorts (30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70+), but of a slightly smaller magnitude. Offenders below the age of 18 appear to be roughly proportionally represented between the two groups.

Other protected characteristics

Data on other protected characteristics by sentence length and type is unavailable, however the below gives a brief overview of available data on protected characteristics within the CJS. No conclusions should be made about the impact of this policy on them, as we are unable to make a reasonable assessment. Although we do not currently have reliable data on these other protected characteristics, we are considering ways to improve the data collection for offenders in scope of the policy.

Disability

We are not able to identify by this protected characteristic those affected by this policy as we do not have the data available. It remains important to continue to make reasonable adjustments for disabled offenders, defendants, victims, witnesses and courts and tribunals users to make sure appropriate support is given to enable rehabilitation and fair access to justice, as well as support for our staff. These proposals do not impact on this obligation.

Religion or Belief

At the end of September 2017, 48% of the prison population self-reported to be of a Christian faith, a decrease of 10 percentage points since June 2002.^{[footnote 9]} The proportion of Muslim prisoners increased over the same period by 7 percentage points to 15%. However, we are not able to identify by this protected characteristic those affected by this policy.

Marriage/Civil Partnership

We are not able to identify by this protected characteristic the cohort of offenders affected by this policy as we do not have the data available.

Sexual Orientation

In 2019, 97.3% of prisoners in England and Wales who declared a sexual orientation reported that they were heterosexual,^{[footnote 10]} slightly higher than that of the UK general population in which 94.6% identified as heterosexual in 2018.^{[footnote 11]} However, we are not able to identify by this protected characteristic those affected by this policy.

Pregnancy/Maternity

We are not able to identify by this protected characteristic those affected by this policy as we do not have the data available. We will continue to ensure the provision of Mother and Baby Units in prisons, and support within community settings.

Victims

The change will also affect the victims, and the families of the victims, of these offenders in particular, and the public in general, in that they will feel protected for longer from the risks presented by the offender and will be more likely to consider that the punishment better reflects the harm they have suffered. It will also increase the confidence of victims and the public in the administration of justice.

We are not able to identify by protected characteristics the victims of the specific cohort of offenders affected by this change as we do not have the data available.

Equality considerations applicable to all policies

Eliminating Unlawful Discrimination

Direct Discrimination

Direct discrimination occurs when a policy would result in people being treated less favourably because of a protected characteristic. Our assessment is that these changes are not directly discriminatory within the meaning of the 2010 Act, as they apply in the same way to all individuals regardless of their protected characteristics. No offender will be treated less favourably in relation to any protected characteristic.

Indirect Discrimination

Indirect discrimination occurs when a policy applies equally to all individuals but would put those sharing a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage compared to those who do not. Our initial assessment is that these changes are not indirectly discriminatory within the meaning of the Equality Act as explained below.

By virtue of the overrepresentation of these groups in the cohort of offender to which this policy applies, we acknowledge that any adverse impacts arising from these changes will be more likely to affect male and Black prisoners.

Males are less substantially overrepresented in the Assault on Emergency Workers offence in relation to the general population average than in the Common Assault and Battery offence.

In general, non-White ethnic groups appear to be over-represented at most stages throughout the CJS, compared with the White ethnic group, and among non-White ethnic groups, Black and Mixed individuals are often the most over-represented.^{[footnote 12]} This trend is reflected for the Assault on Emergency Workers offence (see Table B).

We do not, however, consider that these overrepresentations will likely result in any particular disadvantage for offenders with these protected characteristics. Our assessment is that the changes described by these policy proposals is a proportionate means of achieving our aim to better protect emergency workers by ensuring that the courts have sufficient powers to pass a sentence which reflects the serious nature of this offence. Overall, therefore, we do not consider that these policy changes are likely to result in any unlawful indirect discrimination.

Discrimination arising from disability and duty to make reasonable adjustments

In so far as these changes extend to disabled offenders, we believe that the policies are proportionate, having regard to their aims. It remains important to make reasonable adjustments for disabled offenders to ensure appropriate support is given throughout the criminal justice system. We do not consider that this policy impacts on this obligation or that any additional adjustments are required for disabled people.

Harassment and victimisation

We do not consider there to be a risk of harassment or victimisation within the meaning of the Equality Act as a result of these changes.

Advancing Equality of Opportunity

We have had regard to this aspect of the equality duty but do not consider that these changes will affect the advancement of equality of opportunity, although there will be positive impacts for victims which may affect certain groups more.

Fostering Good Relations

Our assessment is that these changes are unlikely to impact on fostering good relations between groups with different protected characteristics.

Continuing Analysis

The equality duty is an ongoing duty and we will draw on any data that could provide evidence on the impact of these changes to inform any future review of how the policy works for all affected offenders, including those with protected characteristics which are currently overrepresented in affected groups.   ##Annex A

The following data has been extracted from the Criminal Justice Statistics Outcomes by Offence Tool.

Tables A, B, and C provide data on the sex, ethnicity and age of individuals proceeded against for Assault of an Emergency Worker or for Common Assault and Battery for the year 2019. Tables D and E provide data on the conviction ratio and custody rate by protected characteristic for the two offences for the year 2019.

The Ministry of Justice publishes data on sentencing through quarterly CJS statistics publications. The following tables indicate the number and proportion of offenders (by the protected characteristics described) who would be affected by the new policy (those proceeded against for Assault of an Emergency Worker). This group is compared to a similar cohort which would be unaffected by the new policy (those proceeded against for Common Assault and Battery) to assess the Equalities Impact of the new policy.

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

Data are given on a principal offence basis. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. Data are given on a principal disposal basis – i.e. reporting the most severe sentence for the principal offence.

Table A – Sex

		Assault of an Emergency Worker	Common Assault and Battery
Total	Number	11,091	44,733
Males	Number	7,839	37,946
Males	%	70.7	84.8
Females	Number	3,252	6,787
Females	%	29.3	15.2

For the protected characteristic of ethnicity, data broken down by ethnicity wasn’t available for Offence 105 (Common Assault and Battery) in the Criminal Justice Statistics Outcomes by Offence Tool. The comparison group is instead the general population of England and Wales subdivided by ethnicity as per the England and Wales 2011 Census (which can be found here). An important caveat to note is that the 2011 Census data may no longer be representative of the general population because data was collected over 9 years ago. However, in the absence of more updated figures (the next Census is due to run in 2021), these 2011 figures were used for this analysis.

Table B – Ethnicity*

		Assault of an Emergency Worker	General population
White	Number	6,910
White	%	83.6%	86.0
Black	Number	725
Black	%	8.8	3.3
Asian	Number	297
Asian	%	3.6	6.8
Mixed	Number	250
Mixed	%	3.0	2.2
Chinese and other	Number	82
Chinese and other	%	1.0	1.7

*Care must be taken when interpreting small figures.

Table C – Age*

		Assault of an Emergency Worker	Common Assault and Battery
10-14	Number	116	811
10-14	%	1.0	1.8
15-17	Number	557	2,222
15-17	%	4.9	4.9
18-20	Number	1,018	2,778
18-20	%	9.0	6.1
21-24	Number	1,527	4,885
21-24	%	13.6	10.8
25-29	Number	2,098	7,678
25-29	%	18.6	16.9
30-39	Number	3,231	13,743
30-39	%	28.7	30.3
40-49	Number	1,770	7,959
40-49	%	15.7	17.6
50-59	Number	777	4,016
50-59	%	6.9	8.9
60-69	Number	137	977
60-69	%	1.2	2.2
70 and over	Number	23	244
70 and over	%	0.2	0.5

*Care must be taken when interpreting small figures.

To assess any differences in representation, care must be taken when comparing conviction and sentencing data for common assault offences with the general population. It may be more appropriate to compare the conviction ratio (the rate that prosecutions end in conviction) and custody rate (the proportion of all sentences that were sentenced to immediate custody) for assault of an emergency worker (Tables D1 and D2) with the conviction ratio and custody rate for common assault and battery (Tables E1 and E2) between protected characteristics, and also overall for assault of an emergency worker overall. Data broken down by ethnicity was unavailable for the Common Assault and Beating offence.

Table D1: Conviction ratio for Assault of an Emergency Worker

Overall conviction ratio: 84.0%

Sex	Proportion of convicted	Conviction ratio
Male	70.8%	58.7%
Female	29.2%	24.2%

Total convicted where sex is known: 7,929

Age range	Proportion of convicted	Conviction ratio
10-14	0.7%	60.3%
15-17	4.2%	71.1%
18-20	9.0%	83.0%
21-24	13.9%	84.8%
25-29	18.9%	84.1%
30-39	29.5%	85.5%
40-49	15.7%	82.7%
50-59	6.7%	80.8%
60-69	1.1%	77.4%
70 and over	0.2%	73.9%

Total convicted where age is known: 9,347

Ethnicity	Proportion of convicted	Conviction ratio
White	86.7%	86.1%
Black	6.7%	67.8%
Asian	3.0%	75.0%
Mixed	2.6%	81.6%
Chinese and other	1.0%	80.3%

Total convicted where ethnicity is known: 5,902

Table D2: Custody Rate for Assault of an Emergency Worker

Overall custody rate: 18.4%

Sex	Proportion sentenced	Custody rate
Male	85.7%	22.3%
Female	14.3%	8.9%

Total sentenced to custody where sex is known: 1,410

Age range	Proportion sentenced	Custody rate
10-14	0.1	1.4%
15-17	1.4%	5.3%
18-20	5.3%	9.9%
21-24	12.2%	15.0%
25-29	20.8%	18.6%
30-39	36.2%	20.8%
40-49	16.5%	17.9%
50-59	6.6%	16.4%
60-69	0.9%	13.2%
70 and over	0%	0%

Total sentenced to custody where age is known: 1,532

Ethnicity	Proportion sentenced	Custody rate
White	85.1%	17.3%
Black	7.1%	18.8%
Asian	3.1%	18.0%
Mixed	3.6%	24.8%
Chinese and other	1.1%	19.6%

Total sentenced to custody where ethnicity is known: 1,007

Table E1: Conviction ratio for Common Assault and Battery

Overall conviction ratio: 68.2%

Sex	Proportion of convicted	Conviction ratio
Male	85.0%	68.1%
Female	13.9%	68.9%

Total convicted where sex is known: 26,616

Age range	Proportion of convicted	Conviction ratio
10-14	1.7%	64.6%
15-17	4.9%	68.5%
18-20	6.6%	73.3%
21-24	11.1%	70.1%
25-29	17.3%	69.9%
30-39	30.0%	67.7%
40-49	17.1%	66.7%
50-59	8.7%	67.1%
60-69	2.1%	67.2%
70 and over	0.5%	68.4%

Total convicted where age is known: 31,004

Ethnicity	Proportion of convicted	Conviction ratio
White	N/A	N/A
Black	N/A	N/A
Asian	N/A	N/A
Mixed	N/A	N/A
Chinese and other	N/A	N/A

Total convicted where ethnicity is known: N/A

Table E2: Custody Rate for Common Assault and Battery

Overall custody rate: 14.6%

Sex	Proportion sentenced	Custody rate
Male	93.4%	15.9%
Female	6.6%	6.9%

Total sentenced to custody where sex is known: 3,915

Age range	Proportion sentenced	Custody rate
10-14	0.2%	1.5%
15-17	0.7%	2.0%
18-20	4.9%	10.2%
21-24	12.0%	14.6%
25-29	21.6%	16.8%
30-39	37.8%	17.0%
40-49	16.4%	12.9%
50-59	5.7%	8.9%
60-69	0.5%	3.0%
70 and over	0.3%	6.6%

Total sentenced to custody where age is known: 4,211

Ethnicity	Proportion sentenced	Custody rate
White	N/A	N/A
Black	N/A	N/A
Asian	N/A	N/A
Mixed	N/A	N/A
Chinese and other	N/A	N/A

Total sentenced to custody where ethnicity is known: N/A

1. Criminal justice system statistics quarterly: December 2019 ↩

2. Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2018 ↩

3. Women and the criminal justice system 2017 ↩

4. The Race and Women publications are published biennially (alternating with one another) every November, although equalities data is available every year from the CJSQ. ↩

5. HM Prison and Probation Service offender equalities annual report 2018 to 2019 ↩

6. The nature of violent crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2018 ↩

7. 2011 Census: Detailed Characteristics for England and Wales, March 2011 ↩

8. HM Prison and Probation Service offender equalities annual report 2018 to 2019 ↩

9. Prison Statistics, England and Wales, 6 December 2017 ↩

10. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service Offender Equalities Annual Report 2018/19 ↩

11. Sexual orientation, UK: 2018 ↩

12. Statistics on Race and the Criminal Justice System 2018 ↩