Equality and Diversity

Policy and Statement

March 2014

0141 881 0638

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copy of this policy, we would be pleased to provide the information in a

format that suits your needs.

Our Mission:

Creating opportunity for growth and opportunity

Our Values

  • INTEGRITY - to be honest, respectful and trustworthy in all that we do
  • EFFICIENT - to strive for competence and professionalism as individuals and as an organisation
  • RESPONSIBLE - to be accountable for all our actions
  • DEPENDABLE - to be reliable as individual people, to one another and to our customers
  • DEDICATED - to care about our particular purpose

Our Strategic Objectives

What we want to do:

  • Create desirable neighbourhoods that fit the needs and aspirations of our communities
  • Deliver excellent services across the organisation

How we want to do it:

  • Empower our people to lead the changes we need to make
  • Deliver value for money and sound finances
  • Deliver personal services to our customers in a ‘can do’ way
  • Be flexible and adaptable to our changing environment
  • Prepare for new opportunities

Contents

Part 1 Introduction

Part 2Purpose of the Strategy

Part 3What is equality and diversity?

Part 4Strategic Objectives

Part 5Our commitment

Part 6Roles and responsibilities

Part 7Legislative and Statutory context

Part 8Local context

Part 9Where are we now

Part 10CIH equality and diversity Charter and Action Plan

Part 11 BHA specific Action Plan 2014/15

  1. Introduction

This policy and strategy has been adopted by our governing Board following a period of consultation with a range of stakeholders including staff, tenant and resident groups through our Tenant Scrutiny Panel, as well as a range of diverse local community groups and organisations working in the voluntary third sector.

The policy and strategy supports the Association in meeting the equalities outcome in the Scottish Social Housing Charter: ‘social landlords perform all aspects of their housing services so that every tenant and other customer has their individual needs recognised, is treated fairly and with respect, and receives fair access to housing and housing services’. It also ensures we are meeting legislative and best practice requirements.

We recognise that there are specific groups and individuals in society who

experience discrimination, harassment and exclusion as a result of

different aspects of their identity. This can have a profound impact on their

lives and adversely affect the opportunities open to them.

We want to eliminate social exclusion, direct, indirect and institutional

discrimination and believe it is right that we should tackle such matters on

behalf of our staff, customers and the communities we serve. We see the

diverse identifies and needs of our community and workforce as a real

strength and believe people should be treated fairly. This includes recognising that treating people fairly and equally does not necessarily mean treating them the same. We also want to promote social cohesion and comply with all equality and employment legislation and regulations. We will ensure these principles are reflected in all policies, practices and services.

We will use our influence and purchasing power to encourage others to do the same. This includes encouraging the contractors and agencies we work with share our commitment to be fair to all. The way we procure goods and services will be central to this.

  1. Purpose of the Policy and Strategy

Barrhead Housing Association is committed to ensuring that staff, tenants, residents, Board, community and resident groups and other customers have the same opportunities regardless of their background.

We are committed to equality and diversity and embed this commitment in all that we do, in our policies and practices, in our vision, values and strategic direction. We understand the importance of incorporating a culture of equality and diversity across all aspects of what we do to ensure that we provide excellent services to our customers and promote the Association as an employer of choice.

This Policy and Strategy represents our commitment to promote equality in

terms of services we provide as a registered social landlord and also as an

employer.

This policy will enable the Association as an employer, housing and service provider to:

  • Treat all customers and colleagues fairly and with respect
  • Value, understand and respond to the diverse needs of individuals and communities
  • Foster effective community relations
  • Take proactive and reasonable steps to eliminate all forms of harassment, hate crime and discrimination
  • Ensure compliance with the relevant legislation, best practice standards as a landlord, employer and in the procurement of goods, facilities and services.
  1. What is Equality and Diversity

Diversity is defined as ‘difference’. Taking a representative sample of our

population is likely to reveal that there is a wide range of individuals with

different and diverse characteristics.

Diverse organisations recognise and embrace the different groups and

cultures of the people within their communities, ensuring people are valued

for their differences and that they provider everyone with the opportunity

to participate.

Equalities can be described as all the work individuals and organisations

carry out to promote equal opportunities and tackle discrimination. Equality

is about recognising that inequalities exist and making sure that everyone is

treated fairly.

Equalities work is wider than equal opportunities work. We believe the aims of equalities work are top make sure that:

  • Equality is central and embedded in all policy development and practice
  • Employment and other services are accessible to everyone
  • Everyone has individual needs and the right to have these respected without discrimination
  • Discrimination is identified, challenged and stopped.

Overall, equalities are about developing a framework within which people

are treated differently according to their needs but with equal respect and

fairness.

  1. Strategic Objectives

What we want to do:

How we will do it:
  • Create desirable neighbourhoods that fit the needs and aspirations of our communities
/ Continue to gather information to understand the needs and aspirations of our customers to shape continuous improvement
  • Deliver excellent services across the organisation
/ We offer personal, one stop services adopting a ‘can do’ attitude to provide the services required by our customers

How we want to do it:

How we will do it:
  • Empower our people to lead the changes we need to make
/ Ensure that we continue with our comprehensive development training programmes for all staff, governing Board.
  • Deliver value for money and sound finances
/ Work within budgets and resources set
  • Deliver personal services to our customers in a ‘can do’ way
/ Continue to review feedback from customers to develop this personal service and be flexible to adapt to change
  • Be flexible and adaptable to our changing environment
/ Proactively adopt change through our feedback, our policies and procedures to meet the demands of our slow growing diverse community
  • Prepare for new opportunities
/ Work with our partners to promote fairness and equality of opportunity
  1. Our Commitments

In developing this policy, we have focused on our compliance with

legislation and regulatory requirements and expectations, and also on the

core valued of our organisation. Moving beyond compliance will focus

our attentions on delivering excellence on equality and diversity issues.

Our commitments apply to our work as an employer, service provider,

contractor of services, funding body and in our community role. Our

Board members, staff and tenant representatives are all expected to

support these commitments. We will encourage our partners and

contractors we use to do the same.

We will embed the equality and diversity commitment throughout the

organisation in the following ways:

Service Delivery

  • By providing services which are accessible to all our customers, tailored to meet their needs and shaped by their views
  • By monitoring who is accessing our services
  • By using equality and diversity profile information and other data we have collected to specifically tailor our services to match the diversity profile of our customers
  • Updating our profile information to understand the particular needs of our customers and to use it to inform how we provide our services
  • Ensuring our communications and documents are available in a number of alternative and easy to understand formats which reflect the diverse need of our customers
  • By developing ongoing communication with customers to ensure that our services are known, understood and accessible
  • Actively consult and engage with our staff, customers, partners and contractors to help shape our policies and improve services we provide
  • By challenging all forms of discrimination where it is found in the community, and support victims of hate crime, domestic abuse, bullying, harassment and discrimination
  • meet the needs of our customers with a disability by reviewing how we deal with aids and adaptations, and making changes as required.
  • Fostering links with voluntary groups, and organisations to advance equality and diversity objectives
  • Ensuring our Association is welcoming, open and inclusive to a diverse range of customers and that our premises are accessible to all.

Strategic Planning and Governance

  • providing leadership and strong commitment to our equality and diversity policy and directing resources to support our objectives and actions
  • ensuring comprehensive profile information of our governing Board, staff, customers is obtained, and targets set where appropriate
  • providing governing Board members with training and development on equality and diversity to allow them to provide leadership
  • ensure policies, procedures and strategies recognise the diverse needs of our customers and consider the impact that they have on our customers, staff and stakeholders
  • new and reviewed policies and practices take account of equality impact assessments upon customers before they are implemented
  • ensure we fulfil our statutory obligations and recognise best practice towards continually improving our approach to equality and diversity

Procurement

  • ensure our contractors and partners are aligned with our equality and diversity objectives and strategic objectives
  • have effective systems in place to monitor the performance of contractors and partners in relation to equality and diversity issues
  • use our customer profile information to ensure that our contractors recognise the diverse requirements of our customers
  • use our influence and purchasing power to drive forward our vision to help eliminate prejudice, discrimination and disadvantage
  • by considering the equality and diversity commitment of contractors and partners in tendering and selection processes

Staff and employment

  • staff are recruited and promoted solely on their own merit, experience, ability and potential
  • providing an environment appropriate to the needs of staff, making reasonable adjustments and adaptations where appropriate
  • promoting a culture that respects and values each others’ differences and promotes dignity, equality and diversity
  • providing effective equality and diversity training to all staff
  • by advertising and promoting our vacancies to encourage applications from individuals from protected characteristic groups who are marginalised or are currently under-represented within the Association

Performance Monitoring

  • promoting engagement which recognises the diverse profile of our customers and developing new ways to consult with customers who are difficult to engage
  • developing effective indicators to measure performance against our objectives for equality and diversity
  • through self assessment and equality impact assessment
  • reporting regularly to our governing Board on outcomes of performance monitoring including recommendations for improvements
  • analyse customer and staff satisfaction surveys to measure satisfaction levels across diverse groups
  1. Roles and Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of all employees and governing Board members to

mainstream equality and diversity, and to work towards embedding

equality and diversity into everything the Association does as a registered

social landlord. These key responsibilities are outlined as follows:

Governing Board members

  • Have ultimate responsibility for equality and diversity within the Association and consider electing a Board equality and diversity champion who will lead on equality and diversity issues
  • will monitor to ensure that statutory and regulatory obligations are met
  • approve an annual equality and diversity Action Plan and monitor this
  • ensure compliance with this policy and strategy

Managing Director, and Departmental Directors

  • will implement the policy and strategy and Action Plan
  • review progress against the Strategy and Action plan
  • ensure through the development of equality impact assessments, that policies clearly identify any adverse equality and diversity implications against any protected characteristics
  • ensure adequate resources are available for implementation of the policy and strategy, the Action Plan to continue to develop the organisational culture on equality and diversity
  • promote a working culture that respects and values differences and promotes dignity, equality and diversity

Managers

  • will promote a culture of equality and diversity for staff and communicate the importance of adherence with the equality and diversity provisions
  • implement the policy and strategy ensuring all actions within the Action plan are achieved
  • ensure all aspects of their area of service comply with the equality and diversity policy and strategy
  • challenge discrimination in their area of service

Staff

  • will ensure that they comply with the principles, aims and objectives outlines in this policy and strategy in order to encourage diversity and eliminate discrimination, victimisation and harassment
  • will promote equality and diversity and ensure that their actions do not contribute to the unfair or discriminatory treatment of others
  • will challenge and report any unfair, discriminatory or unwelcome treatment to their line manager, or Director responsible for their business area
  • will use tenant profiling data to proactively meet the needs of customers

Tenant and Resident Groups

  • members will comply with the Association’s equality and diversity principles and objectives as outlines in this policy and strategy
  • will promote equality and diversity and ensure that their actions do not contribute to unfair or discriminatory treatment of others

Contractors and partners

  • will operate in accordance with the Association’s Equality and Diversity principles and objectives
  • will operate in line with equality and diversity legislation
  • demonstrate policy and procedures consistent with our Equality and diversity Policy and strategy and ensure services are delivered in a way that is consistent with our principles
  • will have a workforce trained in equality and diversity issues
  • will promote equality and diversity and ensure that their actions do not contribute to the unfair or discriminatory treatment of others

Customers

  • will treat all other BHA stakeholders with fairness, dignity and respect and avoid behaviours which are discriminatory.
  1. Legislative and Regulatory Context

The Equalities Act 2010

This policy and strategy has been produced in line with the Equalities Act

2010, which replaced equalities legislation and harmonised protection

against discrimination for all groups protected by the legislation. The Act

introduced the term ‘protected characteristics’ to describe the groups that

are protected by the law. Definitions:

  • Age – refers to a person belonging to a particular age or range of ages
  • Disability – a person has a disability or s/he has a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on that person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities
  • Gender re-assignment – the process of transitioning from one gender to another
  • Marriage and civil partnership – marriage is defined as ‘ a union between a man and a woman’. Same sex couples can have their relationship recognised as ‘civil partnerships’. Civil partners must be treated the same as married couples on a wide range of legal matters
  • Pregnancy or maternity – pregnancy is the condition of being pregnant or expecting a baby, maternity refers to the period after the birth, and is linked to maternity leave in the employment context. In the non-work context, protection against maternity discrimination is for twenty six weeks after giving birth, and this includes treating a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding.
  • Race- refers to the protected characteristics of race. It refers to a group of people defined by their race, colour, and nationality (including citizenship) ethnic or national origins
  • Religion and belief – religion has the meaning usually given it but belief includes religious and philosophical beliefs including a lack of belief (eg atheism). Generally a belief should affect your life choices or the way you live for it to be included in the definition
  • Sex – man or woman
  • Sexual orientation – whether a person’s sexual attraction is towards their own sex, the opposite sex or to both sexes

The Equality Act 2010 came into effect on 5th April 2011 and introduces a public sector equality duty upon all organisations that carry out a public function, and therefore applies to almost all of the services that we provide. The Equality Act, section 149, outlines the general duty which an organisation like Barrhead HA must comply with. The general duty requires BHA to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination which may take the form of:

  • Direct discrimination – treating someone less favourably than others based on a protected characteristic
  • Discrimination by association – discrimination against a person because they have an association with someone with a particular protected characteristic
  • Discrimination by perception – discrimination against a person because the discriminator thinks the person possess that characteristic, even if they do not in fact do so
  • Indirect discrimination – is a policy, practice, procedure, provision or criteria that applies to everyone in the same way but might disadvantage a particular protected characteristic, and which cannot be objectively justified in relation to the job
  • Harassment – is unwanted conduct, relating to a protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive working environment. The intention of the perpetrator is irrelevant. It is the impact on the individual which determines whether harassment has taken place.
  • Victimisation – is treating someone less favourably and discriminating against them because they have pursued or intend to pursue their rights relating to alleged discrimination, complained about the behaviour of someone harassing them or given evidence in someone else’s discrimination complaint.

The general duty also required BHA to