Equality and Diversity

Blyth Valley Housing aims to meet housing needs by providing excellent housing services and decent homes in safe and stable communities.  Our Vision is to provide the highest quality of service to our customers and to provide working conditions that help motivate our people and make them feel valued.  To do these things successfully, we recognise that we must also value equality and diversity and seek to promote fair treatment for all. 

 Our statement of commitment:

The company is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. As an employer, we are also committed to equality and valuing diversity within our workforce.  Our goal is to ensure that these commitments, reinforced by our values, are embedded in our day to day working practices with our customers, colleagues and partners.

We will demonstrate our commitment by:

• Promoting equality of opportunity and diversity within the communities in which we work and with all our partners and workforce
• Aiming to build a workforce and Board which reflects the customer base, within diverse communities in which we work, with the aim of having parity of representation across the workforce
• Encouraging recruitment to the Company and Board from groups currently under-represented in the company, and progression once within the company
• Treating our customers, colleagues and partners fairly and with respect.
• Promoting an environment free from discrimination, bullying, harassment and victimisation, and tackling behaviour which breeches this.
• Recognising and valuing the differences and individual contribution that people make.
• Providing encouragement and support to employees to develop their careers and increase their contribution to the organisation through enhancement of their skills and abilities.
• Building in legislative requirements and best practice (for example, see our Racial Equality Scheme) to all our service delivery and employee policies and procedures, and supporting these with appropriate training and guidance.

Scope

Our policy applies to the provision of services and the provision of employment and covers:-

• The Board and employees of the company
• Those seeking employment with the company
• Contractors and partners who supply goods or services to the company or on their behalf
• Users and potential users of the service

What do we mean by Equal Opportunities?

Equal Opportunity is just what it says.  We will provide equality of opportunity to our customers (or service users), partners and staff.  Our policy states that we will not tolerate unfair discrimination on the grounds of:

• Gender
• Marital status
• Sexual orientation
• Race
• Colour
• Nationality
• Religion
• Age
• Disability
• HIV positivity
• Working pattern
• Caring responsibilities
• Trade Union activity or
• Political beliefs
• Cultural beliefs
• or any other unfair grounds.

This policy meets the requirements defined by the following main Acts including

• The Sex Discrimination Act
• The Race Relations Act
• The Disability Discrimination Act
• Human Rights Act
• The Equal Pay Act
• Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
• Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006.

These Acts make it unlawful in employment, education or in the provision of services to discriminate either directly or indirectly on these grounds.  It also makes it unlawful to harass or victimise people on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, disability or race. 

You can view a copy of our Equality and Diversity Policy here.

Equality and Diversity Strategy

The Equality strategic objectives are derived from the issues identified during the Equality audit and KLOE review processes.  They have been categorised under the following headings:-

Objective 1 - To ensure that our community, employees and our partners increase their knowledge and understanding of Equality and Diversity and share our commitment to fair treatment for all.

Objective 2 – To ensure that the organisation structure and planning processes for managing Equality and Diversity are sufficiently robust to support effective long term action at all levels in the company

Objective 3 – To develop and foster consultation mechanisms to ensure more direct engagement with groups who may face particular barriers in making their voices heard

Objective 4 – To ensure the constitution of the Board and our employees reflects the local community we serve by using positive action to encourage and support people from under-represented groups. 

Objective 5 – To ensure that all HR policies and practices, including recruitment, selection for jobs and selection for training is open, fair and transparent and complies with best practice in Equal Opportunities. 

Objective 6 – To monitor, analyse and report on the effectiveness of our service and employment policies and procedures from an Equality perspective and make improvements. 

Objective 7 – To show leadership in developing a culture in which people understand and comply with appropriate standards of behaviour in relation to Equality and Diversity.   

You can view a copy of our Equality and Diversity Strategy here.