Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Policy

Policy Statement

We are an equal opportunities employer. We are committed to equality of opportunity and to providing a service and following practices which are free from unfair and unlawful discrimination. The aim of this policy is to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be relevant to performance. It seeks also to ensure that no person is victimised or subjected to any form of bullying or harassment.

We value people as individuals with diverse opinions, cultures, lifestyles, and circumstances. All employees are covered by this policy, and it applies to all areas of employment including recruitment, selection, training, deployment, career development, and promotion. These areas are monitored, and policies and practices are amended if necessary to ensure that no unfair or unlawful discrimination, intentional, unintentional, direct, or indirect, overt, or latent exists.

The Company has responsibility for implementing and monitoring this policy and, as part of this process, all other policies and procedures are administered with the objective of promoting equality of opportunity and eliminating unfair or unlawful discrimination.

All employees, workers, or self-employed contractors whether part time, full time or temporary, will be treated fairly and with respect. Selection for employment, promotion, training, or any other benefit will be on the basis of aptitude and ability. All employees will be helped and encouraged to develop their full potential and the talents and resources of the workforce will be fully utilised to maximise the efficiency of the Company.

Equality of opportunity, valuing diversity and compliance with the law is to the benefit of all individuals in our Company as it seeks to develop the skills and abilities of its people. While specific responsibility for eliminating discrimination and providing equality of opportunity lies with directors, managers and supervisors, employees at all levels have a responsibility to treat others with dignity and respect. The personal commitment of every employee to this policy and application of its principles are essential to eliminate discrimination and provide equality throughout the Company.

The law

It is unlawful to discriminate directly or indirectly in recruitment or employment because of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment (i.e. transgender status), pregnancy, maternity, race (which includes colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), sexual orientation, religion, or belief, or because someone is married or in a civil partnership. These are known as “protected characteristics”.

Discrimination after employment may also be unlawful, e.g. refusing to give a reference for a reason related to one of the protected characteristics.

It is unlawful for an employer to fail to make reasonable adjustments to its requirements, working practices or the physical features of the workplace where these put a job applicant or employee who is disabled at a substantial disadvantage. Employers are also under a duty to take reasonable steps to provide an auxiliary aid.

When we are providing services, goods, or facilities, you must not discriminate against or harass a client, suppliers, or member of the public. We are under a duty to make reasonable adjustments to overcome barriers to using services caused by disability including the removal, adaptation, or alteration of physical features. In addition, we need to think ahead and make reasonable adjustments to address any barriers that may impede disabled people from accessing a service.

Discrimination can be in person or online. Harassment and bullying online can be via email, instant messaging, text, video calls, and posting comments on social media (including personal social media accounts).

Treating a part-time worker less favourably than a comparable full-time worker, and a fixed-term employee less favourably than a comparable permanent employee, is also unlawful unless the less favourable treatment can be objectively justified.

Our commitment as an employer

• creating an environment in which individual differences and the contributions of our staff are recognised and valued;
• entitling every employee, worker or self-employed contractor to a working environment that promotes dignity and respect to all. No form of intimidation, bullying or harassment will be tolerated;
• providing training, development, and progression opportunities to all staff;
• understanding equality in the workplace is good management practice and makes sound business sense;
• reviewing all our employment practices and procedures to ensure fairness.

Our commitment as a service provider to clients

• providing services to which all clients are entitled regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation, offending past, caring responsibilities, or social class;
• making sure our services are delivered equally and meet the diverse needs of our service users and clients by assessing and meeting the diverse needs of our clients;
• fully supporting this policy by senior management
• selecting those for employment, promotion, training, or any other benefit purely on the basis of aptitude and ability;
• monitoring and reviewing this policy annually;
• having clear procedures that enable our clients, candidates for jobs and employees to raise a grievance or make a complaint if they feel they have been unfairly treated;
• treating breaches of our equality and diversity policy as misconduct which could lead to disciplinary proceedings;
• encouraging all staff to come forward with any issues they need Company assistance and understanding with, no matter their background, identity, or circumstances, such as if they are victims of domestic abuse or have caring commitments.

Equal opportunity policy statements

Age

• ensure that people of all ages are treated with respect and dignity;
• ensure that people of working age are given equal access to our employment, training, development, and promotion opportunities;
• challenge discriminatory assumptions about younger and older people.

Disability

• provide any reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people have access to our services and employment opportunities;
• challenge discriminatory assumptions about disabled people;
• seek to continue to improve access to information by ensuring availability of loop systems, braille facilities, alternative formatting, and sign language interpretation.

Race

• challenge racism wherever it occurs;
• respond swiftly and sensitively to racists incidents;
• actively promote race equality in the Company

Sex

• challenge discriminatory assumptions about women and men;
• take positive action to redress the negative effects of discrimination against women and men;
• offer equal access for women and men to representation, services, employment, training and pay and encourage other organisations to do the same.

Gender reassignment

• provide support to prevent discrimination against transsexual and transgender people who have or who are about to undergo gender reassignment;
• prohibit and respond to all instances of discrimination, both from colleagues and externally.

Sexual orientation

• ensure that we take account of the needs of lesbians, gay men, those who identify as non-binary and bisexuals;
• promote positive images of lesbians, gay men, those who identify as non-binary and bisexuals.

Religion or belief

• ensure that employees’ religion or beliefs and related observances are respected and accommodated wherever possible;
• respect people’s beliefs where the expression of those beliefs does not impinge on the legitimate rights of others.

Pregnancy or maternity

• ensure that people are treated with respect and dignity and that a positive image is promoted regardless of pregnancy or maternity;
• challenge discriminatory assumptions about the pregnancy or maternity of our employees;
• ensure that no individual is disadvantaged and that we take account of the needs of our employees’ pregnancy or maternity.

Marriage or civil partnership

• ensure that people are treated with respect and dignity and that a positive image is promoted regardless of marriage or civil partnership;
• challenge discriminatory assumptions about the marriage or civil partnership of our employees;
• ensure that no individual is disadvantaged and that we take account the needs of our employees’ marriage or civil partnership.

Transgender

We recognise that terminology around gender identity is evolving as awareness increases and more people choose to self-define. Transgender is an umbrella term describing the diverse range of people whose gender identity differs from the sex that they were assigned at birth. An individual may identify as transgender but may not identify with the binary concept of woman or man.

We acknowledge that gender identity and sexual orientation are not interchangeable concepts. Gender identity is about a person’s internal periconception of their gender. Sexual orientation, or sexuality, is about to whom someone is physically and/or emotionally attracted. This may be to someone of the same sex (“lesbian” or “gay”), a different sex (“heterosexual” or “straight”) or more than one sex (“bisexual”). We will not assume that a transgender colleague has a particular sexual orientation.

Managers and colleagues should respect how an individual chooses to describe themselves and, if in doubt, should ask rather than assume. Using inappropriate language and terminology can cause offence and distress and undermines our efforts to create an inclusive workplace.

Gender Recognition Act 2004

The Gender Recognition Act 2004 allows an individual to apply for a gender recognition certificate (GRC), which will give them legal recognition in their acquired gender and enables them to obtain a new birth certificate. The Act safeguards the privacy of an individual with a GRC by defining information relating to the gender recognition process as “protected information” and, except “in certain specific circumstances” (for example, for the purpose of preventing or investigating crime), it is a criminal offence to disclose such information without the individual’s consent.

An application for a GRC will be made to the Gender Recognition Panel. Individuals are required to provide a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria and evidence that they have lived in their acquired gender for two or more years and intend to do so permanently.

We will never ask an employee if they have a GRC or require anyone to apply for one for employment purposes.

How we support transgender equality

We recognise that job applicants and employees are not required to tell us their gender identity or gender history. The gender in which an individual chooses to present will always be acknowledged and respected. This extends to individuals who identify as non-binary, i.e. they do not regard their gender identity as exclusively male or female.

We commit to promoting a workplace that is inclusive of people, regardless of their gender identity.

Ex-offenders

We will prevent discrimination against our employees regardless of their offending background (except where there is a known risk to children or vulnerable adults).

Equal pay

We will ensure that all employees, male or female, have the right to the same contractual pay and benefits for carrying out the same work, work rated as equivalent work or work of equal value.

Unconscious bias

The Company recognises the dangers of unconscious bias arising at work, which is where an opinion is formed on an individual by a manager or colleague without them necessarily being aware they have formed it.

There are many different forms of unconscious bias, ranging from an affinity towards those of a similar background to placing too much significance on what has been identified as a negative trait.

The Company will work against forms of unconscious bias in all decisions taken for employment, including recruitment, promotion, and training opportunities, with a focus on promoting diversity and inclusion.

The Company may implement some or all of the following:

• Omission of all personal questions from job interviews
• Removal of medical monitoring on offer of employment
• Referring to specific job criteria when making recruitment decisions
• Discounting any favourable personal relationships with employees
• Making decisions based on merit
• Ensure all employees at all levels are fully aware of the Company’s equality, diversity and inclusion policy

Types of unlawful discrimination

Direct discrimination

This is where a person is treated less favourably than another because of a protected characteristic (for example refusing to employ a woman because she is pregnant).

In very limited circumstances, employers can directly discriminate against an individual for a reason related to any of the protected characteristics where there is an occupational requirement. The occupational requirement must be crucial to the post and a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

Indirect discrimination

This is where a provision, criterion or practice is applied that is discriminatory in relation to individuals who have a relevant protected characteristic compared with people who do not, and it cannot be shown to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (for example requiring employees to have held a driving licence for 10 years may be indirect age discrimination, unless that requirement could be objectively justified).

Harassment

This is where there is unwanted conduct, related to one of the protected characteristics (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity which are covered by direct discrimination provisions in the Equality Act 2010) that has the purpose or effect of violating a person’s dignity; or is reasonably considered by that person to create an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment. It does not matter whether or not this effect was intended by the person responsible for the conduct.

Associative discrimination

This is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed for association with another individual who has a protected characteristic (although it does not cover harassment because of marriage and civil partnership, and (according to guidance from the Government and Acas) pregnancy and maternity).

Perceptive discrimination

This is where an individual is directly discriminated against or harassed based on a perception that they have a particular protected characteristic when they do not, in fact, have that protected characteristic (other than marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy and maternity).

Victimisation

This occurs where an employee is subjected to a detriment (essentially where the employee is treated badly), such as being denied a training opportunity or a promotion because they made or supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act 2010, or because they are suspected of doing so. For example, if a blind employee raises a grievance that the employer is not complying with its duty to make reasonable adjustments and is then systematically excluded from all meetings. However, an employee is not protected from victimisation if they acted maliciously or made or supported an untrue complaint in bad faith.

Failure to make reasonable adjustments

This is where a physical feature or a provision, criterion or practice puts a person who is disabled at a substantial disadvantage compared with someone who does not have that disability and the employer has failed to make reasonable adjustments to enable the disabled person to overcome the disadvantage.

Bullying

There is no legal definition of bullying. However, we regard it as conduct that is offensive, intimidating, malicious, insulting, or an abuse or misuse of power, and usually persistent, that has the effect of undermining, humiliating, or injuring the recipient.

Bullying can be physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct. It is not necessarily face to face and can be done by email, phone calls, online (cyber-bullying) or on social media. Bullying may occur at work or outside work.

If the bullying relates to a person’s protected characteristic, it may also constitute harassment and, therefore, will be unlawful (see Harassment).

While this is not an exhaustive list, bullying may include:

• physical, verbal, or psychological threats;
• excessive levels of supervision; and
• inappropriate and derogatory remarks about a person’s performance.

It is important to understand that legitimate, reasonable, and constructive criticism of a person’s performance or behaviour, or reasonable instructions given to people in the course of their employment, will not of themselves amount to bullying.

Bulling is offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour, and/or an abuse or misuse of power that is meant to undermine, humiliate, denigrate, or injure the person on the receiving end. For example, picking on someone or setting them up to fail or making threats or comments about someone’s job security without good reason, excessive remote monitoring or unjustifiably leaving someone out of remote meetings.

Bullying can occur in the workplace itself and in settings outside the workplace, such as business trips, events or social functions whether organised for or on behalf of the Company or informally among the workforce.

Harassment

The Company has a duty to provide its workers with a safe place and system of work under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. This includes a workplace free from bullying and harassment.

In some cases, individuals can be held legally liable for harassing either colleagues or third parties (including customers) and may be ordered to pay compensation.

Harassment can occur both inside and outside of the workplace, such as business trips, events or social functions whether organised for or on behalf of the Company or informally among the workforce.

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of a protected characteristic; a protected characteristic is defined as, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, race, religion & belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

Harassment is unwanted conduct related to those protected characteristics and that:

• has the purpose of violating a person’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that person; or
• is reasonably considered by that person to have the effect of violating their dignity or of creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them, even if this effect was not intended by the person responsible for the conduct.

Harassment can occur where someone perceives another person to have a protected characteristic, for example a perception that someone is transgender even if they are not.

Harassment can also arise by association, where someone is harassed because they are associated with someone with a protected characteristic, for example having a family member of a particular religion.

Examples of harassment include:

• “banter”, jokes, taunts, or insults that are sexist, racist, ageist, transphobic, homophobic, or derogatory against any other protected characteristic;
• physical conduct ranging from unwelcome touching or sexual advances to serious assault;
• sending unwanted messages of a sexual nature (“sexting”) or sending or posting inappropriate images of themselves;
• demeaning comments about a person’s appearance;
• deliberate exclusion from conversations or work activities on the basis of relating to a person’s protected characteristics;
• unwelcome jokes or comments of a sexual or racial nature or about a person’s age or online sharing of such jokes or comments;
• treating a person differently because they are associated or connected with someone with a protected characteristic, e.g. their child is gay, their spouse is black, or their parent is disabled;
• “outing” (i.e. revealing their sexual orientation against their wishes), or threatening to “out”, someone;
• consistently using the wrong names and pronouns following the transition of a person’s gender identity;
• repeated name calling related to a person’s religion or belief;
• ignoring a person because they are perceived to have a protected characteristic (whether or not they do, in fact, have that protected characteristic), e.g. an employee is thought to be Jewish, or is perceived to be transgender;
• asking questions or making comments that may indicate a bias (often referred to as micro-aggressions), e.g. persistent questions about where a colleague comes from, or commenting that a colleague of a particular ethnicity should be good at maths;
• the use of obscene gestures or sending or posting inappropriate images of themselves;
• the open display of pictures or objects with sexual or racial overtones, even if not directed at any particular person or relating to their actual or perceived protected characteristic, e.g. magazines or calendars;
• posting or sharing of images or videos with sexual or racial overtones, on social media accounts, including personal social media accounts if shared with colleagues.

NB This list is not exhaustive.

Conduct may be harassment whether or not the person behaving in that way intends to offend. Something intended as a “joke” may offend another person. Everyone has the right to decide what behaviour is acceptable to them and to have their feelings respected by others. Behaviour that any reasonable person would realise would be likely to offend will be harassment without the recipient having to make it clear in advance that it is unacceptable, e.g. sexual touching. It may not be so clear that some other forms of behaviour would be unwelcome to, or could offend, another person, e.g. certain “banter”, flirting or asking someone for a private drink after work. In these cases, first-time conduct that unintentionally causes offence will not be harassment, but it will become harassment if the conduct continues after the recipient has made it clear, by words or conduct, that such behaviour is unacceptable to them.

Sexual conduct that is consensual, mutual, and invited is not harassment. However, the conduct may become unwanted (for example, where a sexual relationship ends) and, if it continues, amount to harassment.

A single incident can be harassment if it is sufficiently serious.

Sexual Harassment

Harassment may be sexual in nature. The law defines sexual harassment as:

• conduct of a sexual nature that has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity, or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment; and
• less favourable treatment related to sex or gender reassignment that occurs because of a rejection of, or submission to, sexual conduct.

Examples of sexual harassment

• physical conduct of a sexual nature, unwelcome physical contact, or intimidation;
• persistent suggestions to meet up socially after a person has made clear that they do not welcome such suggestions;
• showing or sending offensive or pornographic material by any means (eg by text, video clip, email or by posting on the internet or social media);
• unwelcome sexual advances, propositions, suggestive remarks, or gender-related insults;
• offensive comments about appearance or dress, innuendo, or lewd comments;
• leering, whistling, or making sexually suggestive gestures; and
• gossip and speculation about someone’s sexual orientation or transgender status, including spreading malicious rumours.

See policy on Sexual harassment in the policies and procedures section of this handbook.

Microaggressions

Microaggressions – sometimes called micro-incivilities – are statements, actions, or incidents that are regarded as indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalised group such as a racial or ethnic minority. They are sometimes referred to as “death by a thousand cuts”. Microaggressions generally take one of three forms:

• Micro-assaults: Conscious and obvious insults made verbally or non-verbally to a marginalised individual or group, for example directing limp-wristed hand gestures towards a gay colleague and saying, “It’s just a joke”.
• Micro-insults: Unintentionally insensitive remarks or assumptions based on stereotypes, for example saying to a person with a disability “You don’t look disabled to me”.
• Micro-invalidations: Where a person denies, or seeks to cancel, the feelings and lived experiences of a marginalised individual or group, for example a white person saying, “I don’t think the UK has a problem with racism – some people are just too sensitive”.

Serious microaggressions can amount to unlawful harassment, bullying or discrimination but even less serious microaggressions can negatively impact the health and wellbeing of the person experiencing them.

What to do if you believe you have been bullied or harassed

We encourage anyone who believes that they have been harassed or victimised to come forward and share their experiences and concerns with us. To facilitate this, we have robust procedures designed to assist our people to have open conversations, engage in dispute resolution and, where appropriate, implement a disciplinary process.

If you think you are being bullied or harassed, you may be able to sort out matters informally. The person may not know that their behaviour is unwelcome or upsetting. You may feel able to approach the person yourself, or with the help of someone else. You should tell the person what behaviour you find offensive and unwelcome and say that you need them to stop it immediately.

If an informal approach does not resolve matters, or you think the situation is too serious to be dealt with informally, you can make a formal complaint by using our grievance procedure.

If you raise a grievance, the normal grievance procedure is modified so that you can choose whether to raise your grievance with your manager or with another manager.

If you are experiencing bullying or harassment by a third party, for example a client or a supplier, we encourage you to report this to your manager or the HR team without delay so that they can advise and support you on the best course of action.

How we respond to harassment complaints

We will promptly investigate all complaints and, if appropriate, bring disciplinary proceedings against the alleged harasser. You have the right to be accompanied by a fellow worker or trade union official of your choice at any meeting dealing with your grievance. We will keep in touch with you on the general progress of the process of investigation and, subject to data protection requirements, the outcome of any disciplinary proceedings.

We treat complaints of bullying and harassment sensitively and maintain confidentiality to the maximum extent possible.

You have a right not to be victimised (essentially treated badly) for making a complaint in good faith, even if the complaint is not upheld. However, making a complaint that you know to be untrue may lead to disciplinary action being taken against you.

Your responsibilities

You need to play your part in helping us create working lives that are free from harassment and bullying, and where everyone can achieve their potential.

Acts of discrimination, harassment, bullying or victimisation against employees or customers are disciplinary offences and will be dealt with under our disciplinary procedure. We treat this type of conduct extremely seriously and it may lead to dismissal without notice.

Grievances

We encourage anyone who believes that they have been harassed or victimised to come forward and share their experiences and concerns with us. To facilitate this, we have robust procedures designed to assist our people to have open conversations, engage in dispute resolution and, where appropriate, implement a disciplinary process.

If you think you have been discriminated against, bullied, or harassed you can raise this under our grievance procedure.

We take any complaint seriously and you will not be penalised for raising a grievance, even if your grievance is not upheld, unless in the very unlikely situation that your complaint is both untrue and made in bad faith.

Using our grievance procedure does not affect your right to make a complaint to an employment tribunal. Complaints to an employment tribunal must normally be made within three months beginning with the act of discrimination complained of.

Prevention of Sexual Harassment

The Company commits to the following measures in support of the prevention of sexual harassment in the workplace:

• We will hold a record of complaints about all forms of harassment in the workplace.
• This will help to detect any trends and provide an opportunity to resolve the issues.
• The register will need to be kept secure and access will be strictly limited to those who need to know.
• We will regularly review and update content in our handbook and/or policies relating to anti-harassment and dignity at work and re-circulate to all employees to ensure they are aware of the standard of behaviour expected of them.
• The aim of this it to ensure we are doing all we can to equip employees with the knowledge and means to address such behaviour and raise awareness of the protection available to them.
• We will review and update training that relates to anti-harassment to ensure it is current and relevant to all parties.
• We will ensure that training that relates to anti-harassment is rolled out as required.

Training

All new starters must attend equality, diversity, and inclusion training as part of their onboarding programme.

Every current employee must attend regular equality, diversity, and inclusion training on a regular basis.

We expect all our people to proactively support our equality, diversity, and inclusion initiatives by attending events and workshops organised by the Company to educate themselves on the challenges faced by others and how to help alleviate these in the workplace.

Record-keeping

We process personal data collected in relation to bullying or harassment complaints in accordance with our data protection policy. In particular, data collected in relation to the investigation of bullying or harassment complaints is held securely and accessed by, and disclosed to, individuals only for the purposes of responding to the complaints and conducting an investigation. You should immediately report any inappropriate access or disclosure of employee data in accordance with our Data protection policy as this constitutes a data protection breach. It may also constitute a disciplinary offence, which we will deal with under our disciplinary procedure.

Monitoring and review

We will periodically monitor this policy to judge its effectiveness, and we will update it if there are any changes in the law. In particular, we will monitor the ethnic and gender composition of our existing workforce and job applicants (including promotion), and the number of people with disabilities within these groups and will review our equal opportunities policy in line with the results shown. If changes are required, we will implement them.