Read our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy
We want to understand and value the diversity of our customers, communities and staff. We also want to provide them with services that respect and value this diversity. So we wrote a strategy. Here's is how we will bring it to life.
Our vision
As a landlord
We want to understand and value the diversity of our customers, communities and staff.
We want to provide you with services that are fair and flexible and which recognise and respect this diversity.
As an employer
We want to promote inclusion, embrace diversity and create an atmosphere in which our staff can thrive.
We want to attract great new talent to the Trust – a place where everyone feels that they belong.
What do we mean by equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)?
Equality – making sure that everybody has an equal opportunity and is not treated differently or discriminated against because of their characteristics.
Diversity – considering the differences between people and groups of people and valuing those differences.
Inclusion – embracing all people no matter what their individual characteristics or needs and making sure that everyone feels:
Respected
Valued
Heard
Principles
We will consider fairness and accessibility in all we do – from our services to how we recruit and treat staff.
We will consider equality, diversity and inclusion whenever we start a project or write a policy.
We will be smart with our data so that we do and decide take account of everyone’s needs.
We will respect and listen to individuals’ needs and points of view.
We will do all we can to make our staff and our Board aware of EDI.
We will listen and learn from our mistakes so that we can improve.
We will not stand for discrimination and hate.
We will encourage a positive, open & inclusive culture.
We will promote why all this matters to us and what we have done to prove that.
We will work with partners – to understand what our communities need and to understand how others see us.
Our leaders will reflect and promote our commitment to equality, diversity & inclusion.
Our six big themes
The aims of our strategy relate to six themes.
We will agree action plans to help us to achieve these aims over the coming years.
Our first action plan will say what we intend to do in the first year. After that, we will see how we have done and set a longer-term strategy and action plan.
- To ensure the Trust’s commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion and to this strategy is clear to customers, staff and the wider community.
- To have the diversity of the communities in which we work reflected on the Board, its committees, leadership teams and other employees across the Trust.
- To have effective structures, processes and consultation which enable diverse views and perspectives to shape our priorities, strategies, priorities and plans.
- To understand the diversity of our tenants and how this relates to the diversity of the wider community and of our workforce.
- To have a diverse range of customers involved in shaping the design and delivery of our services, removing barriers to involvement wherever we can.
- To learn from customer feedback to improve how we recognise and respond to diverse needs and being able to show when and how we have done this.
- To use that insight to plan and tailor services and action in response to needs and to be able to show when and how we have done this.
- Have services and policies which recognise different customer needs and preferences and be flexible enough to provide services in a variety of ways to meet these needs.
- To have skilled and well-trained staff who can recognise different needs and who are empowered to meet different needs in different ways.
- To provide good quality homes – both existing and new – which meet a variety of needs and preferences.
- To enable customers to contact us and access services in a range of ways which suit them.
- To attract, recruit and keep staff from diverse backgrounds that reflect the communities in which we work.
- To have recruitment and employment policies and practices that are demonstrably fair and transparent, and which promote a diverse and inclusive workplace culture where all staff can thrive.
- To have staff who are well trained and aware of issues of equality, diversity and inclusion and who demonstrate that in the way they treat others.
- To have staff who are confident to challenge any unfair, discriminatory, non-inclusive behaviours or practices in the workplace or in our service to customers.
- To have and help to build strong local partnerships which help us to identify key issues and to plan and make improvements.
- To involve key stakeholders in reviews of our equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and in assessments of its effectiveness.
- To contribute to the creation of safe, sustainable and cohesive neighbourhoods and communities, effectively responding to issues such as hate crimes.
- To understand how our customers and others see us in terms of how we respond to equality, diversity & inclusion.
- To publicise the Trust’s action, plans and achievements in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion to customers and other stakeholders.
- To become recognised as a landlord, service provider, employer and partner that effectively supports and achieves equality, diversity and inclusion.
The EDI Strategy was approved by the Board in March 2022 together with a one year action plan. An update on the action plan was provided at the Board in December 2022 and a request to extend the one year strategy was agreed by the Board in March 2023.
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