Equality & Diversity
The Flanagan Group accepts that in society certain groups or individuals are denied equality on the grounds of race, gender, marital status, caring responsibilities, disability, gender re-assignment, age, social class, sexual orientation and religion/belief or any other factor irrelevant to the purpose in view.
The Flanagan Group welcomes the statutory requirements laid down in
- the Equal Pay Act 1970;
- the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974;
- the Sex Discrimination Act 1975;
- the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Race Relations Amendment Act Feb 2000;
- the NHS Community Care Act 1990;
- the Disability Discrimination Act 1995;
- the Asylum & Immigration Act 1996;
- the Human Rights Act Nov 1998;
- the Employment (Religion or Belief) and (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003.
The Flanagan Group recognises that it has moral and social responsibilities that go beyond the provisions of the above-mentioned Acts and Regulations, and that it should support and contribute to the wider process of change through all aspects of its work and practices in order to eliminate discrimination and promote equality and diversity.
The Flanagan Group is committed to taking positive steps to ensure that
- all people are treated with dignity and respect, valuing the diversity of all.
- equality of opportunity and diversity is promoted.
- services are accessible, appropriate and delivered fairly to all;
- traditionally disadvantaged sections of the community are encouraged to participate in policy decisions about, and
the management of the services provided.
1. COMMITMENT
Equality and diversity are central to the work of The Flanagan Group.
The Flanagan Group will treat all people with dignity and respect, valuing the diversity of all. It will promote equality of opportunity and diversity. It will eliminate all forms of discrimination on grounds of race, gender, marital status, caring responsibilities, disability, gender re-assignment, age, social class, sexual orientation, religion/ belief, irrelevant offending background or any other factor irrelevant to the purpose in view.
It will tackle social exclusion, inequality, discrimination and disadvantage.
For this policy to be successful, it is essential that everyone is committed to and involved in its delivery. The Flanagan Group’s goal is to work towards a just society free from discrimination, harassment and prejudice. The Flanagan Group aims to embed this in all its policies, procedures, day-to-day practices and external relationships.
2. AIMS
The Flanagan Group aims to:
- Provide services that are accessible according to need
- Promote equality of opportunity and diversity in volunteering, employment and development
- Create effective partnerships with all parts of our community
3. OBJECTIVES
The Flanagan Group’s objective is to realise its standards by:
- Sustaining, regularly evaluating and continually improving its services to ensure equality and diversity principles and best practice are embedded in our performance to meet the needs of individuals and groups.
- Working together with the community to provide accessible and relevant service provision that responds to service users’ needs.
- Ensuring staff, volunteers and trustees are representative of the community served and the employment policies are fair and robust.
- Responding to volunteer’s & employees’ needs and encouraging their development to increase their contribution to effective service delivery.
- Recognising and valuing the differences and individual contribution that all people make to the organisation.
- Challenging discrimination.
- Providing fair resource allocation.
- Being accountable.
4. WHY HAVE THIS POLICY?
The Flanagan Group recognises, respects and values diversity in its employees, volunteers and service users.
The Organisation has this policy because it is a people-led organisation that must always ensure it meets the needs of the community through fair and appropriate employment and development of the people who work and volunteer for The Flanagan Group.
5 PROCEDURES
Responsibility for Implementation
This policy covers the behaviour of all people employed or volunteering in The Flanagan Group or using the services and sets out the way they can expect to be treated in turn by the organisation. The overall responsibility for ensuring adherence to and implementation of this policy lies with the staff and the management committee.
Method of Implementation
The Flanagan Group intends to implement this policy by:
Ensuring that it is a condition of paid employment in the organisation.
Ensuring that Management committee, volunteers and users are made aware, understand, agree with, and are willing to implement, this policy. All staff and volunteers will be given a copy of this policy as part of their induction.
Actively encouraging staff, management committee and volunteers to participate in anti-discriminatory training, and making time and resources available for such training.
Monitoring the services, publicity and events provided by the organisation, to ensure that they are accessible to all sections of the population and do not discriminate, and taking active steps to ensure that participation is representative.
Monitoring and Reviewing
The Flanagan Group has declared its commitment to establishing, developing, implementing and reviewing a policy of equality of opportunity. Effective record keeping and monitoring, and acting on information gathered, are essential in order to measure effectiveness and plan progress. The management committee will review the policy annually.
