Equality and Diversity Strategy

Introduction

Our aim at Melin is to have a culture that is inclusive, fair, and free from harassment and discrimination with Equality, Diversity & Inclusion embedded into everything we do.
Our purpose - We exist to create opportunities for people and communities to thrive
Our Vision - Through outstanding individuals and teams we will do all that we can to support residents to help them live successfully in safe, warm and affordable homes based in vibrant, inclusive and connected communities​.

This strategy has been developed to ensure that Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is embedded and demonstrated throughout our staff and services. It links to our values and our corporate and business objectives. Our vision and values underpin the way we deliver our services and how we are embedding equality, diversity and inclusion as an integral part of our approach to service delivery and employment.

This strategy is based on Melin’s corporate goals. Our focus area is in line with:

• our promise to work with residents to help make our communities vibrant, inclusive, connected, and safe places to live and develop ways to ensure we hear the views of less engaged groups of residents;
• our promise to our people is to create an inclusive environment enabling everyone to thrive and do their best work​, achieving and maintaining the Quality in Equality and Diversity Leaders accreditation. We will measure and celebrate improvement goals that work towards a truly inclusive environment.

To demonstrate our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and our corporate goals, we have developed this strategy to drive forward and monitor continuous improvement and to ensure:

• we meet our statutory and moral obligations as a social landlord;
• our services are accessible to all of our stakeholders;
• resources are correctly and efficiently allocated;
• we tailor our services effectively;
• people and ideas thrive, are supported and encouraged;
• different people, ideas, ways of thinking, skills and perspectives are valued;
• everyone feels included, is heard and respected.

We recognise we need to attract, develop and retain a diverse pool of talented people, working with a culture that values and supports different ideas, approaches and perspectives.

We want to raise the bar in terms of Equality, Diversity and inclusion, ensuring that we can be the best we can be regarding delivering services, developing our culture and celebrating diversity in the communities we serve and in the workplace by including and valuing a broader range of people and talent to help us achieve our vision.

Definitions

Equality is about making sure that everyone is treated fairly and given the same opportunities. It is not about treating everyone the same; but instead recognising that people are different and have different needs.

Diversity is recognising that everyone is different and using those differences in a positive way that helps us tailor our services in a way that meets everyone’s needs.

Inclusion:To be inclusive we must take positive action to include all everyone in society when planning and making decisions.

Intersectionality: A framework that acknowledges that all people have unique experiences of discrimination and disadvantage exacerbated by the overlap of multiple social identities.

Background

How we developed this strategy

The foundations for this strategy are built on consultations and engagement with our EDI group and the Residents Voices group within Melin Homes. Equality, diversity, and inclusion has been an organisational priority. We are the first housing association in Wales to achieve the QED award as a testimony to that. We are currently in the process of attaining accreditation for the QED Leaders Award.

With this strategy, we have brought together our approaches and learning and challenged ourselves, as part of our goal to be an efficient and effective organisation.

It builds on the lessons we have learned, and continue to learn, about ourselves, as reflected on recommendations and challenges, surveys, and community and stakeholder engagement activities.

Our strategy sets out our ambition, how we will achieve this and provides a framework for the actions we will take. Our suite of action plans, which are living documents, describe what we will do and the outcomes we expect to see. It also sets out how we will build a more inclusive culture at Melin Homes, to offer opportunity for all and to develop the diversity of people and thought we need. It is intended to ensure that Melin attracts and retains the best people to carry out our corporate strategy.

Corporate and business objectives

The objectives of this strategy are:

Our strategic objectives

Residents

We will work with residents to help make their communities vibrant, inclusive, connected, and safe places to live.​

We will develop ways to ensure we hear the views of less engaged groups of residents.

Our people

We will create an inclusive environment enabling everyone to thrive and do their best work.

• We will achieve and maintain the QED Leaders accreditation.
• We will measure and celebrate improvement goals that work towards a truly inclusive environment.

Our five objectives provide a unifying framework for the actions we will take to implement this strategy. These objectives are focused on our roles as a leader, social landlord, and as an employer.

Our action plans are living documents that will provide detail on implementation of this strategy, and they will evolve over time.

We will experiment and develop new approaches, piloting and implementing interventions that we will monitor, evaluate and learn from. This approach will enable us to respond to changing needs, support a cycle of learning and improving, and grow the evidence base for ‘what works’.

We will monitor our progress against the strategy as part of our everyday business, supported by our organisational performance management framework.

1. Improve and encourage diversity in our recruitment process through championing inclusivity, redesigning our processes, introducing targeted initiatives and effectively monitoring and evaluating impact.
   1. We will ensure we reflect diverse interests in our processes through employing intersectionality. Our workforce will understand our vision and aspirations for equality and diversity and their roles in achieving this.
   2. We will become a more inclusive organisation where people can flourish and that recruits, supports and retains a more diverse workforce.
2. Embed diversity and inclusion in all our business processes and all business will be aware of our EDI work.
   1. We provide excellent customer service that responds to the individual needs of our customers.
   2. We offer diverse ways for all of our service users to engage with us.
   3. We will promote safe and secure environments that are free from any form of harassment, bullying and hate related crime.
   4. We will ensure all our services are non-discriminatory by assessing the impact of all front-line policies, procedures, strategies and core services.
   5. We have effective leadership and governance arrangements in place to scrutinise performance on equality and diversity and set challenging targets.
3. Collect, process and analyse Equality and Diversity data to improve services.
   1. We will collect, report, and evaluate diversity within Melin Homes – both for staff and residents.
   2. We will our grow knowledge of our resident profile, building our EDI data collection and analytical capabilities and use our data to support inclusive decision-making, ensuring services are shaped and reviewed by the understanding we have of our stakeholders.
4. Create a more inclusive and fair organisational culture, where everyone is included, valued and respected and can contribute and participate.
   1. Our senior leaders are committed to and accountable for our progress and will champion inclusion, acting as role models for inclusive actions and behaviours.
   2. We will create inclusive environments where everyone belongs and is supported to achieve their full potential, supporting our goal to be a world-class organisation.
5. Ensure our contractors and third-party service providers are aware of the importance of EDI in their work with Melin and our contract holders, by embedding it in all our contracts as a necessary term of contract.
   1. Our procurement processes and supply partners reflect our commitment to equality and diversity.

Our approach

A successful approach will see a Melin Homes where:

• equality, diversity, and inclusion are embedded in our systems, culture and processes;
• our workforce is considerably more diverse;
• participation from our residents is consistent and representative;
• everyone in Melin visibly contributes to the ongoing delivery of the strategy;
• an approach of learning as we go (about what works and what doesn’t within Melin, in and out of the housing sector, and beyond) is adopted across the board.

Legislation

This strategy has been designed to address inequalities associated with numerous characteristics. The concept of intersectionality – a framework that acknowledges that all people have unique experiences of discrimination and disadvantage exacerbated by the overlap of multiple social identities – is also fundamental to this strategy.

The Equalities Act 2010 applies across England, Wales and Scotland and brings together nine pieces of legislation and around 100 statutory instruments into a single piece of legislation. The aim of this is simplify the law and help tackle discrimination and inequality; helping to make society fairer. It provides a single approach to discrimination by extending the circumstances in which a person is protected against discrimination, harassment or victimisation because of “protected characteristics”, which means that people are now protected by the law from discrimination on the basis of the following “protected characteristics”:

1. Age
2. Disability
3. Gender
4. Gender reassignment
5. Race
6. Religion or belief
7. Sexual orientation
8. Marriage and civil partnership
9. Pregnancy and maternity

Governance and accountability

We believe that every person in the organisation has a part to play in making sure that we are embedding equality, diversity and inclusion as a fundamental part of our approach to service delivery and employment.

The Board

Our board holds overall responsible for equality, diversity and inclusion. The board takes its responsibility seriously and the Quality and Engagement committee, oversee the work we do in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion. Reports and updates on EDI will be provided to this committee at every meeting. This committee will meet three times a year. The Board will also have equality, diversity and inclusion on its agenda twice a year.

Leadership Team

All members of the Leadership Team are responsible for the performance and monitoring of equality key performance indicators in their own directorates, including helping their managers to support staff and promote equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and in making sure it is demonstrated in the services they provide.

Equality and Diversity Leads

We have the equality and diversity leads (Executive Director Corporate Services and Director of Business Improvement) to drive forward continuous improvement in equality, diversity and inclusion. These lead staff are primarily responsible for ensuring all our practices, policies and procedures are equal for everyone.

Equality and Diversity Working Group

We have a team of staff, residents and a Board EDI champion who meet quarterly to ensure EDI initiatives are progressed, actions completed, and information is disseminated throughout the organisation. The Working Group include volunteers of staff from all areas of the business who have an equal status on the group and play an equal role in promoting, eliminating, and advancing equality across all service delivery areas.

Communications team

Our communications team plan will help support this strategy and promote communication to support our culture.

Employees

All employees are responsible for following the Melin behaviours and to consider equality and diversity in their working practice.

We will encourage and support staff to challenge discrimination, promote equality and to value people’s differences. We will provide relevant and detailed equality training to all staff at least once a year and will carry out extra training when it is needed to update staff on new laws and practices.

Communities Group and Involved Residents

Communities group and Involved Residents are committed to:

• Understanding the makeup of their community
• Making sure that their members represent their communities
• Promoting equality and diversity issues in their groups
• Challenging discrimination

Resident representatives

Individual residents also have a part to play by keeping to the terms of their tenancy agreement, which says that they must respect others and not cause problems or nuisance to others, nor discriminate against or harass anyone because of their or race, religion and belief, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identify, civil partnership or marriage, maternity & pregnancy.

Action Plan

The Action Plans will be published on the Melin website and will detail equality objectives which will meet the general duty applicable to Melin.

The Action Plan works in conjunction with Tai Pawb’s Quality in Equality and Diversity Leaders (QEDL) Framework which is applied to areas of the business affected.

Activities covered by this Strategy

Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion applies to everything we do. For the avoidance of doubt this includes:

1. Access and communication
2. Aids and adaptations
3. Accessibility
4. Allocations and lettings
5. Antisocial behaviour
6. Development
7. Domestic abuse
8. Employment, training and staff development
9. Governance
10. Harassment and hate crime
11. Leasehold services
12. Procurement, contractors, suppliers and consultants
13. Refurbishing homes
14. Rent arrears and financial inclusion
15. Repairs, including gas servicing
16. Resident involvement
17. Shared ownership
18. Subsidiaries of Melin Homes
19. Support for residents
20. Working with partners

We will ensure that board, directors, staff and contractors are fully aware of the different ways in which unlawful discrimination can occur, namely:

• Direct Discrimination
• Indirect Discrimination
• Harassment
• Victimisation

Steps will be taken to ensure that policies, procedures and practices do not lead to unlawful discrimination.

Implementation

To make sure that our Equality and Diversity Action Plans are a success we will review and update it regularly, involving our working group and the Resident Group in checking on progress and communicating information on equality, diversity and inclusion issues to the Board through the People and Wellbeing committee.

We will ensure that all future policy decisions / policy reviews include reference to how they will impact on equality, diversity and inclusion, ensuring Equality Impact Assessments are carried out for all new policies.

Monitoring and Progress

We would demonstrate our compliance through the accreditation for the QED Leadership by Tai Pawb, setting our direction through the 121 with managers and by raising awareness through the Communications team.

The Board will sign off this strategy and delegate its monitoring to the Quality and Engagement committee. The Quality and Engagement committee will provide assurances to the Board.

Complaints

The complaints process must take into account the requirements of the Equality and Diversity Strategy and will deal with complaints seriously and effectively in line with the Organisation’s Complaints Procedure.

This strategy will be formally reviewed by the Board one year after adoption.