Equality and Diversity Policy
Purpose of the Policy
The purpose of this policy is to state our organisation’s values on equality and diversity and show how the organisation will put these into practice. We want to show potential staff and customers that Home from Home Lettings is serious about fairness, recognises, and accepts its responsibility to ensure equality and diversity in all areas of operation.
Policy Aims and Objectives
Home from Home Lettings is committed to equality for all people, is committed to operating in accordance with the 2010 Equality Act in the implementation of this Policy, in addition to any associated legislation laid out in the appendices of this document and relevant Codes of Practice. The organisation will monitor its policies and procedures to ensure that this policy and its principles are upheld. Every potential employee has the responsibility to implement this policy. All staff have a responsibility not to discriminate or harass other staff, customers, landlords, tenants, and contractors. Any behaviour of this manner should be reported to Lucy Rosser immediately.
Home from Home Lettings is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to ensuring that the terms and conditions of employment of the employee and potential employee are equitable and non-discriminatory. All opportunities for and during employment will be awarded to individuals fairly and irrespective of age, disability, gender, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, maternity or pregnancy, race including colour, ethnic or national origins or nationality, religion or belief, or sexual orientation (“the protected characteristics”). We aim to create a working environment that is free from discrimination and harassment in any form, in which staff, customers, landlords, tenants, and contractors are treated with dignity and respect.
The organisation will seek to promote equal opportunities and prevent discrimination and harassment by communicating this policy; by providing appropriate training and guidelines for those with designated responsibilities, and by raising awareness through staff development.
Protected Characteristics
We are committed to ensuring that everyone is treated fairly, has equal access to services, and is not discriminated against, harassed, or victimised in relation to the following protected characteristics identified under the Equality Act 2010:
Age: This refers to an individual of a specific age (e.g., 32) or an age range (e.g., 18-30).
Disability: Persons are defined as having a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
Gender Reassignment: This refers to the process of changing from one gender to the other (change from male to female or female to male) and comes under the equality aspect described as gender identity.
Marriage and Civil Partnerships: Marriage is defined as a formal union between a man and a woman or two people of the same sex. Same-sex couples can additionally have their relationships legally recognized as 'civil partnerships'. Civil partners must be treated in the same way as married couples in a wide range of legal matters.
Pregnancy and Maternity: Pregnancy is the condition of being pregnant or expecting a baby. Maternity refers to the period following birth and is associated with maternity leave in the employment contract. In a context apart from work, women are protected from being discriminated against on the basis of maternity for 26 weeks after giving birth, and this includes treating a woman unfavourably because she is breastfeeding.
Race: In legislation, this refers to a group of people defined according to their race, colour, nationality (including citizenship), or their ethnic or national origin.
Religion and Belief: Religion retains its usual meaning, but belief includes religious and philosophical creeds (e.g., Atheism). Generally, a belief should have an effect on your life choices or the way you live for it to be included in the definition. People with no religious belief are also protected.
Sex: This refers to a man or a woman.
Sexual Orientation: This refers to a person’s sexual attraction – whether they are attracted by people of the same sex, the opposite sex, or people of both sexes. Although it is defined in legislation as a person’s sexual attraction, sexual orientation is a combination of emotional, romantic, sexual, or affectionate attraction towards another person.
Defining Discrimination
Discrimination is defined in several ways. It may be deliberate or unconscious. It may occur on an individual level (person to person) or on an institutional level. The Equality Act (2010) expects that all staff and contractors of Home from Home Lettings are aware of and understand the different ways in which discrimination can happen.
Direct Discrimination: Treating an individual less fairly/worse than another individual because of a protected characteristic. e.g., Refusing someone housing advice because of their sexual orientation.
Indirect Discrimination: This happens when a service provider or employer sets out a rule, policy, or way of doing things which is relevant to all, but has a worse effect on someone with a protected characteristic than on someone without such a characteristic when this cannot be objectively justified. e.g., A letting agency has a policy of reminding service users of coming appointments by phoning them. This puts deaf people who cannot use a phone at a disadvantage since they will not be reminded of the appointment.
Harassment: This happens when an individual behaves in an unpleasant manner which transgresses someone else’s dignity or is aggressive, degrading, insulting, or humiliating towards someone with a protected characteristic. It may be of a sexual nature. e.g., A customer in reception happens to hear a staff member making racist remarks. This is an example of harassment since it creates a threatening and degrading atmosphere that humiliates the customer, and affronts their dignity.
Victimisation: Treating someone unfavourably because they have taken (or possibly intend to take) steps under the 2010 Equality Act or are supporting someone who is taking steps. e.g., A manager who refuses to consider someone for promotion because that individual has given evidence on behalf of a colleague who made a complaint about unlawful sexual discrimination.
Discrimination by Perception: People are protected against someone (wrongly) perceiving that they have one of the protected characteristics and discriminating against them, and treating them less favourably/worse because of this.
Discrimination by Association: People are protected against someone discriminating against them because of their association with someone who has a protected characteristic. This includes the parent of a disabled child or adult or someone else who is a carer for a disabled person.
Discrimination on the basis of matters arising from a disability: Treating a disabled individual unfavourably because of something associated with the disability when this cannot be justified.
Working Environment
All individuals have a right to be treated with dignity and respect. Home from Home Lettings takes reasonable steps to protect staff from discrimination, bullying, or harassment and, in the event of a complaint, we will take appropriate action to prevent, as far as possible, a further occurrence. All staff are encouraged to report any incidents of inappropriate or unacceptable behaviour at work or that occurs during the course of employment, on or off premises, including at work social events (whether organised by the Company or not) or at formal or informal events involving staff, customers, or other work-related contacts.
Raising Awareness and Providing Guidance
Home from Home Lettings will ensure that our employees, potential employees, and customers are aware of this policy by distributing a copy to all employees, and to other workers on their engagement. Job seekers, applicants, and customers will be sent a copy of the policy on request. It is important that all of our staff are fully aware of this policy, and the importance of equality and diversity issues. To this end, all staff will receive a briefing on this policy annually. This policy does not form part of the employment contract and may be changed at any time. The policy will be reviewed annually and changed accordingly.
Harassment and Bullying
Harassment and discrimination in relation to age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation are unlawful, and employees and customers have a right to be treated with dignity and respect. Harassment is not acceptable and Home from Home Lettings will neither permit nor tolerate it. As an employer, and employees as individuals may be open to legal challenges under equality and diversity legislation. As an employer, Home from Home Lettings must be able to demonstrate that its employment policies and procedures are fair and effective across the organisation.
Staff Members
Complaints regarding harassment or discrimination by another member of staff will be investigated in accordance with the Workplace Harassment Policy, and, if proven, action will be taken in accordance with the Disciplinary Policy.
Public
Any complaint by a member of the public will be investigated in accordance with the Complaints Policy.
Contractors
Any complaint regarding harassment will be investigated in accordance with the Code of Conduct and the Workplace Harassment Policy.
Monitoring
The Company will monitor the effectiveness of this policy to ensure it is achieving its objectives. To assess the success of the Equality and Diversity Policy, monitoring systems are essential. As part of this process, we will monitor compliance with this policy by analysing equality data for job applications, workforce, disciplinaries, and complaints. Information collected for monitoring purposes will be treated as confidential and will not be used for any other purpose.
Appendix 1 - Specific Issues for Letting and Estate Agents
(taken from the Equality and Human Rights Commission: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/equality-law-estateagents-letting-agents-and-property-management-companies)
Access to confidential information about a tenant
A potential issue is how an agent handles confidential information about a tenant’s protected characteristics. This could arise if the tenant has told the agent in confidence that they have a particular disability or are pregnant. The letting or estate agent has to consider whether it is necessary to pass that information on to the landlord. If it is, then the tenant should be informed that this will happen, and if possible, the tenant’s consent should be obtained. If the agent believes that passing on the information would put the tenant at a disadvantage, it should not be passed on.
Pre-tenancy and during-tenancy issues
Sometimes, an agent or landlord may impose a term or condition that disadvantages one or more tenants because of a protected characteristic. For example, refusing to allow a disabled tenant to have reasonable adaptations carried out to the property could be disability discrimination, unless it can be objectively justified. Agents must also consider the risk of discrimination when conducting pre-tenancy checks, such as credit checks or right-to-rent checks. These checks must be conducted fairly and not based on assumptions about a tenant’s protected characteristics.
Reasonable adjustments for disabled tenants
Agents and landlords have a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments for disabled tenants. This means making changes to policies, practices, or physical features of a property to remove or reduce disadvantages for disabled people. For example, if a property has steps leading up to the front door, a landlord may need to install a ramp for a wheelchair user. Agents should work with landlords to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made where necessary.
Advertising properties
Agents should ensure that their property advertisements are inclusive and do not discriminate against any group of people. For example, advertising a property as “suitable for professionals only” could indirectly discriminate against people who are unemployed, including those who are disabled or carers who are unable to work. Similarly, specifying that a property is “not suitable for children” could be discriminatory against families with children.
Appendix 2 - Unconscious Bias
It is important to recognise that everyone has unconscious biases, which can affect our decisions and actions without us even realizing it. Unconscious bias occurs when we make judgments or assumptions about people based on their protected characteristics, without being aware of it. This can lead to unfair treatment and discrimination, even if it is unintentional.
To address unconscious bias, Home from Home Lettings encourages all staff to:
Reflect on their own biases: Take time to think about your own assumptions and prejudices, and how they might affect your behaviour at work.
Challenge stereotypes: Be aware of common stereotypes and challenge them when you encounter them in the workplace.
Focus on the individual: Treat each person as an individual, rather than making assumptions based on their protected characteristics.
Seek out diverse perspectives: Encourage diversity of thought by seeking out different perspectives and opinions.
By addressing unconscious bias, we can create a more inclusive and fair working environment for everyone.