Equality and Diversity Policy and Procedure

• To ensure that all members of staff can work in an environment to the best of their skills and abilities without the threat of discrimination or harassment.
• El Marsh Care Ltd – is committed to ensuring that all members of staff and job applicants receive equal treatment, regardless of any protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
• This policy applies to all aspects of employment with El Marsh Care Ltd -. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes recruitment, pay and conditions, training, appraisals, promotion, conduct at work, disciplinary and grievance procedures, and termination of employment.
• To support El Marsh Care Ltd – in meeting the following Key Lines of Enquiry:

To meet the legal requirements of the regulated activities that El Marsh Care Ltd – is registered to provide:

• Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) Regulations 2012 (Amendment to Parts 4 & 5)
• Care Quality Commission (Registration) and (Additional Functions)
• Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009
• Equality Act 2010
• Equality Act 2010: Chapter 1 (Protected Characteristics) Chapter 2 (Prohibited Conduct) and Chapter 3 (Services and Public Functions)
• General Data Protection Regulation 2016
• Data Protection Act 2018
• Gender Recognition Act 2004

The following roles may be affected by this policy:

• All staff

The following Service Users may be affected by this policy:

• Service Users

The following stakeholders may be affected by this policy:

• Family
• Commissioners

1. To set out the zero-tolerance approach of El Marsh Care Ltd – to the perpetrators of discrimination in the workplace.
2. To ensure that El Marsh Care Ltd – has an open and transparent approach to all aspects of employment, free from discrimination.
3. To ensure that all members of staff are able to thrive in an inclusive environment.
4. To create a working environment which enables everyone to work to the best of their skills and abilities without the threat of discrimination or harassment in the workplace.
5. To enable El Marsh Care Ltd – to comply with the Equality Act 2010, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and good employment practice.

• El Marsh Care Ltd – takes a zero-tolerance approach to any discrimination, harassment and/or victimisation which one member of staff may perpetrate against another and/or against any other person, including but not limited to former employees, job applicants, clients, customers, suppliers and visitors.
• Equally, this policy not only applies in the workplace but also outside of it when the member of staff
  is dealing with customers, suppliers or other work-related contacts, or when wearing a work uniform and on work-related trips or events including social events.

• Direct Discrimination: Treating someone less favourably because of a protected characteristic, for example, rejecting a job applicant because of their religious views or because of their sexuality
• Indirect Discrimination: A provision, criterion or practice that applies to everyone but adversely affects people with a particular protected characteristic more than others and is not justified. For example, requiring a job to be done full-time rather than part-time may adversely affect women because they generally have greater childcare commitments than men. Such a requirement would be discriminatory unless it can be justified
• Harassment: This includes sexual harassment and other unwanted conduct related to a protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating someone’s dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for them. Harassment is dealt with further in our Anti-Bullying Policy and Procedure and our Harassment Policy and Procedure
• Victimisation: Retaliation against someone who has complained or has supported someone else’s complaint about discrimination or harassment
• Disability Discrimination: This includes direct and indirect discrimination, any unjustified less favourable treatment because of the effects of a disability, and failure to make reasonable adjustments to alleviate disadvantages caused by a disability

• Any data collected as part of this policy will be processed in accordance with current data protection legislation, the Privacy Notice issued to staff and the Data Security and Data Retention Policy and Procedure of El Marsh Care Ltd . El Marsh Care Ltd – appreciates that certain health data and medical reports will be special category data and El Marsh Care Ltd – will process this data accordingly.
• El Marsh Care Ltd – complies with the Equalities Act 2010 and the United
  Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in all its processes regarding employees.

• El Marsh Care Ltd – will provide appropriate training on Equal Opportunities. El Marsh Care Ltd – is committed to following the European Human Rights Commission Employment Statutory Code of Practice and has appointed an appropriate senior manager to have responsibility for Equal Opportunities training.
• Recruitment and Selection
  Any selection exercises including recruitment, promotion and redundancy selection, amongst others, will be carried out with regard to objective criteria which specifically avoid any issues of discrimination. Similarly, where possible, El Marsh Care Ltd – will ensure that such exercises are carried out by more than one person.
  Any vacancies will be advertised to as wide and diverse an audience as possible. Such advertisements will not discourage any individual or group from applying. Job applicants will not be asked questions which might suggest an intention to discriminate on grounds of a protected characteristic. For example, applicants should not be asked whether they are pregnant or planning to have children.
  Job applicants will not be asked about health or disability before a job offer is made, except in the very limited circumstances allowed by law, for example, to check that the applicant could perform an intrinsic part of the job (taking account of any reasonable adjustments), or to see if any adjustments might be needed at interview because of a disability. Where necessary, job offers can be made conditional on a satisfactory medical check. Health or disability questions may be included in equal opportunities monitoring forms, which must not be used for selection or decision-making purposes.
• Disabilities
  If a member of staff is disabled or becomes disabled, El Marsh Care Ltd – encourages them to tell their manager about their condition so that El Marsh Care Ltd – can consider what reasonable adjustments or support may be appropriate.
• Part-time and Fixed-term Work
  Part-time and fixed-term employees should be treated the same as comparable full-time or permanent employees and enjoy no less favourable terms and conditions (on a pro-rata basis where appropriate), unless different treatment is justified.
• Disciplinary Procedure
  Any member of staff found to be in breach of this policy will be subject to disciplinary action. Serious cases of deliberate discrimination may amount to gross misconduct, resulting in dismissal.
• Grievance Procedure
  If a member of staff believes that they have suffered discrimination, then they should raise these issues through the Grievances Policy and/or Anti-Bullying and Harassment Policies of El Marsh Care Ltd -. A member of staff will not be bullied or victimised for raising issues under this policy.
  However, if a complaint is made in bad faith and/or is knowingly false, the member of staff may be subject to the Discipline Policy and Procedure of El Marsh Care Ltd .
• All staff should understand their responsibility to show consideration to and not discriminate against disabled colleagues, and this will be reinforced in supervision. Employees are informed and reminded of their responsibility to notify Miss Donna Campbell of any disability that might not be obvious, in order to enable El Marsh Care Ltd – to take necessary steps to enable the employee’s rights.

Professionals providing this service should be aware of the following:

• Procedures must ensure that reasonable adjustments are made in a timely manner to enable workers with disabilities to enjoy equality with colleagues
• Issues of discrimination, harassment and victimisation should be treated with the utmost care and attention
• El Marsh Care Ltd – should ensure that all decisions on recruitment and internal promotions are made with reference to objective criteria which do not discriminate against any individual or group
• This policy applies both in the workplace and outside of it where the individual is representing El Marsh Care Ltd.

People affected by this service should be aware of the following:

• Service Users and those involved in their care who make derogatory statements that are of a discriminatory nature to any staff should be aware that they will be challenged about their behaviour
• Similarly, El Marsh Care Ltd – may receive reports of derogatory statements made by staff from Service Users and will endeavour to investigate such reports as fully and fairly as possible