The Hygiene Bank Equal Opportunities Policy
The Hygiene Bank is fully committed to meet its legal responsibility in relation to Equality and Diversity. The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. The Act identifies the following nine characteristics that are protected:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
- race
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
The Equality Duty has three aims which The Hygiene Bank must have due regard for in all of its activities, to: –
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act.
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and people who do not share it.
Who this policy applies to
This policy applies to all Trustees, staff, volunteers, partner organisations and the general public who benefit from the services.
Aims
The Hygiene Bank mission is to bring communities together to tackle hygiene poverty,
providing essential hygiene and personal care products to those needing help, regardless of race, national or ethnic origin, citizenship, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, income source, age or mental or physical ability.
We aim to ensure that all who wish to work in, or volunteer to help with, The Hygiene Bank should have an equal chance to do so. We aim to create effective partnerships within all parts of our community and provide services that are accessible according to need.
The Hygiene Bank is committed to:
- Tackling social exclusion, inequality, discrimination and disadvantage
- Ensuring all people are treated with dignity and respect, valuing the diversity of all;
- Actively promoting equality of opportunity and diversity;
- Delivering services that are accessible, appropriate and delivered fairly to all;
- Working together with the community to provide accessible and relevant service provision that responds to service users’ needs;
- The mix of its employees, volunteers, trustees and patrons reflects, as far as possible, the broad mix of the population of its local community;
- Encouraging traditionally disadvantaged sections of the community to participate in policy decisions about, and the management of the services provided;
- Providing fair resource allocation
For this policy to be successful, it is essential that everyone is committed to and involved in its delivery. The Hygiene Banks’s goal is to work towards a just society free from discrimination, harassment and prejudice. The Hygiene Bank aims to embed this in all its policies, procedures, day-to-day practices and external relationships.
Responsibility for Implementation
Overall responsibility for ensuring adherence to and implementation of this policy lies with the trustees, staff and volunteers.
Method of Implementation
The Hygiene Bank implements this policy by:
- Ensures that all recipients of donations have equal access to products
- Ensures that no service user, employee, volunteer is treated less favourably on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.
- Value and support equality and diversity throughout its activities.
- Ensuring that adherence is a condition of paid employment in The Hygiene Bank
- Ensuring that trustees, staff, volunteers and users are made aware, understand, and are willing to implement, this policy. This forms part of the induction training process for all;
- Monitoring the services, publicity and events provided by The Hygiene Bank, 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.
- Continuing to learn and adapt to ensure this policy is upheld. Any person who feels that this policy has not been upheld can make a complaint, which will be dealt with in line with The Hygiene Bank’s Complaints Procedure.
Monitoring and Reviewing
The Hygiene Bank is committed 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 trustee board will review the policy and monitoring statistics on an annual basis and publish results on the website.