Introduction
Borderline Support UK CIC is committed to inclusion and diversity in everything that we do. We know that getting this right is central to our mission to empower people to live well and improve their quality of life. The support our organisation gives should be impartial, neutral and universal. This policy applies to all Trustees, volunteers, users and the general public.
Aims
We recognise that there are imbalances of power within society, and we wish to work to overcome these, so that our services are accessible to people regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.
Borderline Support seeks to:
- treat all people with dignity and respect
- provide services that are accessible, appropriate and delivered fairly according to need;
- promote equality of opportunity in volunteering, and trusteeship;
- create effective partnerships with all parts of our community
Commitment
We welcome the statutory requirements laid down in the Equalities Act 2010; and we are committed to complying with this and such other Acts and statutory requirements furthering equality of opportunity for all.
Furthermore, we recognise that our moral and social responsibilities go beyond the provisions of the above-mentioned Acts and Regulations, and that a commitment to promoting diversity should be at the heart of all processes and aspects of our work.
For this policy to be successful, it is essential that everyone is committed to and involved in its delivery. Borderline Support’s goal is to work towards a just society, free from discrimination, harassment and prejudice, and we aim to embed this in all our policies, procedures, day-to-day practices and external relationships.
Objectives
Borderline Support will realise our standards of equal opportunities by:
- Regularly evaluating and continually improving its services to ensure equality and diversity principles and best practice are embedded in our performance;
- Working together with the community to provide accessible and relevant service provision that responds to service users’ needs;
- Ensuring volunteers and trustees are representative of the community served and that recruitment policies are fair and robust;
- Responding to volunteer’s 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 Borderline Support
- Challenging discrimination;
- Providing fair resource allocation;
- Being accountable.
Implementation
Borderline Support intends to implement this policy by
- Ensuring that Trustees, volunteers, and users are made aware, understand, agree with, and are willing to implement, this policy. All volunteers will be given a copy of this policy as part of their induction;
- Actively encouraging Trustees, 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 Borderline Support, 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
Borderline Support 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.