Everyone who lives in our communities is an individual, with individual needs, desires and dreams – and also individual life experiences. These experiences will be informed by the culture in which we grew up, our gender, age, religion and sexuality, and how the limitations of our bodies, mental and physical, impact on the way we live our lives.

As well as customers, employees of your organisation are integral to any business and the different perspectives you get from having diverse teams can lead to a much greater level of innovation and creativity - providing an overall more inclusive service for your customers.

What is equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)?

Equality

Equality means that the housing sector is striving for a better balance in opportunities, resources, and decision-making processes for staff, customers and communities. The Equality and Human Rights Commission describes equality as:

"Equality is about ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. It is also the belief that no one should have poorer life chances because of the way they were born, where they come from, what they believe, or whether they have a disability. Equality recognises that historically certain groups of people with protected characteristics such as race, disability, sex and sexual orientation have experienced discrimination."

Diversity

Being more aware of and proactive about the diversity of customers will ensure housing organisations provide the right services and meet the right needs and aspirations.

Diversity is the different characteristics that occur in a group of people. It is made up of the things that make us unique and different which could include cognitive skills, personality traits or the things that make up the protected characteristics such as race, age, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

Inclusion

An inclusive housing sector acts transparently and fairly, builds good relationships, and works collaboratively with tenants, partners, customers and communities to achieve better outcomes.

Inclusion is including people in a way that is fair for all, values everyone’s differences, and empowers and enables each person to be themselves and achieve their full potential and thrive at work and in their homes and communities.

An inclusive workplace culture is one in which everyone feels that they belong through feeling safe in being themselves, that their contribution matters, policies and practices are fair, and a diverse range of people are supported to work together effectively.

Key areas to explore to improve the diversity of an organisation:

  • Organisational culture - are employees working in an inclusive environment?
  • How can you improve workforce diversity especially important in recruitment and retention?
  • Do you understand your customers and their needs?
  • Does your organisation represent the communities you work with especially at the board and leadership level?
  • How can you work to remove any bias, challenging existing systems and structures
  • How do employees and customers facing discrimination report issues and receive a positive outcome
  • Could you create any opportunities for underrepresented individuals?

CIH role in increasing EDI in the housing sector

CIH is committed to improving EDI in the housing sector. We have created an EDI Framework a tool for members to use in their own work. We are also carrying out a census of all CIH members to understand the profile of the members we work with and will share the results annually to measure progress against our commitment.

CIH approach

Legislation and policy
Equality and Human Rights Commission - Great Britain

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is Great Britain’s national equality body with the aim to make 'Britain fairer' by safeguarding and enforcing the laws that protect people’s rights to fairness, dignity and respect. It is a statutory non-departmental public body established by the Equality Act 2006.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/diversity-and-inclusion-strategy-2018-to-2025

Human Rights Act 1998 - UK

The Human Rights Act 1998 sets out the fundamental rights and freedoms that everyone in the UK is entitled to. It incorporates the rights set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into domestic British law. The Human Rights Act came into force in the UK in October 2000.

The Act sets out your human rights in a series of ‘Articles’. Each Article deals with a different right. These are all taken from the ECHR and are commonly known as ‘the Convention Rights’:

  • Article 2: Right to life
  • Article 3: Freedom from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment
  • Article 4: Freedom from slavery and forced labour
  • Article 5: Right to liberty and security
  • Article 6: Right to a fair trial
  • Article 7: No punishment without law
  • Article 8: Respect for your private and family life, home and correspondence
  • Article 9: Freedom of thought, belief and religion
  • Article 10: Freedom of expression
  • Article 11: Freedom of assembly and association
  • Article 12: Right to marry and start a family
  • Article 14: Protection from discrimination in respect of these rights and freedoms
  • Protocol 1, Article 1: Right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
  • Protocol 1, Article 2: Right to education
  • Protocol 1, Article 3: Right to participate in free elections
  • Protocol 13, Article 1: Abolition of the death penalty.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/contents 

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights/human-rights-act 

Equality Act 2010 - Great Britain

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society.

It outlines nine protected characteristics that people can be discriminated against for and the following ways you could be discriminated against:

  • Direct discrimination - treating someone with a protected characteristic less favourably than others
  • Indirect discrimination - putting rules or arrangements in place that apply to everyone, but that put someone with a protected characteristic at an unfair disadvantage
  • Harassment - unwanted behaviour linked to a protected characteristic that violates someone’s dignity or creates an offensive environment for them
  • Victimisation - treating someone unfairly because they’ve complained about discrimination or harassment.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/equality-act-2010-guidance 

Protected characteristics - Great Britain

The Equality Act protects people against discrimination on the grounds of protected characteristics, of which there are nine:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Gender reassignment
  • Marriage and civil partnership
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Race
  • Religion or belief
  • Sex
  • Sexual orientation
Equality law - Northern Ireland

The equality areas addressed in Great Britain and Northern Ireland share broad similarities, but Northern Ireland's laws on equality and anti-discrimination are not consolidated within a single act.

The areas covered by equality law are listed below, and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) lists the links to the current legislation for each:

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Gender
  • Race
  • Religious belief and political opinion
  • Sexual orientation.

The above areas are underscored by Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998. This section mandates that public bodies (including registered housing associations) prioritise 'equality of opportunity and good relations' in both policymaking and service delivery. It further emphasises the need to promote equality of opportunity between:

  • Persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation
  • Men and women generally
  • Persons with a disability and persons without
  • Persons with dependants and persons without.

The ECNI reports that in some areas, people in Northern Ireland now have less protection than individuals in other parts of the UK.

The Equal Status Acts 2000-2018 - Ireland

In Ireland the Acts prohibit discrimination in the provision of goods and services, accommodation and education.They cover the nine grounds of:

  • Gender
  • Marital status
  • Family status
  • Age
  • Disability
  • Sexual orientation
  • Race,
  • Religion
  • Membership of the Traveller community.

In addition, the Acts prohibit discrimination in the provision of housing against people who are in receipt of rent supplement, housing assistance, or social welfare payments.

https://www.ihrec.ie/guides-and-tools/human-rights-and-equality-in-the-provision-of-good-and-services/what-does-the-law-say/equal-status-acts/

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014 - Ireland

This Act implemented the body known as the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commision (or Coimisiún na hÉireann um Chearta an Duine agus Comhionannas in Irish). This body took over the functions of the disolved Human Rights Commission and Equality Authority.

https://www.ihrec.ie/about/ihrec-act-2014/

https://www.ihrec.ie/

EDI guidance
Unconscious Bias

ACAS (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) explanation of unconscious bias:

How a person thinks can depend on their life experiences and sometimes they have beliefs and views about other people that might not be right or reasonable.

This is known as 'unconscious bias' and includes when a person thinks:

  • Better of someone because they believe they're alike
  • Less of someone because that person is different to them, for example, they might be of a different race, religion or age.

This means they could make a decision influenced by false beliefs or assumptions. Sometimes it's also called 'stereotyping'.

Equality Impact Assessment

In Great Britain, housing associations are not 'listed authorities' in terms of Schedule 19 of the Equality Act 2010, and are not obliged to produce Equality Impact Assessments. Conversely, in Northern Ireland, where housing associations are bound by Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 to prioritise 'equality of opportunity and good relations' in both policymaking and service delivery, they are required to adhere to specific procedures.

An Equality Impact Assessment is a tool that helps include equality, diversity, cohesion and integration on the agenda when setting new policies and introducing new projects and services.

Carrying out an assessment involves assessing the likely effects of policies on people in respect of the protected characteristics including age, disability, race and sexual orientation. The process should be used to look for opportunities to promote equality and to remove any negative impacts where possible.

The absence of a statutory obligation for Equality Impact Assessments in Great Britain (EIAs) allows housing associations to exercise discretion in adopting such assessments as a means of best practice.

In contrast, to fulfill their Section 75 duties housing associations in Northern Ireland must first submit an equality scheme to the Equality Commission. This scheme serves as a formal commitment statement outlining how they intend to ensure that equality and good relations are integrated into all aspects of their operations. Additionally, they must consider screening before and during the decision-making process for any policy. This proactive screening identifies policies likely to impact equality of opportunity and integrates considerations of equality into the policy-making process. If a policy is identified as having significant equality issues, it must undergo a full Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA).

Further reading

Gender equity in the workplace

A report from The Institute of Employment Studies found that companies with a more diverse leadership team were more likely to achieve success in their social mission and profitability. However, according to National Housing Federation, only about 40 per cent of social housing leadership roles are occupied by women, despite being the majority gender of both the wider workforce and resident population.

A study by The Chartered Institute of Management outlined some of the core leadership traits that women ranked better on than men. Sarah Wilson, from Coastal Coaching Sussex who specialises in social housing leadership training explains:

“Until recently the traits favoured in leadership have been masculine; assertiveness, competitiveness, independence and rational thinking and feminine traits have been undervalued. But studies and research are proving that focussing on leadership which is more person-centred is too effective to ignore. Here’s some of the ways women are usually stronger than men in leadership roles:

  • Empathy and emotional intelligence - vital for creating trust and a culture of openness, both leading to better staff satisfaction
  • Resilience - women are quicker to find solutions and ways forward in times of adversity Listening - women are more likely to welcome input from all members of the team, creating better staff retention and engagement
  • Psychological safety - research showed that 43 per cent of people thought women were more likely to create a safer working environment with only 5 per cent voting for men. The perception of feeling physically and mentally safe is non-negotiable
  • Intuition - women are more likely to make decisions on a number of factors including trusting in their intuition on what the best outcome could be”.