The Marion Gibbs award for equality in housing

• Project name: Digital Device Lending Library
• Lead organisation: Falkirk Council Libraries

Statement of support

Falkirk Council owns and manages over 16,000 houses, which is 24 per cent of all the housing stock in the Falkirk Council area. Falkirk Council are the biggest local provider of social rented housing and offer a range of good quality, affordable housing to help meet the needs of local people, including those with specific needs.

The Falkirk Council Plan 2022-27 sets out three priorities and a commitment to make change happen “working together and in partnership we will support strong communities where inequalities are reduced, and lives are improved”. Addressing digital exclusion and inequality aligns to each of the council priorities.

Falkirk Libraries applied to Connecting Scotland’s Housing Devices and Connectivity fund to develop a device lending library to address digital exclusion and inequality by supporting council housing tenants and individuals in receipt of social housing to borrow digital devices that they would otherwise be unable to afford. 

1. Supporting stronger and healthier communities: By providing a digital platform with which people can participate in their digital community, participants can become more active and empowered in a society moving to digital by default.

2. Promoting opportunities and educational attainment and reducing inequalities: Not all pupils have access to the internet at home: connectivity and devices loaned from the lending library help address this issue and in doing so reduce the inequalities they face. This equity of access boosts children’s chances of achieving educational attainment on a par with their peers.

For people without access to WiFi and devices in their current homes, the device lending library is critical to enable activities such as job-seeking and benefit applications, online-learning and virtual appointments. 

3. Supporting a thriving economy and green transition: The ability to compare best value using comparison sites and most elements of recruitment processes are hosted online, so access to a device and connectivity are essential to contributing to a thriving economy. Digital inclusion contributes to the green transition by enabling people to reduce their carbon footprint by accessing things online rather than on paper and reducing travel to appointments to access services e.g. by using Near Me virtual health appointments.

As a public library service Falkirk Libraries are ideally placed to lend devices: a trusted community hub for provision of information and resources with significant experience in lending resources. Libraries sit within Falkirk Council housing and communities directorate and engage with a significant cross-section of customers as they provide a location for a range of partner services such as the central Customer Hub, registrars and a wide variety of third sector and community groups.

The device lending library has been designed to be accessed by referral so that customers can be offered digital skills support at point of issue, as well as an induction from library digital services staff. All library staff completed the SCVO Digital Champion training to enable lending of the devices in conjunction with support for the digital skills and basic technical support needed to use them. The short induction prior to every first loan provides an opportunity to offer basic cybersecurity and internet safety advice and ensures that all devices are secure on issue and that all personal details are removed when the devices are returned. 

Falkirk Libraries work actively with colleagues across housing Services and use existing networks with external partners to promote signposting and generate referrals from individuals that are council or social housing tenants. This include working closely with Fairer Falkirk, a partner council service, which had received funding to increase connectivity among individuals identified as impacted by poverty through the distribution of Vodafone SIM cards and funded by VirginMedia home broadband. 

Outcomes and achievements

Successful promotion of the device lending library was facilitated by partner services referrals e.g. housing officers, Falkirk Council Hubs, resettlement team and Fairer Falkirk as well through promotional materials such as Tenant Talk, the newsletter for council tenants and libraries website and social media messaging.

From May 2024 – June 2025, Falkirk Libraries loaned digital devices, including laptops, tablets, Chromebooks, BBC Microbits and Mi-Fis with unlimited data. To date, there have been 75 device loans. Borrowers had access to personalised support to set up their equipment, and one-to-one assistance throughout the loan period. 

In addition to individual loans, Libraries have encouraged use of the devices at outreach events with staff demonstrating services such as e-books and e-audio books to adults, and coding to children. These sessions have been attended by 811 people since May 2024 and provide an opportunity for prospective customers to see what digital devices and services they can access and try them out with support. 

Where appropriate Libraries digital services team facilitated initial use of the device in the library to support a customer with participation in online meetings/information sessions. This has increased digital participation by supporting digital skills and confidence.

• Project name: South Lanarkshire Futures Project - Supporting care experienced young people to live independently
• Lead organisation: South Lanarkshire Council
• Partner organisation: Barnardo's

Statement of support

Care-experienced young people are statistically more vulnerable to homelessness due to difficulties navigating organisational hurdles and dealing with services when seeking a safe, stable home.

As part of the commitment to deliver The Promise, South Lanarkshire Council and partners have been working with care experienced young people (the champions) from the South Lanarkshire champions board, to ensure that services are tailored and responsive to their needs. 

Working closely with the champions, it was identified that there was a need to prevent homelessness and help care experienced young people to move on to a home of their own, while ensuring that they had the necessary support and skills to sustain a tenancy. 

In 2023 work began to establish the South Lanarkshire Futures Youth Project (SLC Futures), with the champions very much involved in shaping the project from design to delivery. ‘The Promise Scottish Approach to Design Toolkit’, which aims to support young people in setting up homes, was used to inform the development of the project. 

SLC Futures is an innovative approach to meeting the housing and support needs of care experienced young people by providing the opportunity to experience independent living in a transition flat with tailored intensive support. It is very much a cross sector partnership led by housing and technical resources and delivered jointly by Health and Social Care, Education, Aspire Employability Services, Barnardo’s and the champions board. With partnership working at the heart of the approach, SLC Futures offers care-experienced young people a ‘soft start’ to their tenancy, helping them to successfully ‘make their house a home.’

The project was launched in 2024 with four transition flats, where care experienced young people, who feel they want to progress to living independently, can do so in a highly supported environment. The SLC Futures team work together and with the young people to prepare for their transition from care. Outreach support is provided by Barnardo’s while the young people are in their current placement. This enables Barnardo’s and the team around the young person to build relationships and trust, answer questions, and ensure that the young person is prepared and understands what will happen when they move into the transition flat. This approach is vital to upholding ‘The Promise’, ensuring continuing support from time in care.

The locations of the flats have been carefully selected to be situated close to children’s houses. This means that young people living in children’s houses who are ready to experience independent living, are familiar with the area and continue to get support from those they have built up relationship’s with while in care.

The SLC Futures team jointly provide young people with practical support and guidance to ensure they are prepared for managing things associated with moving into a new home, including: decorating, paying utility bills and understanding their rights and responsibilities. This approach aims to help young people to develop confidence and life skills for managing a home and successfully settle into their own home after a period of time living within the transition flat. 

There is no set timescale for how long a young person will remain in a transition flat, it is dependent on the needs of the individual.

SLC Futures helps prevent homelessness among care-experienced young people by supporting and guiding them through each step and offering aftercare to sustain tenancies. Support ends only when the young person feels ready and no longer needs it.

Lessons learned through young people moving into the transition flats are taken into account and identified service improvements are progressed, ensuring a better experience for the next young person to benefit from this approach.

Outcomes and achievements

SLC Futures has supported five young people within transition flats and provided outreach support to a further three, in preparation for them moving into one of the flats. One of the five young people has already moved on to a tenancy of their own and another two are ready to move. 

The first young person to benefit from the SLC Futures project had been living in a children’s house and expressed an interest in living independently. Whilst still living in care, Barnardo's worked with the young person to develop essential life skills in preparation for living independently. This included budgeting, setting up utilities, decorating, furnishing, planning meals, cleaning and learning about tenancy rights and responsibilities.

The young person enjoyed living in the training flat and quickly demonstrated they could live independently with very little support. They were subsequently made an offer of housing and the SLC Future team and staff within the children’s house supported them to move. The young person continues to live successfully in their new home.

Due to its success, the project is being expanded in 2025/26 by an additional four flats, which will help more young people to transition from children’s houses to independent living.

• Project name: One Group, Many Voices – our ‘Different Together’ approach and using EDI data to inform our services
• Lead organisation: Wheatley Group

Statement of support

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are at the heart of Wheatley Group’s mission, shaping how we design and deliver housing services. We recognised the urgent need for fairer access to quality housing for all—regardless of background or circumstance—and formalised this commitment through our Different Together approach, launched in 2022. This set the stage for not only meeting but exceeding regulatory expectations and aiming to become a model for the sector. 

Different Together is rooted in the belief that diverse perspectives and lived experiences make our organisation stronger and our services more responsive. We address key issues such as tailoring support to individual needs, enhancing engagement with our Stronger Voices programme, and striving for a workforce reflective of our communities. 

Our first Group EDI Action Plan, One Group, Many Voices, outlined clear, measurable steps to weave equality and inclusion into every element of our operations. This plan, which aligns with our Group EDI and Human Rights Policy (reviewed in 2022), led to our new 2025/26 action plan, launched in February 2024, with regular reviews ensuring ongoing relevance and impact. 

Robust EDI data collection and monitoring are central to our strategy. By systematically gathering and analysing equality data, we inform our decision-making, shape our services, and ensure transparency. All key policies and practices are evaluated through equality impact assessments (EIAs), guaranteeing that no group is overlooked. Six staff networks and a Customer Focus network help drive EDI awareness, training, and resource development across the group. 

Key EDI data initiatives include: 

• Collecting equality data from prospective housing applicants, including mid-market rent applicants from 2025
• Engaging customers through Stronger Voices to encourage inclusive participation and feedback
• Conducting employee EDI surveys in 2022 and 2024, achieving a 60 per cent response rate to guide internal policies
• Gathering data from job applicants and Foundation referrals to identify barriers in employment and support
• Collecting equality information from board members upon appointment to encourage diverse governance
• Surveying suppliers to promote EDI values throughout our supply chain
• Running a large-scale anonymous customer survey in 2022, with over 10,300 responses, to better understand and meet community needs. 

We publish an annual equalities report (from 2023) on our website, detailing our progress and how data drives improvements and targeted action. 

Our internal communications strategy includes the Different Together hub on our staff intranet, updated weekly with resources, awareness stories, and testimonies to foster inclusive culture. In-person EDI training has reached a significant portion of staff, complemented by a suite of online modules. This helps our staff to support marginalised customer groups and identify barriers they may face living in our communities. 

Externally, we have refreshed our branding and visuals to reflect the diversity of our communities, with direct input from customers, and enhanced our digital platforms with our Statement of Commitment, EDI calendar, and improved accessibility features. Translation and interpretation guides—available in key community languages—ensure everyone can access our services. We also strengthened messaging around hate crime and our zero-tolerance stance on abuse, and produced a New Scots Welcome Pack to offer specific support. 

In 2024, recognising the importance of differentiated support to achieve fairness, we updated our definition of EDI to focus on equity—ensuring that sometimes, more tailored approaches are necessary to truly include and empower everyone we serve. 

Through Different Together, Wheatley Group continues to transform our culture and services, actively promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion, and setting new standards in the housing sector. 

Outcomes and achievements

Our annual equalities reports showcase significant progress across the Wheatley Group. In 2024/25, we introduced a neuroinclusive customer service toolkit and strengthened staff training, guided by input from internal networks and external partners. We launched new guidance and training videos on translation services, supporting over 5,600 telephone interpretation requests between September and March. Customer feedback has been positive, with one remarking, “I have never seen a housing officer or anyone from another organisation in my home with an interpreter before. It was a really good experience.” 

We’re committed to tackling long-term homelessness by converting 500 properties from temporary to permanent homes, with fewer than 70 remaining as of July 2025. We housed 450 new Scots and expanded ‘English for Speakers of Other Languages’ classes to over 40 customers. Initiatives to increase youth engagement included art and graffiti sessions and youth site visits to new developments, ensuring their feedback shapes future projects. 

Our employability programmes now reflect greater diversity in age, disability, and ethnicity. Through our Techshare programme, 355 staff devices were provided to customers, supporting care customers and new Scots in accessing education and employment. We retained enei's Silver TIDE Mark and achieved Investors in Young People accreditation.