Equality and Diversity policy
Status:
Agreed by committee on:
To be reviewed
Agreed
20th March 2007, reviewed November 2009
& October 2012
October 2016
Commitment to Equalities
Volunteer Centre Camden (VCC) is committed to equalities (treating people fairly) and
strongly values diversity (people’s differences). This policy sets out how Volunteer
Centre Camden will make sure that these principles are upheld in everything it does. The
management committee is responsible for ensuring that the organisation adheres to this
equalities policy.
Volunteer Centre Camden is an equal opportunities employer. Our policy is to ensure
that no employee, volunteer, trustee or job applicant receives less favourable treatment
on the grounds of ethnicity, faith/religion, age, gender, gender identity, marital/civil
partnership status, sexual orientation, disability, maternity or pregnancy, or that they
are disadvantaged by conditions or requirements that cannot be shown as justifiable.
Selection criteria and procedures are reviewed regularly to ensure that individuals are
selected and treated on the basis of their relevant merits and abilities. Employees will
be given equal opportunities and, where appropriate, training to enable them to
progress within the organisation.
Statutory Requirements
Volunteer Centre Camden welcomes the statutory requirements laid down in The
Equality Act 2010, which brought together several different pieces of UK antidiscrimination legislation (see appendix 1).
The Equalities Act 2010 defines certain actions that are not permissible and are
considered unlawful (see appendix 2):
 direct discrimination
 associative discrimination
 perceptive discrimination
 indirect discrimination
 harassment
 third party harassment
 victimisation
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The Act covers nine ‘protected characteristics’, which cannot be used as a reason to
treat people unfairly. Every person has one or more of the protected characteristics, so
the act protects everyone against unfair treatment. In summary, these protected
characteristics are:
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age
disability
gender reassignment
marriage and civil partnership
pregnancy and maternity
race/ethnicity
religion or belief
gender
sexual orientation.
Volunteer Centre Camden continues to meet all of its legal obligations and seeks to go
over and above the minimum requirements to ensure that the centre is an example of
good practice, offering high quality volunteering opportunities that are tailored to the
diverse needs of its customers.
In delivering services Volunteer Centre Camden will:
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Base service delivery on equalities principles.
Refuse to tolerate discrimination by clients, members or other users of our facilities or
services.
Monitor service use against Camden’s community make-up
Require all members of the Centre, and people seeking placement via the Centre as
volunteers, to be aware of and abide by Volunteer Centre Camden’s equalities policy
Provide basic equalities training for all staff and office based volunteers
Reduce barriers to volunteering by targeting publicity/ offering outreach services to
under represented groups, based on regular diversity monitoring of Volunteer Centre
Camden’s user base
Provide training/ other support to organisations regarding the involvement of
volunteers from minority groups.
Make clear in publicity material, that volunteering opportunities are open to all and that
VCC can always be contacted for further information and guidance
Ensure that assumptions are not made about activities that someone wants to do as a
volunteer, or about their skills and abilities.
Ensure that steps are taken to ensure services delivered by Volunteer Centre
Camden are accessible to all
Make it clear to user agencies that discriminatory practices towards volunteers will not
be tolerated. If discrimination does occur, the Centre will stop providing information
about these organisations to potential volunteers.
In working with volunteers, trustees and staff Volunteer Centre Camden will:
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Monitor the composition of the Board of Trustees, employees and volunteers annually
and take appropriate steps to ensure diversity within the organisation that is reflective
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of Camden’s community and the range of organisations in Camden (if necessary coopting members to achieve the right balance).
Ensure meetings are easily accessible for all and that people are not excluded unfairly
or through indirect discrimination. Where necessary trustees will be supported to
attend meetings (for example to meet childcare or travel expenses)
Ensure the application of Volunteer Centre Camden’s consistent criteria for the
employment of paid staff, and procedures to be applied in their selection,
employment, training, grievance and disciplinary matters and all other conditions of
service, in accordance with Volunteer Centre Camden’s guidelines
Promote and adhere to Volunteer Centre Camden’s guidelines for the fair recruitment
of volunteers and Management Committee members and for the referral of volunteers
to user agencies to ensure that no group is prevented from joining Volunteer Centre
Camden as a result of discriminatory practices
Give all employees, volunteers and trustees equal access to development
opportunities
In working with partners and members Volunteer Centre Camden will:
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Increase Volunteer Centre Camden’s involvement with other organisations that also
challenge discrimination.
Encourage those organisations with which Volunteer Centre Camden has contact to
undertake similar initiatives.
Require all our client organisations to abide by our equalities policy when accepting
volunteers from Volunteer Centre Camden.
Ensure that all member organisations, have an equal opportunities policy or are
working towards one.
Ensure that the Volunteer Centre Camden’s member organisations comprise a
balanced representation of statutory, voluntary and community sector organisations
in Camden.
Improving equalities and diversity at Volunteer Centre Camden is a constant process and
the organisation continually strives to develop in this area. Volunteer Centre Camden will
regularly monitor and review its policies to ensure that its work is being carried out fairly
and in a way that respects people’s differences.
Failure to follow this policy will be treated as a serious disciplinary offence, under the
relevant grievance/ disciplinary procedure.
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Appendix 1: The Equality Act 2010
This Act replaces nine major pieces of legislation and lots of smaller pieces of
legislation, and draws together all the important UK anti-discrimination laws.
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Equal Pay Act (EPA) 1970
Sex Discrimination Acts (SDA) 1975 & 1986
Race Relations Act (RRA) 1976
Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 & 2005; and
The Commission for Racial Equality, Equal Opportunities Commission and the
DDA Codes of Practice on Employment
The Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights
Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003 and 2007
Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003
Race Relations Act (Amendment) 2000
Civil Partnerships Act 2004
Equality Act 2006
Gender Equality Duty 2007
Disability Equality Duty 2006
Race Equality Duty 2002
Gender Recognition Act 2004
In addition to this, the Act introduces some new anti-discrimination features and is
therefore a combination of rights and responsibilities that have
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Changed
Been extended
Been introduced for the first time.
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Appendix 2: Types of discrimination
There are a number of different actions outlined in the 2010 Act. These are the types of
unlawful discrimination that can arise.
 Direct discrimination
This occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another person because
of a protected characteristic.
 Associative discrimination
This is discrimination against a person because they have an association with someone
with a particular protected characteristic. The 2010 Act extended application of this
action to cover age, disability, gender reassignment and sex. Previously, it applied only
to race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.
 Perceptive discrimination
This is discrimination against a person because the discriminator thinks they possess
a protected characteristic, even if they do not. The 2010 Act extended application of
this action to cover disability, gender reassignment and sex. Before, it had applied only
to age, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
 Indirect discrimination
This occurs when a policy, rule or procedure applies to everyone but has a
disproportionate impact on people with a protected characteristic. The 2010 Act
extended this action to apply to disability discrimination and gender reassignment.
 Harassment
The 2010 Act defines harassment as ‘unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected
characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual’s dignity or
creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that
individual'. It applies to all the protected characteristics except pregnancy and
maternity, and marriage and civil partnership. An employee can complain of behaviour
they find offensive even if it is not directed at them.
 Third party harassment
The Act makes employers potentially liable for harassment of their employees by
people they do not employ. An employer will only be liable if the harassment has
occurred on at least two previous occasions, and if it knows that it has taken place and
has not taken reasonable steps to prevent it from being repeated. Third party
harassment applies to all the protected characteristics except pregnancy and maternity,
and marriage and civil partnership.
 Victimisation
This occurs when an employee is treated badly because they have made or supported
a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act; or because they are
suspected of doing so. If an employee has maliciously made or supported an untrue
complaint they are not protected from further actions.
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