Single Equality Scheme
Liverpool Mutual Homes has launched a Single Equality Scheme to ensure its services and support reaches all its tenants.
Following on from the introduction of the Equality Act 2010, LMH began tackling the wider topic of inclusion and diversity last July by establishing the LMH Customer Equalities Group to give tenants an opportunity to have their say on how they think LMH should respond to their needs.
LMH is carrying out detailed profiling of its customer database to make sure everyone is treated fairly and no-one is discriminated against.
This information will then be used to monitor the services it provides, highlight any inequalities and investigate why they happen and remove any disadvantages or barriers.
It will allow LMH to see who is using its services and how satisfied they are with them, as well as considering ways of reaching under-represented and hard-to-reach groups.
The new Act brings a holistic approach that sees a total of nine "protected characteristics" brought together.
These are:
- Race
- Disability
- Sex
- Age
- Sexual orientation
- Religion or belief
- Gender reassignment
- Pregnancy and maternity
- Marriage and civil partnerships
LMH's profiling work will also improve the way LMH communicates with its customers, for example, if a tenant wants information in large print or via email it will be sent in this format in the future.
Equality and diversity issues among LMH's own workforce have started to be addressed with the creation of a staff group called "Your Voice", which shares ideas of good practice, develops opportunities to improve customer care, identifies barriers facing staff and tenants and acts as consultants that feedback to the LMH Executive team.
Staff have also attended equality and diversity training sessions and are carrying out self-assessments using the Equality Impact Assessment tool so they can anticipate and identify discriminatory or negative consequences that may arise for a particular section of the community.
You can view our progress on the single equality scheme by viewing our Single Equality Action Plan
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