Equality and Diversity Action Plan 2007/08
RBH has adopted a range of equality objectives and targets from a variety of sources such as:
- Rochdale Council's Housing Strategy and Black and Minority housing strategy.
- Government Public Service Agreement Targets.
- Government Best Value Indicators.
- Various RBH policies and strategies e.g., Equality & Diversity policy, Race Equality Scheme, Anti-Social Behaviour policy, Fair Recruitment Policy etc.
- Equality Impact Assessments carried out on our services.
- Government's Housing Inspectorate recommendations.
- Benchmarking groups .
The objectives and targets are set out in an annual Equality & Diversity Plan. Progress against the Action Plan is monitored by the Equality & Diversity Steering Group with performance on individual service areas being reported to relevant groups such as the staffing sub-committee who monitor personnel related objectives and targets.
Below is an extract from the Equality & Diversity Plan 2007/08 showing the actions/tasks/targets for each team or service area.
Asset Management
Rehousing
Personnel
Training
Enforcement
Operations
Right to Buy
Tenant Participation
Priority Area Team
IT
Communications
Quality Assurance
Research
Corporate
Asset Management
We will:
- Ensure all community bases are DDA compliant
- Undertake a survey to assess the scope & cost of work to undertake minor adaptations to lifts to help disabled tenants
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Rehousing
We will:
- Automate a mutual exchange service if possible
- Work with Rochdale MBC to review eligibility criteria affecting access with choice based letting affects registered social landlords
- Update CCTV signage, including minority languages
- Improve information to tenants and residents on concierge and CCTV service
- Carry out equality monitoring of applications on the rehousing list, all tenancy allocations, all current tenancies and tenancy terminations
- Ensure that the Level of housing need in BME communities is reflected by the number of BME Council tenancies, and as such 9.5% of our tenants to be from the BME community
- Ensure that BME Communities are aware of the new Choice Based Lettings system and are able to access the system
- work towards having a net gain of 130 new BME tenants
- Make 250 lets to BME applicants
- Look into a mechanism for highlighting adapted properties on the HomeChoice website
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Personnel
We will:
- Investigate the provision of Braille ID badges for staff
- Develop the Inclusive Workforce Strategy and carry out equality monitoring of training and employment from recruitment to termination
- Ensure that 14% of new starters are from the BME community
- Work towards having 12% of all RBH staff to be from the BME community (long term target of 14% by 2011)
- Ensure that 14% of our housing trainees are from the BME community
- Ensure that we are employing disabled people, by having a target of 5% of all our employees meeting the DDA definition
- Ensure we are taking gender equality seriously, by having 50% women in the top 5% earners
- Commit to hold all job interviews on ground floors in fully accessible buildings or offer a suitable alternative
- Carry out job evaluation exercise and implement the findings via a revised pay and grading structure for the Company
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Training
We will:
- Deliver E&D Training to all staff and Board members.
- Revise the induction to include all new E&D legislation
- Train all our staff on the appropriate ways of dealing with domestic violence & harassment
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Enforcement
We will:
- Monitor hate crime reporting
- Increase the number of racist incidents reported by 3% per year (so to show an increased confidence in RBH’s stance on hate crime)
- Promptly deal with offensive graffiti and vandalism committed with intent to harass
- Publicise the action we will take to remove graffiti and the actions that will be taken against perpetrators
- Ensure that residents are aware of the stance that we take against harassment and domestic violence
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Operations
We will:
- Consider extending 24 hour call-out caretaking service to other areas
- Assess financial options for converting smaller harder to let properties into large family accommodation
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Right to Buy
We will:
- Carry out equality monitoring of Right to Buy applications.
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Tenant Participation
We will:
- Address under-representation of BME communities in formal structures for tenant involvement.
- Sets diversity goals for all service user involvement
- Circulate monitoring reports to TRA’s
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Priority Area Team
We will:
- Provide language training for staff in Priority Areas
- Look to increase staffing resources at our drop- in centre
- Provide low level tenancy support to vulnerable households
- Review targeted community cohesion work across the three Priority Area estates
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IT
We will:
- Develop a database which will highlight if tenants have different communication needs, for example in languages other than English, or require material in large print/ Braille/ Audio
- Ensure our website is Bobby compliant
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Communications
We will:
- Clearly advertise at each housing office in plain English/ minority language as appropriate the availability of: Male/female/BME interviewer where required, private interview facilities , languageline/language express and zero tolerance statement
- Develop targeted Home Choice material for disabled applicants
- Ensure all our housing offices and community bases have consistent signage
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Quality Assurance
We will:
- Carry out equality monitoring of complaints, tenant satisfaction and repairs satisfaction
- Develop mystery shopping which will specifically look at making sure our front line staff can use a variety of communication techniques to support residents
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Research
We will:
- Provide appropriate support to vulnerable tenants
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Corporate
We will:
- Work better in identifying adapted properties for tenants who require them
- Continue to work with our Disability Working Group in making RBH better at serving disabled people
- Devise a Disability awareness handbook for staff
- Feed into the Council’s Community Cohesion Plan
- Work in partnership with the Domestic Violence Forum
- Improve the data we hold on applicants, existing tenants, staff and Board members
- Provide IT taster sessions for BME tenants
- Ensure we comply with the Racial Equality's code of practice in Rented Housing
- Undertake Equality Impact assessments on new policies & procedures
- Make all our equality monitoring reports available on our website
- Work with our BME focus group to become better at serving BME tenants
- Revise BME monitoring categories to include ‘new’ groups
- Publish our Race Equality Scheme
- Make sure that any contractors we use are monitored in relation to E&D
- Publicise our family friendly policies to staff by using a variety of communication techniques
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