Introduction

Our vision is to deliver a truly inclusive customer service offer that improves lives as well as an employment offer which meets good practice.

Our Equality Scheme 2018-2022 focuses on achieving the following five key objectives over the four-year period 2018-2022: • Promote diversity in leadership; • Be innovative, aspirational and meet best practice; • Measure equality outcomes and publish what we do; • Develop our workforce to deliver our values and embed these in all that we do; and • Support our customers to ensure equality outcomes in times of change.

We have published this report to show the progress made during 2020/21 in achieving these objectives by delivering our Equality Scheme 2018-2022 Action Plan. We started the year in a strong position, having retained our Housing Diversity Network Accreditation for excellence in equality and diversity (which is re-assessed every three years) in August 2019 and our Investors in People Gold accreditation, and having been once again recognised as one of the Top 100 Not for Profit companies to work for in the UK by the Sunday Times.

We are passionate about customer service and having the best people to deliver it is crucial. We want to have engaged employees who are well trained, appropriately rewarded and feel they can take decisions to deliver great services for us, our customers and our partners. Our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion will help us to recruit and retain the best people and to ensure that they are trained to meet the needs of our diverse range of residents and customers.