1. Introduction This strategy details Town & Country Housing Group’s (TCHG’s) equality and diversity objectives from 2018-2021. Given the evolving landscape in the social housing sector and the recent publication of the government’s social housing green paper – ‘A new deal for social housing’, the strategy is therefore intended to serve as a working document which can be further developed to incorporate future service and legislative changes. Likewise, the accompanying action plan will be reviewed annually to ensure it remains relevant and reflects current business needs. While the ongoing service redesign programme will ultimately mean that future service delivery will be ‘digital by default’, it will also enable greater focus on tenancy sustainment provision for vulnerable customers, such as those with disabilities, mental health issues and the elderly. The strategy focuses on the delivery of five objectives to support our vision: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Ensure a robust commitment to equality & diversity through strong leadership and effective communication; Deliver high quality, consistent services which are accessible to all; Improve customer insight and use it to further understand customer needs; Facilitate customer engagement opportunities to influence and improve services; Recruit, develop and retain a talented workforce which broadly reflects the communities we serve.
The strategy also reflects the five key themes of the corporate strategy: • • • • •
Viability – continued viability, innovation, efficiency and financial capacity; Growth – growth and asset investment; Residents – keeping residents at the heart of our business; Leadership - effective governance, leadership and people; Support – supporting the most vulnerable in our homes.
2. Our vision Although we believe Town & Country Housing Group (TCHG) already exhibits many of the traits associated with an exemplary equality & diversity culture, we are ambitious and recognise there is always more to do. Our vision is to further embed equality & diversity in every aspect of the organisational culture. We also aspire to better understand, reflect and meet the needs of the communities we serve by delivering accessible and inclusive services. Equality is about treating everyone as a unique individual and where barriers do exist, we are fully committed to providing solutions which facilitate similar and consistent outcomes for all.
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3. Our objectives and key priorities
Ensure a robust commitment to equality & diversity through strong leadership and effective communication To achieve this, we will: • •Review staff training needs and the performance management framework to ensure our equality & diversity objectives are fully embedded; • Monitor the gender pay gap and take appropriate steps to address any concerns; • Ensure future equality & diversity legislative changes and other relevant information is effectively communicated and promoted to staff; • Further embed the equality impact assessment (EIA) process for all new services, policies and strategies; • Implement and monitor a strategic action plan with clear outcomes, timescales and accountabilities.
Deliver high quality, consistent services which are accessible to all To achieve this, we will: • Deliver an increasing number of digital services and self service options via the customer portal ‘My Home Online’; • Further promote digital inclusion opportunities; • Provide an innovative range of bespoke access alternatives; • Continue to provide services which promote financial inclusion and resilience.
Improve customer insight and use it to further understand customer needs To achieve this, we will: • In line with General Data Protection Regulation requirements, collect and use customer data for specific purposes, such as to inform service development; • Further promote the use of social media or other mechanisms as appropriate, to gain ‘real time’ customer insight and feedback about services.
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Facilitate customer engagement opportunities to influence and improve services To achieve this, we will: • Deliver the majority of customer engagement opportunities digitally but provide a variety of alternative mechanisms as appropriate; • Demonstrate customer influence on services; • Further develop the resident scrutiny function; • Anticipate increased future regulatory focus on customer engagement.
Recruit, develop and retain a talented workforce which broadly reflects the communities we serve To achieve this, we will: • Monitor the diversity of the workforce to ensure it broadly reflects the communities we serve, extending reach through innovative recruitment advertising & marketing where required; • Ensure the Human Resources Team are involved in every aspect of recruitment to maintain integrity of process; • Modernise our approach to employee benefits with a view to introducing greater choice and flexibility; • Continue to adopt flexible approaches to work/roles that promote a healthy work/life balance and provide more innovative ways of working which support the strategic direction of the business.
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4. Legislative & regulatory background Registered providers have both legal and regulatory duties to ensure that equality & diversity is considered in all aspects of their work. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires housing providers to pay due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations where they exercise a public function. The Equality Act 2010 stipulates that people and organisations cannot discriminate, harass or victimise a person who may be identified under any of the nine protected characteristics: age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race and religion. From a regulatory perspective, TCHG is required to provide choices, information and communication that is appropriate to the diverse needs of customers. They must also be treated with fairness and respect, while understanding their different needs.
5. Current position As of August 2018, TCHG has 150 staff. As stated elsewhere, we continue to use innovative recruitment advertising and marketing to ensure the workforce broadly reflects the communities we serve. In summary, the majority of staff and customers are White British. Age ranges and gender splits are broadly similar, whereas over 20% of customers have a disability, compared to 6.7% of staff. The customer profile is also broadly comparable to the wider Kent population profile*. Notable exceptions are that TCHG has more female customers (62.4% compared to 51.4) and more disabled customers (20.1% compared to 16.9%) than the wider Kent population. Furthermore only 0.2% of customers are aged 16-19 years old, compared to 7.1% in the wider Kent population. Further information is detailed in the following charts.
* Source: Mid-year population estimates as of 27 June 2018, Office of National Statistics (ONS) and Kent Population Profile 2017, Strategic Commissioning - Analytics, Kent County Council - Updated Nov 2018
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Staff Profile
Customer Profile
Customer Profile
Kent Population Profile
TCHG Board The Board currently consists of 11 members, including five females and six males. It has a recruitment policy which aims to achieve a gender balance and composition is monitored against customer statistics, to ensure it remains as broadly representative as possible.
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6. On going initiatives
We are currently participating in a tenant led campaign supported by 29 housing organisations called ‘See the person’ (formerly ‘Benefit to Society’). The campaign was officially launched in March 2018 at the House of Commons where tenants from across the country invited politicians to back the campaign and actively challenge negative stereotypes about social housing tenants. More information about the campaign can be found here: www.benefittosociety.co.uk We also continue to support the Domestic Abuse Volunteer Support Services (DAVSS), a community based charity offering support to women and men experiencing domestic abuse. DAVSS was established in 2011 with assistance from TCHG and continues to provide specialist support for households throughout West Kent. TCHG employs a dedicated anti social behaviour (ASB) specialist to deliver partnership led interventions and tenancy enforcement action where appropriate. Anyone can make a complaint and referrals are received from a variety of sources, including staff, neighbours and external partnership agencies such as the police. Service delivery is guided by TCHG’s ASB policy and utilises HouseMark’s 14 ASB categories to determine and record ASB, including hate related incidents against the nine protected characteristics. Furthermore, we continue to improve our customer offer by disposing of housing stock which is not fit for purpose. In 2015, we delivered four new sheltered housing schemes in Tunbridge Wells, Paddock Wood and Cranbrook, consisting of 146 units built to life time homes standards. As of 31 March 2018, 184 general needs new homes are on site and being built and our target is to deliver 300 new homes per annum in future years. In line with national trends, populations in each of the geographical areas we serve are ageing. Indeed, by 2036, at least one quarter of the population in each area is projected to be aged 65 years or older*. This represents a significant increase. For example, as of 2016 in Tunbridge Wells, persons aged 65 years or older represent 19% of the population, whereas by 2036 this rises to 26%**. We intend to meet and exceed this challenge by improving existing homes and delivering high quality new homes which our existing and future customers aspire to live in. ** Source: ONS
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Monson House Monson Way Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1LQ Tel: 01892 501480 www.tchg.org.uk