LMH launches its Single Equality Scheme

Published by Jean Clarke for Liverpool Mutual Homes in Housing and also in Communities

Liverpool Mutual Homes (LMH) 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 launched its scheme at the China Palace Restaurant in Berry Street with members of Liverpool’s Chinese community and global dance group, Movema (see photograph attached).

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.

LMH Chief Executive, Steve Coffey, said: “Equality and diversity is about acknowledging and respecting that everyone is individual and that people have their own thoughts, ideas and beliefs, and it is really important we recognise this and provide an environment where people have choice and independence.

“In years gone by there were separate duties to address race, disability, and gender, however it  has widely been recognised this needed updating and more had to be done to make inroads into tackling the issues we face in today’s society, so we welcome the new Act.

“Equality and diversity links into everything we do and stand for which ultimately boils down to improving the lives and neighbourhoods of all our tenants.

“I’m sure the scheme is going to be a huge success for our tenants, our staff, LMH as an organisation and Liverpool as a city.”

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.

Ends

Photograph: Liverpool’s global dance group Movema help celebrate the launch of the Single Equality Scheme with LMH officials.