April 20021 Statement of Intent 1.1 - 1.8
2 Responsibilities
3 Recruitment and Selection of Staff
4 Employment of Staff 4.1-4.2
5 Training of Staff 5.1-5.4
6 Use of Disciplinary Grievance & Redundancy Procedures
7 Monitoring 7.1-7.5
8.1 Definition of Discrimination 8.1
8.2 Equal Opportunities Legislation
8.3 Codes of Practice 8.3.1
8.4 Whitley Council Conditions 8.4.1
Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust
Equal Opportunities Policy
April 2002
1.1 The Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust is an equal opportunities employer. It is the policy of the Trust to ensure that no user of service, present or future employee or job applicant receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of their sex, sexual orientation, marital status, race, religion, age, creed, colour, ethnic origin or disability, nor is disadvantaged by any conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justified.
1.2 The Trust commits itself to take action necessary to remove sex discrimination and racial discrimination in all its operations, as well as being committed to taking positive action to promote equal opportunities to all disadvantaged groups.
1.3 The Trust will ensure that no job applicant or employee is placed at a disadvantage by requirements or conditions which have a disproportionately adverse effect on their racial or sexual group or sexual orientation or on people with disabilities and which cannot be shown to be justifiable on other grounds.
1.4 Present members of staff and job applicants for promotion will be assessed at all times on the basis of their suitability, capability and qualification.
1.5 The Trust will be committed to the Equal Opportunities policy and the achievement of its aim and will allocate resources within financial limitations.
1.6 The Chief Executive will have overall responsibility for implementation of the policy although it is accepted that for day to day purposes, this responsibility rests with directors/managers.
1.7 This policy will be implemented in accordance with the appropriate statutory requirements and in addition full account will be taken of all available guidance, in particular the Commission for Racial Equality Code of Practice, the Equal Opportunities Commission Code, and other NHS statutory bodies and Department of Health guidance. It also embraces recent legislation, including the Disability Discrimination Act 1996, Human Rights Act 1998 and the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000.
2.1 The Trust
2.1.1 The Trust has a primary legal and moral responsibility for ensuring that discrimination does not occur. The responsibility for providing equal opportunities rests with the Trust and is met by an effective policy, which is kept under review.
2.1.2 Directors/managers will have responsibility for communicating the policy to all potential and actual employees through notice boards, circulars, contracts of employment, application forms and written notifications.
2.1.3 Directors/managers will in particular:
(i) make clear to employees the Trust's policy under equal opportunities.
(ii) ensure that grievances are dealt with in a consistent manner and in accordance with the Trust's grievance procedure.
2.2 Individual Employees
2.2.1 Individual employees at all levels have certain responsibilities. Good employee relations and fair employment practices depend on staff as much as on the Trust and individual attitudes and activities are of importance.
2.2.2 They have a duty to the Trust, their trade union (where appropriate) and fellow employees. In particular individuals will be expected to:
(a) Co-operate with measures introduced by the Trust to ensure equal opportunity and non discrimination.
(b) Not to discriminate, for example, as supervisors or managers or as officers responsible for selection decisions in recruitment, promotion, transfer and training etc.
(c) Not to induce or attempt to induce other employees or unions or management to practice unlawful discrimination.
(d) Not to victimise or attempt to victimise individuals on the grounds that they have made complaints or provided information on discrimination.
(e) Not to harass, abuse or intimidate other employees on account of their sex, race, sexual orientation, age, marital status, religion, creed, colour, ethnic origin, or disability in an attempt to discourage them from continuing their employment.
(f) Draw the attention to management and, where appropriate, their trade union to suspect incidents of discriminatory acts or practices.
2.3 Trade Unions
2.3.l Trade unions have an important role in preventing unlawful discrimination and in promoting equal opportunities and good race/industrial relations.
2.3.2 Trade unions should encourage and press equal opportunity policies so that measures to prevent discrimination at the workplace can be introduced with the clear commitment of both management and trade unions.
2.4 The Trust's Liability
2.4.l The Trust is liable (together with its employees) for any acts of unlawful discrimination by its staff committed during the course of their employment unless the employer can prove it did all that was reasonably practicable to prevent it.
3.1 Intent
3.1.1 The Trust's equal opportunity policy aims to ensure:
(i) That no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment than another on grounds of sex, marital status, race, age, religion, creed, colour, ethnic origin, disability, or sexual orientation, or is disadvantaged by any conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.
(ii) That where permissible under statutory requirements, employees of under represented groups are positively encouraged to apply for jobs, or, are, specifically recruited where relevant. Once in employment, these staff should be given appropriate training and encouragement to achieve equality of opportunity within the Trust.
3.1.2 The Trust's employment policy is in line with its equal opportunities policy in that its aim is to recruit the highest quality of applicants. In order to achieve this the Trust shall take into account the following principles:
3.2 Advertisements
3.2.1 Unless it is deemed inappropriate all posts will be advertised internally and externally (though not necessarily through paid advertisements) via job centres and community groups and will be displayed on notice boards within units. It is the responsibility of staff to avail themselves of these opportunities. This clause will not apply where appointment without advertisement or competition is necessary to avoid potential redundancy or loss of benefits amongst existing employees, or the placement in permanent positions of graduates from training programmes organised by the Trust.
3.2.2 All job advertisements, both internal and external, shall include the statement "Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust is working towards equal opportunities", and all job applicants will receive a copy of the Trust's equal opportunities statement of intent.
3.2.3 The Trust's equal opportunities statement of intent shall, be circulated to all employees, inserted into staff handbooks, be framed and positioned on notice boards, distributed and discussed with the trade unions for consultation and negotiation, sent out with all application forms, sent to local job centres, and other community representative bodies. The Trust's statement of intent on equal opportunities shall be communicated to all private contractors reminding them of their responsibility towards equal opportunities.
3.2.4 The Trust shall not discriminate directly, or indirectly, when advertising new posts or reorganising existing posts by including any requirement or criteria, which are unnecessary to the post. In order to achieve this, each post will have a job specification and job description, which will be reviewed regularly. Age limits should be retained only if they are considered necessary to the job.
3.2.5 All job advertisements will be clear and unambiguous, avoiding any discriminatory clauses which indicate direct or indirect discrimination.
3.2.6 Job advertisements shall not necessarily be limited to a single method. There will be no 'word of mouth' recruitment. All appointments made must follow the correct appointments procedure - but this is not intended to prohibit informal or walk-in enquiries. In order to avoid direct or indirect discrimination staff will be instructed not to treat casual or formal applicants form particular groups less favourably.
3.3 Recruitment
3.3.1 All Managers who have authority to recruit and/or are involved in the recruitment process shall be informed, through training programmes, of the effects which generalised assumptions and prejudices can have on selection decisions.
3.4 Job Description
3.4.1 All job descriptions must be reviewed regularly to ensure that they are in line with the Trust's policy on equal opportunities and that they reflect accurately the requirements set out in the person specification. Job descriptions and person specifications should accompany requests for advertisements.
3.4.2 When a job involves irregular or unsocial hours or travel, the full facts should be referred to in the job description and other recruitment literature.
3.5 Qualifications
3.5.1 Overseas qualifications, degrees, diplomas, which are recognised by the Department of Health, registration authorities or the appropriate UK professional association or examining body or statutory authority, will be accepted as comparable with UK qualifications.
3.5.2 The Trust shall not disqualify any applicant because they are unable to complete an application form unassisted, unless personal completion of the form is a valid test of the standard of English required for the safe and effective performance of the job.
3.6 Shortlisting
3.6.1 Shortlisting must be carried out by more than one person and they must be fully aware of and adhere to the Equal Opportunities Policy.
3.6.2 All applicants will be given equal consideration for appointments. Criteria for shortlisting must be clearly established and equally applied to all candidates and form the basis of the written specification.
3.6.3 Selection decisions must not be influenced in relation to the age, sex, marital status, race, religion, creed, colour, ethnic origin, disability, or sexual orientation, unless for genuine occupational reasons. Selection decisions must not be influenced by perceived prejudices of other staff.
3.6.4 Each individual should be assessed according to personal capability to carry out a given job. General assumptions must not be made that a person's age, race, sex, sexual orientation or disability would disqualify them from carrying out certain kinds of work.
3.7 Interviewing
3.7.1 Interviewing must be carried out by more than one person and they must be fully aware of, and adhere to, the Equal Opportunities Policy.
3.7.2 Interview questions must be related to the requirements and circumstances of the jobs and must not be of a discriminating nature. All decisions should be based on ensuring that the candidate who mostly fits the required person specification is appointed. The decision making process should be recorded and notes kept afterwards.
Where the job involves unsociable hours, this should be discussed objectively at interview, without detailed questions based on assumptions about marital status, children and/or domestic obligation. Questions about marriage plans or family intentions must not be asked as they could be construed as showing bias against women. Information necessary for personal records can be collected after a job offer has been made.
3.7.3 Facilitators to advise on correct procedures will be provided, if necessary, at interviews.
3.8 Recruitment Records
3.8.1 Recruitment records, which detail appropriate information to enable accurate and meaningful equal opportunities analysis to be carried out, shall be kept by the Director of Human Resources.
3.8.2 All applications should be processed in exactly the same way. There should not be separate lists of male and female, or married and single applicants. Neither should there be separate lists for able bodies and disabled applicants.
3.8.3 Decisions in respect of shortlisting and appointment will be recorded and retained to enable monitoring of the selection process. Particular attention will be paid to recording the reasons why an interviewee was not selected.
3.9 Lack of Reasonable Facilities
3.9.1 All applicants and employees who apply for jobs with the Trust will receive fair treatment and will be considered solely on their ability to do the job. All instances where disabled candidates are disadvantaged for a job, solely because of the lack of reasonable facilities, shall be reported to the appropriate Director to identify and recommend to the Trust how this might be overcome bearing in mind financial constraint. Advice should be obtained as necessary from the Occupational Health Department.
3.10 Unsuccessful Applicants
3.10.1 Internal applicants should be given reasons for rejection.
3.10.2 Every unsuccessful candidate should be given the opportunity to be told the reasons for rejection.
3.11 Medical Pre-employment Screening
3.11.1 Successful applicants will be required to complete a pre-employment health questionnaire and where necessary submit to a medical examination.
4.1 An employee who has in good faith complained and/or taken action under the Race Relations Act, Sex Discrimination Act or Disability Discrimination Act and/or discrimination relating to age or sexual orientation, or sexual harassment, shall not receive less favourable treatment than any other employee, for example, by being subjected to disciplinary action in connection with their complaint.
4.2 Regrading and/or promotion must be on merit, irrespective of age, sex, marital status, race, disability, creed, colour, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.
5.1 Managers and members of appointment committees will be given guidance on recruitment procedures. The training will seek to ensure that staff fully understand and adhere to the Equal Opportunity Policy established by the Trust.
The training and guidance is particularly relevant for those managers who make decisions on issues relating to recruitment, promotion, transfer, training, dismissal, appraisal, terms of employment, benefits, facilities, grievances, disputes and disciplinary procedures. All managers with authority to recruit must be trained in recruitment and selection techniques within two years of the implementation of this policy and/or within six months of their appointment if possible.
5.2 Where funds permit every effort will be made to encourage employees with acute communication difficulties to attend language programmes.
5.3 Staff should be made aware, by their appropriate line mangers, of training and development opportunities available to them such that no group of employees are disadvantaged.
5.4 The selection criteria for training opportunities will be reviewed regularly by the Director of Human Resources to ensure that they do not discriminate directly or indirectly.
6 Use of Disciplinary, Grievance and Redundancy Procedures
6.1 Disciplinary Procedures
Discrimination and instances of abuse relating to age, sex, race, disability or sexual orientation and instances of sexual harassment will be treated as disciplinary offence. In applying the disciplinary procedure, care must be taken that members of one particular group are not disciplined or dismissed for performance or behaviour which would be overlooked or condoned in other groups.
6.2 Grievance Procedures
In the event of a formal complaint concerning discrimination or harassment arising from either an individual member of staff or a group of employees, the Trust's grievance procedures will be applied.
6.3 Redundancy Procedures
All redundancies will be handled in a fair and consistent manner in accordance with the Job Protection policy.
7.1 It is the specific responsibility of the Director of Human Resources to ensure that the equal opportunities policy and implementation is properly and adequately monitored.
7.2 The Trust endorses the view that, to be effective, an Equal Opportunities policy must be properly monitored and that it is necessary to gather base information and thereafter to keep accurate and up-to-date statistics in relation to ethnic origin, sex disability and marital status of employees within the Trust. Statistical information will, in the first instance, be derived from the application forms and self-classification census forms. Trade unions will offer their support and co-operation in this function.
7.3 In order to achieve the full commitment of all concerned with the proper introduction of Equal Opportunities and in the monitoring arrangements, discussions will be held, where appropriate, with staff-side organisations.
7.4 It is the responsibility of the directors/managers that information on individuals' ethnic origin, sex, age, disability and marital status is collected for the sole purpose of monitoring the Equal Opportunities policy and will be protected from abuse. The information obtained on an individual will be for the use of the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust only.
7.5 The results of monitoring will be reviewed at annual intervals to ascertain the effectiveness of the implementation of the equal opportunities policy. Management will consult on the most effective means of response to any perceived areas of weakness or difficulty.
8 Definition of Discrimination
8.1 Where discrimination against any person or group is referred to it will be deemed to be discrimination within any of the following categories:
DIRECT DISCRIMINATION
8.1.1 This occurs when a person or group is treated less favourably than others are or would be treated in the same or similar circumstances.
INDIRECT DISCRIMINATION
8.1.2 This is defined as a condition or requirement imposed, whether intentionally or not, which adversely effects a considerably larger proportion of persons of one group than another and cannot be justified as non discriminatory.
SEGREGATION
8.1.3 Segregating a person from others on ground of race, sex, age, sexual orientation or disability constitutes less favourable treatment.
VICTIMISATION
8.1.4 Discrimination by victimisation is unlawful. A person is victimised for example if she or he is given less favourable treatment than others in the same circumstances because it is suspected or known that they have brought proceedings under the Acts or given evidence or information relating to such proceedings or alleged that discrimination has occurred. Discrimination against an individual who has brought or contemplated bringing an action or made a complaint or given information alleging discrimination or has appeared as a witness, is also forbidden.
DISCRIMINATION ON GROUNDS OF MARITAL STATUS
8.1.5 Discrimination occurs when a married person is treated less favourably than a single person of the same sex.
SEXUAL HARASSMENT
8.1.6 This is defined as any repeated and unwanted sexual comments, looks, suggestions or physical contact that a person finds objectionable or offensive and causes them discomfort in their job.
DISCRIMINATION ON GROUNDS OF RACE
8.1.7 Discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favourably than others are or would be treated in the same circumstances on grounds of race, colour or nationality - including citizenship, or ethnic, or national origins. Segregating a person from others on racial grounds constitutes less favourable treatment.
DISCRIMINATION ON GROUNDS OF SEXUAL ORIENTATION
8.1.8 Discrimination occurs when a person is treated, on the grounds of their sexual orientation, less favourably than others are or would be treated in the same circumstances.
8.2 EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES LEGISLATION
Equal Pay Act 1970 [as amended by Equal Pay (Amendments) Regulations 1983].
8.2.1 The purpose of this Act is to eliminate discrimination between men and women with regard to pay and other terms of their contracts of employment (for example, overtime, bonus, payments, holiday and sick leave entitlements).
Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974
8.2.2 A number of exceptions have been made by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975. This order lists:
(i) A number of jobs where a spent conviction may still be a lawful reason for dismissing or refusing to employ someone.
(ii) A number of professions to which people may be refused admission and where spent convictions may be mentioned in disciplinary proceedings against members.
(iii) Certain licences, certificates and permits which may be refused because of a spent conviction.
Application to the NHS
The exceptions made by the Order are designed to ensure the protection of certain vulnerable sections of the public in particular circumstances, and include Health and Social Services employees. Accordingly, employers in both the public and private sectors are entitled to ask questions relating to offence where:
(i) The applicant is informed by virtue of the Exceptions Order that spent convictions have to be disclosed.
(ii) The work normally involves direct contact with people who are receiving health care.
If the work will enable the postholder to have access to persons receiving health care in the course of their normal duties then the exception applies. If the post is exempt, applicants are required to provide details concerning convictions which are regarded as spent for the purpose of the Act.
Previous convictions will not automatically be grounds for rejecting an applicant. The nature of the offence and the lapse of time since it was committed will be taken into account.
Sex Discrimination Act l975
8.2.3 Sex discrimination is unlawful. The Act describes direct discrimination as occurring if on the grounds of her sex, a woman is treated less favourably than a man would be treated. Indirect discrimination arises where a requirement or condition is applied equally to male and female but which, whether intentionally or not, adversely effects women and cannot be justified, i.e.:
(i) It is such that the proportion of women who can comply with this condition is considerably smaller than the proportion of men who can comply.
(ii) It is to the women's detriment because she cannot comply with the condition.
Discrimination is forbidden even where the object is to reverse an existing imbalance of the sexes. However, there is an exception in relation to training, where the minority sex can be selected to redress the balance. The Act also condemns discrimination against married persons in similar circumstances to those detailed above.
The Race Relations Act 1976
8.2.4 The Act forbids racial discrimination in employment. It states that no person may treat another less favourably on racial grounds nor apply a requirement or condition which although applied equally to other persons not of the same racial group:
(i) is such that the proportion of persons of the same racial groups as the applicant who can comply is considerably smaller than the proportion of persons not of the racial group who can comply:
(ii) cannot be justified on non racial grounds and
(iii) is detrimental to the person involved because they cannot comply with the condition.
The Commission for Racial Equality has the task of eliminating discrimination; promoting equal opportunities and good race relations and reviewing the operation of the Act.
Disability Discrimination Act 1996
8.2.5 The main law concerning the employment of disabled people is the Disability Discrimination Act l996.
Part II of the Act covers employment provisions which apply to employers with 15 or more employees. The provisions, including those that require employers to consider making changes to the physical features of premises that they occupy, have been in force since December 1996. There are two ways in which an employer might unlawfully discriminate against a disabled employee or job applicant: by treating him or her less favourably (without justification) than other employees or job applicants because of his or her disability, or by not making reasonable adjustments (without justification).
Race relations Amendment Act 2000
8.2.6 Since the 1st April 2001 public services (including the NHS) have been subject to a general duty under the act. This duty states that in carrying out all their functions, public authorities must have due regard to the need to:
eliminate unlawful racial discrimination,
promote equality of opportunities, and
promote good race relations
In December, further specific duties were introduced related to policy development , service delivery, employment and education.
LEGISLATION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
8.2.7 It is unlawful (Section 6 of the Sex Discrimination Act and Section 4 of the Race Relations Act) to discriminate under the above Acts:
(i) in the arrangements made for determining who will be offered employment;
(ii) in the terms of employment offered;
(iii) by refusing or deliberately omitting to offer employment.
(iv) in the way access is afforded to opportunities for promotion, transfer, training or any other benefits, facilities or services or by refusing or deliberately omitting to afford an employee access to them;
(v) by dismissing an employee or subjecting them to any other detriment.
Discrimination may also occur when persons are treated equally if unjustifiable conditions are attached to the job (eg certain types of technical qualifications may be demanded which few women or ethnic minorities may possess and which are not necessary for the job).
The Human Rights Act 1998
8.2.8 The Human Rights Act 1988 came into operation in October 2000 and is a key part of the Government's programme to modernise the constitution. It incorporates into domestic law the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to which the UK has been committed since 1951. The Act modernises relationships between people, and between people and the State and will embed in a new way, values of fairness, respect for human dignity and inclusiveness in the heart of public services.
The Act consists of a number of articles including: Article 8 - Right to respect for private and family life (everyone has the right to respect for his/her private and family life, home and correspondence); Article 9 - Freedom of thought, conscience and religion (everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his/her religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance; Article 10 -Freedom of expression (everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers); Article 11 - Freedom of assembly and association (everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his/her interests); Article 14 - Prohibition of discrimination (the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a national minority, property, birth or other status).
8.3 CODES OF PRACTICE
8.3.l Where statutory provisions exist, these represent the minimum requirements so far as the law is concerned.
8.4 WHITLEY COUNCIL CONDITIONS
8.4.l In Applying Whitley Council agreements and in operating recruitment, training and promotion policies, the Trust will develop and practise the concept of equal opportunities for all.
