Equity, diversity and inclusion

Our customers come from all walks of life. But one thing is always the same – everyone is valued and gets fair treatment.

A collage of five different images made up of five different groups of people of different backgrounds

Wheatley Group is committed to the principles of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI); this goes to the heart of the common values shared by the Group. For us, this means:

  • equity - people with different characteristics are treated fairly and have access to equal opportunities
  • diversity -  respecting and valuing individual differences and unique characteristics, both in our organisation and in our communities
  • inclusion -  making sure our employees and customers feel comfortable being themselves and that they feel valued, respected and heard

We don’t discriminate against anyone on the grounds of race, ethnic or national origin, language, religion, belief, age, gender, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family circumstances, employment status, physical ability or mental health, or any other protected characteristic. We aim to achieve fair outcomes for all, threading an EDI approach through our decision-making and service design/delivery.

We will do this by:
 

  • ensuring all our policies and strategies reflect our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion
  • ensuring you understand our approach to equity, diversity and inclusion
  • ensuring our staff live and breathe our approach and treat you fairly
  • collecting information about the needs and aspirations of our customers,  using equality data to inform our decision-making
  • increasing participation and consultation with all sections of the community, including through diversifying our engagement
  • eliminating unlawful discrimination within the organisation

  • setting actions and objectives for equity, diversity and inclusion
  • providing fair services that everyone can access
  • operating fair and inclusive recruitment and employment practices
  • having systems to collect equalities information about customers
  • promoting equality of opportunity with our partners and contractors
  • celebrating and valuing our diverse customer base and workforce
  • working to recognise, understand and respond to the different needs of protected characteristic groups

Annual Equality Report
 

This report includes details of information about customers we have collected, why we have done this and how we will use it.

Check out the data we have collected over the last year and what this has informed in our Annual Equalities Report overview.

You can read the full report here.

Statement of Commitment
 

We have developed a Statement of Commitment, explicitly outlining the commitment of our Boards and Group Executive Team to equity, diversity and inclusion. The statement was developed with our employee EDI Community of Excellence, Different Together, and has been externally reviewed by the Employer's Network for Equality and Inclusion. The statement:

  • defines what EDI means for us;
  • outlines why EDI is important to us; and
  • states how we plan to include EDI within our organisation

The  Wheatley Solutions Board considered and approved the statement at their meeting on 13 February 2023 for final signing by our Chief Executive, on behalf of our Group Executive Team, and Group Chair, on behalf of the Wheatley Group Board.

You can read our Statement of Commitment here.

EDI Calendar
 

This calendar includes key religious, cultural and awareness dates throughout the year that we know are celebrated or acknowledged by our staff and customers, as well as information about our Different Together EDI campaign.

EDI Action Plan
 

In 2022 we introduced our first ever Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan One Group, Many Voices. This plan details the practical steps required to implement our Group EDI and Human Rights policy and enhance our overall approach.

In 2024, following the significant progress made in delivering the first iteration of One Group, Many Voices, we reviewed our Action Plan with a focus on embedding and sustaining the structures we have put in place, being particularly mindful of access and equity. The second iteration of our EDI Action Plan demonstrates our continued commitment to embrace, promote and sustain our EDI and Human Rights approach under the following outcomes:

  • Different Together with you – customer and community focus;
  • Different Together in our Group- staff and internal culture focus; and
  • evolving our data – whole journey approach and embedding it into decision-making

You can read the updated Action Plan here. Progress is monitored quarterly by our Wheatley Solutions Board.

Written information 
 

You can request alternative formats of our documents. We ensure we have key documents, such as tenancy agreements, available in a range of languages and offer translation and interpretation services. You can get a copy of most documents in different languages, large print, in Braille and audio formats. Find out more at accessibility.

Telephone
 

We can arrange for someone to speak to you in your own language and offer help for people with hearing difficulties. Find out more at accessibility.

Hate crime and harassment
 

You may feel you’re being picked on because you have a disability, mental health condition or because of your ethnic or national origin, or sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristic.

If you think you’re the victim of hate crime or harassment, get in touch or call us on 0800 479 7979. We treat all complaints of harassment very seriously.

If you prefer, you can make a complaint through a third-party support organisation. By signing a representation mandate, you can ask someone from that organisation to make a complaint on your behalf.

We developed our Group Hate Crime approach in 2019 and established a strategic partnership with Police Scotland’s National Equality and Diversity Unit. Additionally, we developed Hate Crime training for frontline housing staff in partnership with Policy Scotland. We also launched our Group Hate Crime policy in 2023.

Equality data collection
 

To make sure we’re meeting everyone’s needs we carry out equalities data monitoring and reporting. This means we may ask you about your protected characteristics (as defined by the Equality Act 2010). These are age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partner status, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. We may also ask you about additional support and communication needs.

We collect equalities data on each of the protected characteristics from job applicants, employees, people on waiting lists, customers and our governing body members.

Sometimes this is for a specific, non-anonymous purpose e.g. to ensure you are over 16 if applying for a home and that we allocate you to suitable housing (which may require adaptations). For employees, we may need to we make reasonable adjustments to working practices for example, to accommodate a disability.

We also carried out an anonymous customer data collection exercise during 2022. We developed the approach and communications with customers, and received over 10,000 responses.

We use the data collected to inform our decision-making and service design. Further detail on this can be found in our Group EDI and Human Rights policy,

To ensure we are respectful of privacy, data is collected on a voluntary basis and the information we collect is treated as confidential, in line with the Data Protection Act (1998).

Demonstrating our commitment
 

Memberships and accreditations

  • Business in the Community members
  • Employer’s Network of Equality and Inclusion (enei) members
  • enei Silver level TIDE accreditation
  • enei  Driving Social Mobility and Social Inclusion in the Workplace award 2023
  • Disability confident employer
  • Mindful employer charter
  • Investor's in People - Platinum employer

EDI Action Plan and recent achievements
 

    To support us in implementing our Group EDI and Human Rights policy, and help direct our activity we have developed a Group EDI Action Plan, One Group, Many Voices. Progress against this is reported to and monitored quarterly by our Wheatley Solutions  Board. You can read our 2022/2023 Action Plan here.

    Some recent EDI achievements have included:

    • Launched our Different Together EDI and Inclusion brand and staff resource hub in 2022
    • Launched our Different Together staff Community of Excellence group, chaired by People Services Director
    • Launched six staff equality network groups, each sponsored by an Executive
    • Refreshed recruitment adverts, job profiles involving equality network groups
    • Developed our EDI Learning Suite on our online staff training site
    • Celebrated and highlighted wellbeing and inclusion events including menopause workshops, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy workshops, nation pronoun day, men’s mental health.

    To read more about how we are committed to EDI, please see our Group EDI and Human Rights policy

    Gender pay gap reports
     

    You can read the Gender Pay Gap reports for our applicable organisations below: