GENERAL STATEMENT

The Forest Hill & Sydenham Voluntary Service Association Ltd aims to be an equal opportunities employer and service provider. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that the organisation does not discriminate directly or indirectly. The organisation has a positive commitment to oppose all forms of discrimination and will work towards promoting equal opportunities for all, irrespective of race, colour, gender, age, class, educational attainment, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, religion, trade union activity, dependent status, or contact with mental heath services.

SCOPE OF POLICY

This policy is mandatory and binding for all people employed or volunteering at the organisation or using its services. The overall responsibility for ensuring adherence to the implementation of the policy lies with the Management Committee with delegated responsibility to the Centre Manager. Staff and volunteers must adhere to the policy at all times and breaches of the policy will be considered serious and may result in disciplinary proceedings.~

The Forest Hill & Sydenham Voluntary Service Association Equal Opportunities Policy covers the following organisational and employment practice:

• Advertising and selection of staff, volunteers and trustees
• Recruitment, support and training for staff and volunteers
• Criteria for service users
• Workplace discipline
• Monitoring
• Planning and development

1: Advertising

All vacancies will be advertised in as wide a variety of publications and websites as possible and response from these will be monitored to ensure that they are successful and cost effective and to exclude those that are not. The publications should include newspapers read by as many disadvantaged groups as possible and all adverts should include a short statement of the Equal Opportunities Policy.

Approved publications for the organisation include: The Guardian; The Voice; Lewisham Talking Newspaper. Approved website: Jobs in Charities. This list is neither exhaustive nor inclusive. Efforts will always be made to advertise in local community publications including those which reach the disadvantaged groups stated above. Advertisements must be directly related to the job description and person specification and concentrate on requirements essential to the post. Organisational jargon should be avoided and advertisements should be written in plain English

2: Recruitment

Staff
All staff must have a person specification based on job descriptions. A Recruitment Sub Committee must agree staff job descriptions and person specifications. We take up two references for all paid Staff; one of which (if applicable) should be a current or last employer.


Volunteers
Every reasonable attempt will be made to ensure that volunteers are recruited from as wide a range of sources as possible. All volunteers must have a person specification based on task descriptions. Volunteers will be asked to provide details of two referees to whom we can apply for references regarding their suitability for voluntary work for the areas they have chosen. We do not arrange police check for volunteers as a matter of course; only where there is a statutory obligation due to the nature of the work e.g. working directly with children.

Consultants

External consultants will be given a project brief based on person specification. Vacancies will be advertised where possible, or, consultants will be invited to tender based on Equal Opportunities principles outlined in this document.

Person specifications should only list academic qualifications if they are essential to the post. Factors in addition to qualifications and/or work experience, especially voluntary work, should be taken into consideration and given weight in assessing candidates only at the selection stage.

Staffing Sub Committees should consist of at least three people (at least one of whom should be a FHSVSA Management Committee member) and should have a balance of men and women. Every effort should be made to include people from minority groups. Shortlisting panels and interview Sub Committees should consist of the same members.

The shortlisting panel should score applications according to the criteria set out in the Person Specification. The panel should not discuss their scores during the assessment until each panel member has individually scored all applications. Monitoring forms should be removed before the panel meet.

All questions at interview must relate to the points on the Person Specification. Each member will record their own scores without discussion until all scores have been documented. The interview Sub Committee members should particularly not discuss candidates between interviews. When all interviews have been completed, sub Committee members will add up their total scores, then total scores from each member will be added together. The post should be offered to the highest scoring candidate. However, any concerns or imbalances of any individual members’ scoring will be discussed before making the decision to whom to offer the post. The final decision must not discriminate on any grounds outlined in this policy.

When interviewing potential volunteers, the same principles should be adopted as staff recruitment, in terms of ensuring that volunteers meet the criteria of the Person Specification. Volunteer interviews however, should be more relaxed and informal giving the potential volunteer ample opportunity to ask questions, enabling them to make an informed decision regarding their voluntary placement and to familiarise themselves with the ethos of the organisation.

3: Service users

Service users are referred to the Centre by Social Services, Health Centres, General Practitioners, Local churches and other voluntary agencies. The Centre will also take self - referrals. All service users are accepted according to the centre’s criteria and based on the principles outlined in this document.

4: Support and Training

Appropriate training opportunities will be made available to all members of staff and volunteers (including Management Committee members), based on the individual’s role/post and organisational requirements.

5: Workplace Discipline

Staff and volunteers are expected to abide by this policy and disciplinary rules at all times. Harassment or victimisation of any staff member, volunteer or consultant, will not be tolerated under any circumstances.

Any person who feels they have been unfairly harassed or victimised can seek redress through the organisation’s grievance procedure.

6: Monitoring

Statistics gathered on staff, volunteers and service users will be monitored regularly, including Equal Opportunities monitoring, to ensure that they are representative of the local population. Monitoring forms will be analysed and statistics produced. Statistics will be presented to the Management Committee on a half yearly basis. Where there is an imbalance in the monitored statistics, reasons will be sought as to why, and necessary action will be taken to redress the situation. This may include re-examining job descriptions, person specifications, advertisements and publicity materials sent directly to referrers and/or individual service users, to ensure that they are not a barrier to people from the underrepresented groups.

7: Planning and development

The Forest Hill & Sydenham Voluntary Service Association aims to be an equal opportunities provider and will ensure that any developments of the organisation and its services will be based on the principles outlined in this document.

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