Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
At South Essex Homes, we believe that everyone deserves to feel valued, respected, and included. We are committed to creating a welcoming and supportive environment where differences are celebrated, and our services reflect the needs of our diverse communities.
Our approach to Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) is shaped by our legal and regulatory responsibilities, including the Equality Act 2010, the Public Sector Equality Duty, and the Consumer Standards for Social Housing. This means we work to:
- Treat all residents fairly and with respect
- Ensure equal access to opportunities and services
- Promote understanding and inclusion across our communities
We also recognise the importance of supporting victims and survivors of domestic abuse under the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. Our staff are trained to respond with sensitivity and understanding, ensuring that everyone receives the help they need.
What EDI Means to Us
- Equality - Making sure everyone has fair access to opportunities and support
- Diversity - Recognising and valuing the unique differences between people
- Inclusion - Creating an environment where everyone feels they belong
We are dedicated to making South Essex Homes a place where every resident feels heard, valued, and supported.
You can download our full Policy here: Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy for Customers.pdf[pdf] 236KB
Equality Outcomes
We use Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) and Equality Analyses (EAs) to understand how our policies and services affect different residents and to make improvements where needed.
Completed Equality Impact Assessments
Equality Impact Assessments have been carried out on the following policies:
- Commitment to Vulnerable Residents Policy
- Repairs and Maintenance Policy
- Business Plan
- Access Policy
- Anti-Social Behaviour and Hate Crime Policy
Key outcomes from Equality Impact Assessments
These assessments have led to practical changes to improve accessibility and inclusion, including:
- A review of the Damp, Mould and Condensation Policy to ensure it is inclusive of the wider resident community.
- Inclusion of translation services and alternative formats within the Income Recovery Policy.
- Promotion of the Relay Service within the Repairs and Maintenance Policy and on our website, supporting residents who are hard of hearing or who find verbal communication difficult.
- An updated approach requiring staff to proactively ask residents about any support needs when a repair is reported.
- Promotion of flexible appointment options to support working-age residents, residents with cultural or religious needs, and residents who need to avoid school run times.
Equality Analysis Outcomes
Equality Analyses have been completed for the following service areas to better understand who is accessing services and where barriers may exist:
- Resident Advisory Panel (to support improved representation)
- Residents reporting anti-social behaviour
- Victims and survivors of domestic abuse
- Residents reporting damp, mould and condensation
- Access for gas safety checks where access has not been gained without enforcement
Outcomes so far
As a result of these analyses, we have taken the following actions:
- Introduced targeted communications for households identified as being at higher risk of damp, mould and condensation, using Insight magazine and social media.
- Updated the domestic abuse case management process so that the protected characteristics and support needs of all household members are consistently recorded and considered, ensuring appropriate and sensitive support is provided.
What we are doing
We are taking a proactive approach to reduce inequality and improve access to our services by:
- Targeting outreach to residents who are at higher risk of damp, mould and condensation.
- Providing additional staff training on intersectionality, to help staff better understand how different needs and experiences can overlap.
- Reviewing our chatbot to ensure it captures key vulnerability and support information so repairs can be prioritised appropriately.
- Working with multi-faith groups to raise awareness of our services, particularly where communities are underrepresented and may have unmet support needs.
- Engaging with LGBTQ+ residents on a range of issues, including how to make our domestic abuse service more accessible and inclusive.
- Increasing engagement with groups that are underrepresented in our complaints and anti-social behaviour (ASB) services.
- Using ASB hotspot data to identify locations for targeted pop-up community events to promote support and reporting options.
- Ensuring communications about health and safety appointments are written in plain English and are culturally sensitive.
- Introducing a reward points scheme for residents involved in the Resident Advisory Panel, to encourage participation from a wider and more diverse range of residents.
- Creating posters with key service messages translated into the top five community languages spoken by our residents.
Our Residents
By understanding the unique backgrounds and experiences of our residents, we can tailor our services to better meet their needs. Find out more about our resident demographics here: Fact Sheet.pdf [pdf] 17MB (or for an accessible version click here: Fact Sheet (Accessible) [pdf] 17MB)
LGBTQ+
We want to celebrate our diverse workforce and the brilliance of individuality. We want to empower our residents and staff, by being even more inclusive and increase our diversity as an organisation.
Southend City Council have an LGBT forum called OUTreach which reaches out to LGBTQ+ staff, allies, other forums, external sites, other organisations and community groups, to engage with and learn from the experiences of similar groups from around the city and beyond. The forum has also supported the Council's Stonewall Workplace Equality Index submission and continues to support ongoing work to enhance LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace and city.
If you want to find out more about Pride and supporting the LGBTQ+ community, there are lots of resources online.
Visit THE Homepage - Livewell Southend
Check out www.southendpride.org.uk for details of local events.