Equal Opportunities Policy

The Company is committed to ensuring equal opportunities, fairness of treatment, dignity, work-life balance and the elimination of all forms of discrimination in the work place. The Company will avoid unlawful discrimination in all aspects of employment including recruitment, promotion, opportunities for training, pay and benefits, discipline and selection for redundancy.

The key objective is for the Company to provide a working environment in which people feel comfortable and confident that they will be treated with respect and dignity.

It is the policy of the Company to treat all job applicants and employees equally and fairly irrespective of their race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age, marriage or civil partnership status, disability, pregnancy or maternity. The Company will appoint, train, develop and promote on the basis of merit and ability.

It is the Company’s policy to ensure that no policy, procedure, provision, rule, requirement, condition or criterion will be imposed on any worker or job applicant without justification if it would be likely to put that person at a disadvantage on any of the above grounds. This equal opportunities policy applies to all stages of the recruitment and selection process as well as throughout employment.

All employees will be required to undertake equality and diversity training.

Recruitment publicity must positively encourage applications from all suitably qualified people. When advertising job vacancies, in order to attract applications from all sections of the community, the Company will, as far as reasonably practicable:

1. Ensure advertisements are not confined to those areas or publications which would exclude or disproportionately reduce the numbers of applicants of a particular gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or racial group;

2. Avoid prescribing any unnecessary requirements which would exclude a higher proportion of a particular gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or racial group or which would exclude disabled job applicants;

3. Avoid prescribing any requirements as to marriage or civil partnership status;

4. Where vacancies may be filled by promotion or transfer, they will be published to all eligible employees in such a way that they do not restrict applications from employees of any particular gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or racial group or from employees with a disability.

 

The selection process will be carried out consistently for all jobs at all levels. The Company will ensure that this equal opportunities policy is available to all staff and in particular is given to all staff with responsibility for recruitment, selection and promotion.  

The selection of new staff will be based on the job requirements and the individual's suitability and ability to do, or to train for the job in question. Person specifications and job descriptions will be limited to those requirements that are necessary for the effective performance of the job. Candidates for employment will be assessed objectively against the requirements for the job. With disabled job applicants, the Company will have regard to its duty to make reasonable adjustments to work provisions, criteria or practices or to work premises in order to ensure that the disabled person is not placed at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with persons who are not disabled.

All applications will be processed in the same way. The staff responsible for short-listing, interviewing and selecting candidates will be clearly aware of the selection criteria and of the need for their consistent application.

All questions that are put to the applicants will relate to the requirements of the job.

If it is necessary to assess whether personal circumstances will affect the performance of the job, this will be discussed objectively, without detailed questions based on assumptions about race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age, marriage or civil partnership status, disability, children and / or domestic obligations.

All terms of employment, benefits, facilities and services will be reviewed from time to time, in order to ensure that there is no unlawful discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, ethnic origin, nationality, national origin, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, age, marital or civil partnership status or disability.

Overall responsibility for this policy lies with Anthony Woolcott, Managing Director.