Equality and diversity
Achieving equality and inclusion for all our people
Our Homerton People plan sets out to make the Trust the best place to work in the NHS, and one of our key ambitions to make this possible is to achieve equality and inclusion for all our people.
Our equality objectives for 2022-25
Building on Our Homerton People plan, we have set ourselves ambitious objectives over the next four years to achieve equality and inclusion for our people. These objectives have been developed through analysing the latest data available and in collaboration with our three staff networks and staff-side representatives:
- work as part of the Integrated Care System (ICS) to design, implement and embed an anti-racist approach in the organisation
- empower our Staff networks to ensure all staff feel psychologically safe to bring their whole self to work
- review Trust processes in line with just culture principles and are fair and equitable.
- these will include HR processes (including recruitment, conduct etc.) and organisational change (including Equality Impact Assessments)
- reduce the experiences of discrimination, harassment, bullying or abuse
- increase the self-declaration rates of staff for: ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief
- continue to ensure education, development and career progression opportunities are inclusive and accessible to all
Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)
The public sector Equality Duty (PSED), part of the Equality Act, came into force in April 2011. It requires NHS organisations to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations. The PSED requires that the Trust must provide evidence that we have given ‘due regard’ to the three aims of the General Duty across all nine protected characteristics:
- to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment & victimisation;
- to advance equality of opportunity;
- to foster good relations.
Our Homerton People
The Our Homerton People Plan is our strategy to make our people's experience of working at Homerton one of the best in the NHS. It was launched in early 2020 and has been one of the Trust's major priorities since. We want to make sure all our people know about the plan, the progress made, work still to be done, and how our people can feed into it.
The plan has three main focuses:
- achieving Equality and Inclusion for our people
- valuing our people
- developing our people's potential
Staff networks
Together We Rise
Network leads: Sandra Weekes and Michael Peters
Together We Rise Staff Network is for Black and Racial Heritage staff or anyone in support of the Network. The Network has over 80 members and aims to celebrate and add value in helping improve outcomes for Black, Asian and other ethnic background staff within the Trust and lead the way in giving people opportunities to be heard in a safe environment. Throughout the year the network have hosted a number of events, including activities in support of Black History Month, Windrush Day, and Race Equality Week.
Enable Staff Disability Network
Network leads: Eloise Paterson and Shamsun Ali
Enable’s aim is to play a vital role in ensuring Homerton is an inclusive workplace where disabled and differently abled employees feel empowered, and managers feel equipped to support a diverse workforce.
The network has over 50 members and has been an important partner in the development of the ‘Reasonable adjustment policy and procedure’. They support staff through webinars, blogs and regular meetings. They have supported the organisation to become a ‘Disability Confident Employer’, been integral in the roll out of AccessAble and celebrate Purple Light Up each December for International Day of People with Disabilities.
Contact Enable at huh-tr.enablehomerton@nhs.net
Homerton Rainbow
Network leads: Neil McCreanor and Amy Holloway
The Homerton Rainbow network support people who identify as LGBTQ+. The network has over 50 members and has grown significantly since` 2020 despite the pandemic. The network have hosted events including Homerton Pride and attended London Pride, as well as supporting various awareness events such as LGBT+ History Month. The network shares regular updates of the work they are doing across the Trust.
Contact Homerton Rainbow at huh-tr.homertonrainbow@nhs.net
Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 applies to all organisations that provide a service to the public.
The Act protects people from being discriminated against because of a certain characteristic. These are known as Protected Characteristics. They are:
- age
- disability
- gender reassignment (where a person has undergone, or is proposing to undergo, a process (or part of a process) for the purpose of reassigning their sex by changing physiological or other attributes of sex)
- pregnancy and maternity
- race (this includes ethnic or natural origin, colour and nationality)
- religion or belief
- sex
- sexual orientation
- marriage or civil partnership
As an organisation, we aim to extend our policies, practices, and procedures to cover other characteristics and encompass all gender identities including trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming.
It is against the law to discriminate against, harass or victimise a person when providing a service or function. For more information about the Equality Act, click here.
Annual Equality Report
Each year the Trust publishes its’ annual Equality Report, to show what we are doing to ensure our services and employment opportunities are fair and accessible to all.
Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)
The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of specific measures to enable us to compare the experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff. Research shows that a motivated, included and valued workforce helps to deliver high quality patient care, increased patient satisfaction and improved patient safety. The WDES enables the Trust to better understand the experiences of disabled staff. It will support positive change for existing employees, and enable a more inclusive environment for disabled people working in the NHS.
Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)
The Trust demonstrate through the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) metric how we are addressing race equality issues in a range of staffing areas, and better understand the experience of our staff, the Trust reports it progress against indicators of workforce equality.
Gender pay gap
All organisations with 250+ employees are required to publish their data.
The information is published on the Government website
Gender pay gap 2022 [pptx]
Gender pay gap 2020 [pptx]