Equality & Diversity Statement (Version 5) Date of original document September 2013 Original document Author(s) James Trowman Next review date August 2017 (Unless of an incident or major policy change) Review Author(s) James Morgan
Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd accepts that in society certain groups or individuals are denied equality on the grounds of race, gender, marital status, caring responsibilities, disability, gender re-assignment, age, social class, sexual orientation and religion/belief or any other factor irrelevant to the purpose in view. Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd welcome the statutory requirements laid down in: The Equality Act 2010; the Equal Pay Act 1970; the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974; the Sex Discrimination Act 1975; the Race Relations Act 1976 and the Race Relations Amendment Act Feb 2000; the NHS Community Care Act 1990; the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; the Asylum & Immigration Act 1996; the Human Rights Act Nov 1998; the Employment (Religion or Belief) and (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003. Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd recognises that it has moral and social responsibilities that go beyond the provisions of the above-mentioned Acts and Regulations, and that it should support and contribute to the wider process of change through all aspects of its work and practices in order to eliminate discrimination and promote equality and diversity. Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd is committed to taking positive steps to ensure that: all people are treated with dignity and respect, valuing the diversity of all equality of opportunity and diversity is promoted services are accessible, appropriate and delivered fairly to all the mix of its employees, volunteers and management reflects, as far as possible, the broad mix of the population traditionally disadvantaged sections of the community are encouraged to participate in policy decisions about, and the management of the services provided To Summarise Aspire Sports are committed to promoting a best-practice environment, where every learner is treated with respect and dignity. No personnel or learner or any related third party should feel threatened, degraded on the grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, physical characteristics, health or religious or political beliefs. Aspire Sports are responsible for ensuring that all individuals receive the same treatment, regardless of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, physical characteristics, health, religious beliefs or political beliefs. This
policy aims to prevent/tackle any potential/current discrimination, whether indirect 1 or direct 2, which involves learners and any member of Aspire Sports personnel. Aspire is responsible for: equal treatment of all individuals who have the right to participate and enjoy sport, recreation and allied occupations all personnel involved with [insert name of organisation] are, responsible for creating an open and friendly environment for all learners preventing discriminatory behaviour, which will not be tolerated in Aspire Sports This policy applies to all job applicants and potential applicants, employees, volunteers, trainee workers and students on work experience and former employees. taking any allegations or incidents of discrimination or any type of unfair treatment extremely seriously and responding to them swiftly. It is ultimately the responsibility of the Head of the Centre, James Trowman, to ensure that this policy is published and accessible to all personnel, learners and any relevant third parties. However, the quality coordinators (QCs) specific to each qualification are responsible for ensuring this information is fully understood by their qualification team and by the learners who commence courses/programmes in their area. Should you wish to discuss any matter or voice a grievance in relation to the above in confidence, please contact James Trowman on or, alternatively, learners may follow the Aspire Sports Learner Complaints Procedure. 1 Indirect for example, in relation to sex discrimination, it is prohibited to have criteria or practices which, while not being directly discriminatory (such as refusing to recruit female employees or candidates because they might become pregnant), have the effect of disadvantaging one sex more than the other. A claim of indirect sex discrimination provides a potential remedy if flexible working is refused or inflexible working imposed on a worker, rather than a right to request flexible working. 2 Direct - this is where you openly treat any sector of the community less favourably than others. For example, you may state in a job advertisement that men are only welcome to apply for a particular job vacancy. This is direct discrimination and is unacceptable.
Equal Opportunities Policy and Procedures This policy applies to all job applicants and potential applicants, employees, volunteers, trainee workers and students on work experience and former employees. Commitment Equality and diversity are central to the work of Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd. Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd will treat all people with dignity and respect, valuing the diversity of all. It will promote equality of opportunity and diversity. It will eliminate all forms of discrimination on grounds of race, gender, marital status, caring responsibilities, disability, gender re-assignment, age, social class, sexual orientation, religion/ belief, irrelevant offending background or any other factor irrelevant to the purpose in view. It will tackle social exclusion, inequality, discrimination and disadvantage For this policy to be successful, it is essential that everyone is committed to and involved in its delivery. Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd goal is to work towards a just society free from discrimination, harassment and prejudice. Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd aims to embed this in all its policies, procedures, day-to-day practices and external relationships. Aims Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd aims to: Provide services that are accessible according to need Promote equality of opportunity and diversity in volunteering, employment and development Create effective partnerships with all parts of our community Objectives Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd objective is to realise its standards by: Sustaining, regularly evaluating and continually improving its services to ensure equality and diversity principles and best practice are embedded in our performance to meet the needs of our clients Working together with the community to provide accessible and relevant service provision that responds to service users needs
Ensuring staff, volunteers and trustees are representative of the community served and the employment policies are fair and robust Responding to volunteer s & employees needs and encouraging their development to increase their contribution to effective service delivery Recognising and valuing the differences and individual contribution that all people make to the organisation Challenging discrimination Providing fair resource allocation Training Aspire is committed to providing ongoing support to learners with particular requirements and aspires to eliminate discrimination. On this basis, we ensure accessible services and make appropriate adjustments, where required, to facilitate learners in completing the course/programme as independently as possible. Our personnel are committed to contributing to this practice and the overall aims are to assist learners in managing their individual situation and create a more accessible learning and assessment environment for all. In order for this to be achieved, we aim to determine learners particular requirements and requests for the provision of access arrangements at an early stage. In making sure our access to fair assessment statement is implemented effectively and all learners are treated fairly, we aim to: ensure the access to fair assessment statement and practice are understood and complied with by any personnel involved in assessment and also by learners promote equality in relation to the provision of the learning programme and assessment of the qualification adhere to related procedures and regulations regarding reasonable adjustments to assessment and special consideration ensure buildings and assessment sites used for delivery and assessment are accessible to all learners, as far as is practicable request permission for the implementation of specific adjustments from the awarding body where required ensure appropriate equipment/personnel (technological equipment or any assistant personnel, ie reader, scribe, practical assistant, etc) is available for selected adjustments to delivery and/or assessment use assistive equipment and personnel within the reasonable adjustments framework, as outlined by 1st4sport, without disadvantaging others who are not affected by particular requirements. It is ultimately the responsibility the director to ensure that this statement and related procedures are published and accessible to all personnel, learners and any relevant third parties. However, the quality coordinators (QCs) specific to each qualification are responsible for ensuring this information is fully understood by their qualification team and by the learners who commence courses/programmes in their area. Learners have the right to raise any issues related to the implementation of access arrangements or make a formal complaint via the Aspire complaints procedure or the Aspire learner appeals procedure, if they are not satisfied with the outcome of the decision in relation to the access arrangements applied.
Procedure for Access Arrangements Stage 1: Aspire evaluates and identifies the need for the implementation of access arrangements due to a learner s particular requirements where a learner reports the request to the tutor/assessor or where it is identified via other acceptable means. At this stage, the learner must provide all necessary evidence (medical evidence/certification, diagnostic test results, a statement from the invigilator/tutor/assessor or any other appropriate information) to demonstrate the condition or reason(s) affecting his/her performance. Stage 2: The tutor/assessor communicates the request to the qualification-specific quality coordinator (QC), who checks the learner s eligibility. The QC collates all evidence required and helps the learner to make the application for reasonable adjustments/special consideration. Stage 3: If access arrangements as requested by the learner are not appropriate and the application is rejected by [insert name of organisation] or 1st4sport, other alternatives will be suggested, where required. If the application for access arrangements is accepted, the decision is communicated to all personnel involved in the delivery and/or assessment and arrangements are made as soon as practicable to assist the learner. Stage 4: Monitoring of the eligibility of decisions made and outcomes of the applications and effectiveness of the procedure is conducted via the established 1st4sport procedure. The QC will ensure that the learner completes an evaluation of the effectiveness of the access arrangements and reports this via Athena. All records relating to the application, relevant evidence and monitoring forms are securely retained for five years. Why have this policy? Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd recognises, respects and values diversity in its employees, trainees, volunteers and service users. The company has this policy because it is a people-led organisation that must always ensure it meets the needs of its clients through fair and appropriate employment and development of the people who work and volunteer for Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd. Procedures Responsibility for Implementation
This policy covers the behaviour of all people employed or volunteering in Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd or using the services and sets out the way they can expect to be treated in turn by the organisation. The overall responsibility for ensuring adherence to and implementation of this policy lies with the staff and the management committee. Method of Implementation Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd intends to implement this policy by: Ensuring that it is a condition of paid employment in the organisation Ensuring that Management, employees and users are made aware, understand, agree with, and are willing to implement, this policy. All staff and volunteers will be given a copy of this policy as part of their induction Actively encouraging staff, management and volunteers to participate in anti-discriminatory training, and making time and resources available for such training Monitoring the services, publicity and events provided by the organisation, to ensure that they are accessible to all sections of the population and do not discriminate, and taking active steps to ensure that participation is representative Monitoring and Reviewing Aspire Sports Health & Fitness Ltd has declared its commitment to establishing, developing, implementing and reviewing a policy of equality of opportunity. Effective record keeping and monitoring, and acting on information gathered, are essential in order to measure effectiveness and plan progress. The management team will review the policy annually.