NATIONAL SAVINGS & INVESTMENTS EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY INFORMATION STATEMENT Foreword I am pleased to present this Equality and Diversity Information Statement for National Savings and Investments ( NS&I ) as required by the Equality Act 2010. This document sets out NS&I s overall approach to equality and diversity both as an employer and as a provider of services. It also covers NS&I s approach to the public sector equality duty (the PSED ) which came into force in April 2011. Leadership, commitment and partnership working at all levels are central to NS&I s success. As Chief Executive of NS&I I am committed to ensuring that we take account of our stakeholders views and that we drive forward progress on the development of specific equality objectives that will identify the priorities for action on equality. The measures of NS&I s Equality and Diversity achievements are publicly available on our website www.nsandi.com. Ian Ackerley NS&I Chief Executive May 2017 1
OUR VISION Service, value and trust NATIONAL SAVINGS & INVESTMENTS EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY INFORMATION STATEMENT OUR MISSION Our overall aim is to help reduce the cost to the taxpayer of government borrowing now and in the future OUR VALUES Our values are at the heart of everything we do: Security: we offer a promise of 100% security, backed by HM Treasury Integrity: we are honest and responsible in everything that we do and say Straightforwardness: we always use clear, everyday language that is easy to understand Delivered with a human touch, pace and confidence: we treat our customers as individuals, recognise their needs and act on their behalf decisively and professionally We set our rates to balance the interests of three groups: our customers offering them a fair rate taxpayers with our remit to raise cost-effective finance for government the wider financial services sector supporting stability In terms of operations, NS&I is not generally responsible for policy implementation or for service delivery. It meets the public service equality duty primarily through its leadership role. It does this by prompting policies and setting standards for its partners and requiring that the impact of policy and service delivery avoids discrimination, promotes equality and best practice. EQUALITY LEGISLATION The Equality Act (2010) provides protection for the individual against prohibited conduct such as direct and indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation and a duty to make adjustments for disabled people in certain circumstances. The law imposes a general duty on public authorities, such as NS&I, to have due regard in all that we do to: eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it; and foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. The relevant characteristics are: age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership, sex and sexual orientation. Specific duties also applied to listed authorities including NS&I and essentially provide guidance on how to better meet the general duties. A central element in this context will be the setting and 2
publication of clear equality objectives and related data by which the public can assess our performance and hold us to account. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY STATEMENT As a public authority NS&I is committed to ensuring our policies and employment practices are fair, accessible and appropriate for the diverse society we serve and the workforce we employ. Our approach is based on the work that we do rather than how we are structured as an organisation. Leadership and commitment at all levels are central to success enabling individuals and organisations influence and shape the work we do. NS&I is one of the UK's largest financial providers with 25 million customers and 143 billion invested. To be successful we need to: understand the society in which we operate be clear about the impact of our policies and operations on that society conduct our business with sensitivity and respect for people s different needs and perspectives on life Through increased transparency and robust scrutiny of how we treat people and how we engage with our customers, we will ensure that equality remains at the heart of NS&I s business. This is reflected in our Vulnerable Customers Policy, A vulnerable person is someone who, due to their personal circumstances, is especially susceptible to detriment, particularly when a firm is not acting with appropriate levels of care. This guides the business to ensure we duly consider vulnerability when we define and deliver our products and services, our Customer Experience Principles and Standards in all aspects of our work. NS&I is committed to treating our customers fairly and with the dignity and respect to which they are entitled. NS&I undertake customer surveys across a broad spectrum of customer types including a range of socio-economic and age groups In 2015 we launched 65+ Bonds to all individuals aged 65 years and over. The Equality Act 2010 (Age Exemptions) Order 2012 recognises that financial services products need to be designed to meet the needs of customers and customer groups. It allows organisations to do this by specifically exempting financial services products in respect of age discrimination. The Office of National Statistics figures show that 89% of UK population now has access to the internet or a smartphone. In 2015-16 over 1 million customers purchased our 65+ Bonds via a digital channel. In response to these evolving customer purchase trends and to offer an efficient low cost customer experience, a commercial decision was made to offer the 2017 Investment Guaranteed Growth Bonds via the online channel only. An exception process will exist for customers that are unable to transact online as a result of a disability or vulnerability. Those who choose not to use the internet due to a lifestyle preference may find this product unsuitable. However, the product forms part of a balanced NS&I portfolio and a range of alternative competitive products that can be accessed across a range of channels to suit varied customer preferences. 3
PARTNERSHIP WORKING NS&I meets the public sector equality duty (PSED) primarily through setting policies and standards for its service delivery partners and ensuring that the impact of policy and service delivery avoids discrimination, promotes equality and best practice. NS&I will work with its partners to promote equality by: sharing existing information and good practice gathering new information developing joint consultation and involvement methods and structures where appropriate developing joint working and co-delivery of services where practicable pooling budgets and resources where practicable APPROACH TO EQUALITY NS&I is committed to eliminating discrimination and promoting equality in both our policies and how we deliver our services. We will reach out to employees, customers and other stakeholders using appropriate channels of communication. In 2015 we launched such an engagement exercise to ensure we understood the specific needs of our disadvantaged customers. This process involved face to face interviews with people who have a long term health condition, in depth interviews with disability organisations, expert reviews and mystery shopping Encouraging diversity in recruitment and valuing the diversity we have among our own employee is key to our success and effectiveness. We want to be a fair and inclusive organisation, respecting what each person brings to our business and recognising the value they add. We have introduced anonymised recruitment for all roles, which includes the removal of biographical information about applicants and our recruitment panels are gender balanced. The Chief Executive as Accounting Officer has overall responsibility for the effective implementation of NS&I s equality duties. Executive directors have a strategic responsibility to ensure that equality is built into policies and procedures. They also have an important role of developing relationships with community groups and individuals and to encourage dialogue with NS&I. We have identified a Member Champion, the Acting Director of Retail, to provide leadership on this issue from a customer perspective. All employees and others doing work on behalf of NS&I are responsible for working together to promote equality and fairness both in the way that they treat customers and fellow members of employee and through the services they provide to the public. We have identified a Lead Officer, the Director of People and Strategy to provide leadership on this issue from an employee perspective. OUR PUBLIC ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS NS&I is committed to ensuring that information and services are fully accessible to all parts of the community. We keep our arrangements under review to ensure that this remains the case. We recognise that some groups will not have the same level of access to information as others. For example e.g. people with sensory, learning, communication and mobility disabilities may require printed information in other formats. We will provide different ways for our customers to access our information services and suitable alternative formats. 4
GOVERNANCE NS&I has a policy to achieve gender balance on its Board and its senior management body - Executive Committee (ExCo). The current balance as at 28 February 2017 on the EXCO board is five men and two women. On the Board the gender balance is 9 men and 3 women. To achieve this policy, NS&I has followed fair and open recruitment practices. We consider gender in our succession planning for ExCo, in our pay and appraisal outcomes and in our talent management, this progress is reported annually. In 2017 NS&I have signed up to HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter. As a member of the charter NS&I are committed to supporting the progression of women into senior roles in the financial sector. NS&I will promote gender diversity by: having one member of our senior executive team who is responsible and accountable for gender diversity and inclusion; setting internal targets for gender diversity in our senior management; publishing progress annually against these targets in reports on our website; having an intention to ensure the pay of the senior executive team is linked to delivery against these internal targets on gender diversity. The Board considers that a healthy culture, with challenge and respect requires leaders who are diverse in their thinking. This depends on having leaders with diverse backgrounds, skills, experience and outlook and ways of working that enable them to discuss ideas freely and make sound decisions. In addition to Gender, NS&I monitor and report on Ethnicity, Age and Disability protected characteristics and working patterns, this can be viewed in the appendix. EMPLOYMENT Our recently refreshed employee value proposition outlines the deal NS&I give to employees. The deal includes a flexible working environment built on trust which allows employees to work flexibly and achieve the right work life balance. This is evidenced by employee uptake of the flexible working scheme offering a benefit of a 9 day fortnight. Since its launch in 2015-16 the scheme has been adopted by around 60% of the employee population. NS&I welcome fresh thinking; curiosity and innovation welcome fresh thoughts and new ideas through our Employee Listening and Action Group and pulse surveys. In response to the government apprentice levy introduced from April 2017, NS&I are horizon scanning accredited suppliers and identifying specialist skills that are required within the workforce with the intention to recommend where we could best utilise four apprentices in 2017-18. Additionally, NS&I offer a one year fixed term undergraduate placement role, which is an opportunity for an undergraduate to experience NS&I and bring in a new skills, views and fresh thinking into NS&I. Our People Strategy commits NS&I to attract, develop, engage and retain diverse people with the right skills and capabilities to meet the needs of the business now and in the future. 5
As an employer, NS&I will promote equality in employment in order to: help make the workforce more representative of the community it serves attract talented employees avoid losing or under-valuing able employees improve employee morale and productivity improve the way employees are managed help to develop good practice meet its statutory obligations AWARENESS RAISING AND TRAINING NS&I recognise that awareness raising and training play a crucial role in the effective implementation of the Public Sector Equality Duty. Accordingly training has been provided: NS&I has a 100% completion rate in Unconscious Bias training and the Civil Service Equality and Diversity module, this training forms an integral part of staff induction and employees are required to retake the training on a bi-annual basis. This is to ensure that our employees fully understand their roles and obligations to the Public Sector Equality Duty. to those employees involved in the assessment of policies (equality screening and Equality Impact Assessments) with the necessary skills and knowledge to do this work effectively MEASURING PROGRESS We will track progress in a number of ways: Customer Satisfaction Rates Customer Effort Scores Annual Employee Surveys Employee and Customer Diversity Statistics Recruitment Audit Results Partnership Surveys Executive Committee Minutes Retail Experience Sub-committee Actions Conduct Committee minutes Complaint Tracking CONCLUSION This Statement demonstrates how NS&I: complies with the PSED across its functions ensures that its policies and practices further the aims of the PSED ensures that equality implications are fully considered when making decisions and formulating policies and practices Leadership and commitment at all levels are central to success and NS&I is committed to ensuring that we take account of our stakeholders views, and that we drive forward progress on the development of specific equality objectives that will identify the priorities for action on equality. NS&I welcomes your comments or suggestions on how we might improve the Statement. Please contact us at customerservices@nsandi.com. 6
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