Single Equality Scheme 2011 Treating Everybody Fairly
01 Contents 02 About Careers Wales 03 What are the aims of the Single Equality Scheme? 04 What the law says we must do 05 Who is responsible 07 Asking people what they want from us 08 What do the words mean? This booklet is a shorter version of our Single Equality Scheme. If you would like to look at the longer version you can find it on our website: http://www.careerswales.com/prof/server.php?show=nav.3843 If you need this information in a different way or would like to give a comment on this work, please get in touch with us.
About Careers Wales 02 Careers Wales is the all age careers information, advice and guidance service for the people of Wales. Careers Wales was set up in 2001 bringing together the 6 companies across Wales under one name. The money to run Careers Wales comes from the Welsh Government. What we do: Offer free information on jobs and training Give help and advice on looking for a job, a place at college or a training scheme Help adults looking for a career change or facing redundancy Work with employers to find out what skills they want people to have Link employers and schools together to offer work experience Our Careers Advisers work with people to help them make choices and decisions about their plans for the future. Careers Wales wants to treat the English and Welsh languages as being of equal value. Our Welsh Language Schemes show how we do this. You can find out much more about us by looking at our website: www.careerswales.com
03 What are the aims of the Single Equality Scheme? We want to make sure that all our customers and staff are treated fairly. In all of the work we do we always consider the needs of everyone. We want to make sure that all our staff are trained and supported to provide a fair and equal service to all our customers. Keep up to date with all legal changes and review our Single Equality Scheme on an annual basis.
What the law says we must do 04 The Equality Act 2010 The law says that organisations like Careers Wales must make sure that our customers and our staff are treated fairly. How we will do this: Ask our customers and staff how we could make things fairer for them. Collect information to make sure that we are giving everybody a fair and equal service. Write an action plan to show how we are going to make sure that our customers and staff are treated fairly. We must make sure that we improve the way we provide our services where needed. This means helping people from different groups including: People from a minority ethnic community Disabled people Men and women People who are pregnant or on maternity away from work having had a baby People from different religions and beliefs People of all ages People who are married or in a civil partnership Men and women who are lesbian, gay or bisexual People who are transgender The law says that the groups of people on this list have protected characteristics.
05 Who is responsible? Everyone who works for Careers Wales has to treat everyone fairly. If you think that you have been treated unfairly by someone at Careers Wales you can make a complaint. You should contact the manager at the centre where you wish to make the complaint. We will listen to all complaints and deal with them quickly. We know that this is an important way of making sure that our service is meeting the needs of all our customers.
Asking people what they want from us 06 Careers Wales knows that it is important to talk and listen to different groups of people to understand what people want from us. This includes people who work for Careers Wales, our customers and organisations who work with different groups of people. This is an important part of our Single Equality Scheme. People have given us ideas which help us to provide a better and fairer service. We have put these ideas into our action plan. We will continue to listen to what people want to say to us. This will help us to make sure that our services are fair and meet the needs of our customers. If we can not provide a service that has been asked for we will explain why. Careers Wales will collect information on the people who we work with. The information will include details about: What age they are What ethnic background they come from If they are a man or a woman If they have a disability This may help us to see if there are groups of people who we need to work more closely with. We will ask other organisations to help us monitor the groups for whom we do not collect information.
07 What the words mean: These are some of the words and their meanings that have been used in this document: Action plan A list explaining what we are going to do to make our service fairer Bisexual Someone who is sexually attracted to men and women Customer Someone who uses Careers Wales services Employers The people you work for Equality Act 2010 The law that tells people to treat everyone fairly Equality Scheme A document that says how we will make things fair for everyone Gay A man who is sexually attracted to other men Lesbian A woman who is sexually attracted to other women Monitor Looking at information carefully Minority Ethnic Community A group who come from, or whose family comes from, other countries Protected characteristics These are the 9 groups of people who are listed in the Equality Act 2010
What the words mean: 08 Redundancy This happens when a person (employee) is no longer needed in their workplace by their employer. The person doing that job becomes redundant. Skills The things you need to be able to do in a job. Transgender Transgender people are people who want to change from being a man to a woman, or from a woman to a man. Welsh Language Scheme A report that says how we will work to make sure that the Welsh language is treated fairly
Get in touch If you need this information in a different way or would like to give a comment on this work, please get in touch with: Careers Wales, Bridgend Careers Centre, Derwen House, Court Road, Bridgend, CF31 1BN responsive@cwmgp.co.uk 01656 672972 textphone: 01443 844950