Equality & Diversity

Mercian recognises that it has the power to reduce the disadvantages that people experience by making its services more responsive to the needs of communities and individuals.

We value the diversity of communities and want our services, facilities and resources to be accessible and useful to everyone. We also recognise that our ability to meet these diverse needs is improved by having a diverse workforce which generally reflects local populations and which has the skills and understanding to achieve our service objectives.

What is Equality & Diversity (E&D)?

Equality is about ensuring that wherever possible, individuals or groups of people have fair access to the same opportunities.

Diversity is respecting that individuals and groups have differences and in order to provide equal opportunities, services and processes may need to differ to ensure that we are not discriminating.

Legislation dictates that we should pay particular attention to the needs of individuals and groups that have the following protected characteristics as these have been identified as often being subject to discrimination:

Age
Disability
Gender
Transgender
Sexual orientation
Race & ethnicity
Religion or belief

To set out what we do and what we intend to do in order to achieve our commitment to E&D, we have developed a Single Equality Scheme (2010 -2014) and action plan (175 KB).