Unit 503. Champion equality, diversity and inclusion (SCH53).

1.1. Understand diversity, equality and inclusion in own area of responsibility.

Understanding the values and principles of equality, diversity and inclusion is pivotal

while caring for vulnerable adults within a health and social care setting. These values

are also embraced by the modern theory of social care and core principles and

philosophies of person-centred planning, in which care is based. This enables high

quality services that cater for diverse people and promotes positive individual

outcomes such independence, citizenship, social inclusion, empowerment, respect for

diversity and protection from harm. Transferring the power to the vulnerable

individual allows them to have rightful discrimination-free access to their local

communities (Tilmouth and Quallington, 2012).

1. Equal opportunities approach.

The equal opportunities approach is most commonly used to promote the principle of

equality. Those working in the caring environment must ensure people are not

inadvertently or deliberately disadvantaged by workplace systems and protocols. Each

individual should have similar access to a starting point to ensure positive outcomes.

To enable this, barriers and routes to disadvantageous factors need to be reduced or

eradicated (Tilmouth and Quallington, 2012). People should not be disadvantaged due

to their characteristics such as age, disability, gender identity and gender

reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or

belief, sex or sexual orientation. These protected characteristics are under the

jurisdiction of the Equality Act 2010 that ensures fair and legal work practices.

Furthermore, Section 149 of the public sector Equality Duty Act provides the

underpinning legislation for various activities that are carried out within the public

sector. This ensures policies and services are effective and efficient in catering for

diverse people and meeting their needs. Specific duties are also supported by the

public sector Equality Duty as it enforces public bodies to publish information on how

they meet requirements of the Equality Duty and to set themselves equality objectives

that are measureable and specific (ACAS).

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2. Difference and Diversity Model (Walker, 1994).

This psychological model of difference and diversity celebrates individual

differences, rather seeing characteristics as a threat. There are four principles –

People function well when they are feeling valued.

Considering individual and group differences makes people feel valued.

Empowerment is gained by learning from those who are different.

Feeling valued and being empowered allows people to become autonomous in

building their potential.

These principles fulfil various needs that are indentified by Maslow’s hierarchy of

needs such as self esteem needs (self-respect through respect from others); love and

belongingness (feeling loved by friends); security needs (sense of safety by not

perceiving differences as threats); and self-actualisation as a result of newly found

independence healthy sense of self) (Businessballs, 2014). These underpin the core

principles and philosophies of care described above.

1.2. Analyse the potential effects of barriers to equality and inclusion in own area of

responsibility.

It is critical to be aware of how barriers to equality and inclusion are formed and how

these can negatively impact individuals, which highlights the importance of having

policies and procedures that promote equality, diversity and inclusion. My role as a

line manager is to identify potential barriers and help remove or eradicate them. These

kinds of behaviours also need to be ingrained in an organisational culture of tolerance

to ensure all staff is aware of their roles and responsibilities in promoting equality and

diversity.

1. Attitudinal barriers – Values, beliefs and attitudes can be deeply ingrained by

our culture, and these are often prejudiced and incorrect. Exposure to new

experiences and new information can challenge these, but people can resist in

changing their views, even if they found to be discriminatory and / or

inflexible generalisations. These prejudiced attitudes can then lead onto

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negative emotions and actions, which leads to people having unfair advantages

over others. Health and social care staff who do not respect individual rights

and have condescending attitudes towards they are caring for, implies that

those individuals are perceived not to be equal as others who are not receiving

care. Poor attitudes often result in ridicule, bullying, harassment and

exclusion. Staff may also be recipients of discrimination, which can result in

unethical practices such as power abuse and these can lead to oppression of

career development opportunities as a result of unfair dismissal and denied

training. Whoever the individual, marginalisation and unfair treatment

inevitably result in a loss of poor work performance, denied access to

community services, confidence and self-esteem and mental health disorders

such as anxiety and depression (Tilmouth and Quallington, 2012; SCIE,

2013a).

2. Physical barriers – Physical barriers can hinder Equality and inclusion and an

example is having stairs for accessing a building, which can leave a wheel-

chair user unable to enter a building. Poor lighting can be another factor for

those who have sensory loss. This can lead to a variety of negative

consequences such as economic, employment and educational disadvantages,

in addition to limited access to particular health and social care services

(SCIE, 2013a).

3. Social inclusion barriers – Social inclusion barriers exist when there are

limited facilities that can support people in challenging community barriers.

One example is the geographical location of services and having no access to

transport to these services.

4. Communication barriers – Poor communication skills of staff can jeopardise

understanding between professional teams, which can adversely affect the

quality of services and understanding of individual needs of those accessing

the services. This can also result in not having information available in

accessible formats / languages to enable people to make informed choices in

how their care is provided. Poor self-awareness can also result inadvertently

revealing prejudices through body language and verbal communication. Not

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respecting people’s values and treating people without dignity can cause

people to become defensive and have poor experiences of services, which can

also hinder positive outcomes.

5. Poorly written polices and procedures – Poorly written polices can

inadvertently take away individual rights and be in breach of law that aims to

eradicate discrimination such as the Equality Act 2010 and Human Rights Act

1998. Examples are poor recruitment and appraisal processes that can

disadvantage organisations, as they will not benefit from differing employee

attributes. Vulnerable adults who have small care packages may be

disadvantaged as it can be difficult for health and social care providers to

include recipients of these in to the wider community (Tilmouth and

Quallington, 2012; SCIE, 2013a).

6. Political processes – Various groups of people can be disadvantaged due to

poor political processes. For example, there can be a lack of funding for

community initiatives to strengthen and develop civil society and democracy.

Young people who are leaving school and college are often disadvantaged due

to the lack of training and employment initiatives to enable them to learn new

skills and become integrated into society and feel accepted and connected.

‘Forgotten’ groups and communities often suffer from high crime rates,

further discrimination, social exclusion, health disparities and limited

affordable housing (Secker and Hill, 2001).

1.3. Analyse the impact of legislation and inclusion policy initiatives on the

promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion in own area of responsibility.

The council has a number of policies that are written in accordance to guidelines and

legislation that aims to foster good practices and minimise and eradicate

discrimination towards employees and customers who are accessing health and social

care services. These are –

1. Dignity in care initiative – This initiative aims to achieve high standards of

dignity in care by treating people as individuals and help them have control

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and remain independent within their communities. SCIE have outlined seven

core principles for dignity that are supportive of the modern social theory of

care, which are written in accordance to common law. Relevant legislation is

the Human Rights Act, Equality Act 2010, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Sexual

Offences Act 2003, Data Protection 1998 and Health and Safety at Work Act

1974. The seven principles are -

Value the uniqueness of every individual

Uphold the responsibility to shape care and support services and each

individual

Value communicating with individuals in ways that are meaningful to

them

Recognise and respect how individuals may be affected when

supported with their personal care

Recognise that an individual’s surrounding and environment are

important to their sense of dignity.

Value workplace cultures that actively promote the dignity of

everybody

Recognise the need to challenge care that may reduce dignity of

individual

2. Equality Act 2010 – This piece of legislation provides the legal underpinning

of personalised care and fair employment opportunities. According to this act,

it is prohibited to discriminate against people who have certain characteristics

to ensure they have fair and rightful access to respectful and effective services

or employment. Personalised care should take in to account various protected

characteristics; age, disability, gender identity and gender reassignment,

marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief,

sex and sexual orientation.

3. Human Rights Framework – The Human Rights Act 1998 is also an important

piece of legislation that has a valuable impact on the promotion of equality,

diversity and inclusion. It is at the core of policies and standards within social

care and aims to eradicate discrimination and unfair exclusion from fair access

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to health and social care services. There are 16 basic rights for people within

the UK, but if these are infringed, they can be challenge. However, within

social care, it is important that the Human Rights Framework is used to

provide high quality person-centred care to ensure positive outcomes. The

most relevant rights under the jurisdiction of social care are –

Article 2: the right to life

Article 3: the righted not to be subjected to degrading treatment

Article 5: this prohibits the state’s power to detain people except in certain

defined circumstances

Article 6: the right to fair hearing

Article 8: respect for private and family life, home and correspondence

Article 9: the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion

Article 12: the right to marry

Article: freedom from discrimination

Protocol 1, Article 1: the enjoyment of one’s possessions such as money, and social

security benefits

Protocol 1, Article 2: the right to education

4. Whistle blowing initiative – The council upholds the Dignity in Care whistle

blowing codes of conduct outlined by SCIE (2013b). This emphasises the

importance of ensuring the duty of care to others by reporting discriminatory

and unethical behaviours to their employer, Care Quality Commission or

safeguarding team. Behaviours may include breach of health and safety,

criminal damage or offenses, harassment, financial exploitation, or policies

that discriminate against or oppress individuals or groups of people. This has a

strong link to safeguarding adults and young people initiatives within health

and social care services.

5. Equal Pay Act 1970 – While recruiting employees, this legislation states that it

is important for organisations not to discriminate between men and women,

especially when given similar terms and conditions of employment (similar

roles and of equal skill, effort or decision making). This includes – basic pay,

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overtime rates, performance related benefits, hours of work, access to pension

schemes, non-monetary terms, basic pay, annual leave entitlements.

6. Children’s Act 1989 / 2004 – These Acts were formulated to ensure there were

adequate intervention strategies from health and social care agencies when

children were not being treated in a fair and ethical way at home, school,

workplace or other services. Maintenance of child welfare is central to these

Acts and suggests children have the right to be healthy, have access to safe

environments, enjoy life, have assistance to reach their potential, and have

economic stability.  

3. Understand how to develop systems and processes that promote diversity,

equality and inclusion.

3.1. Analyse how systems and processes can promote equality and inclusion or

reinforce discrimination and exclusion.

It is critical to implement policies and procedures that are written and conducted in

accordance to the appropriate legislation already described in this assignment, or

organisations may be carrying out illegal behaviours, which is counter productive in

promoting diversity, equality and inclusion. There are various systems and processes

that can be used to promote diversity, equality and inclusion –

1. Policies – Effective policies need to be written in a clear and concise manner

and be kept up-to-date with current legislation and initiatives. One striking

example is the harassment and bullying policy, which should define and

provide of what constitutes bullying and harassment and that it is not

acceptable behaviours within the organisation as people are responsible for

their own behaviours, the detrimental individual effects, consequences of such

behaviours such as disciplinary action, legal and personal implications, how to

complain and receive assistance to cope workplace stress, timelines of

investigations and who will be investigating. Before, implementation, they

must be checked by human resources professionals or management to ensure

they are legal and are not written inappropriately. Without them being checked

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by someone qualified in employment or social care law, they may

inadvertently reinforce discrimination and exclusion. Furthermore, it is crucial

that they are regularly reviewed as they can become out-dated and

insignificant, which is counterproductive in promoting equality, diversity and

inclusion (Marchington and Wilkinson, 2011).

2. Communication – It is essential with any organisational or management

strategy, it is important to cascade information regarding these throughout the

organisation to ensure everyone is aware of what is expected of them. Without

doing so, staff will remain ignorant of the organisation’s policies and

procedures and changes in relevant legislation, which will result in staff to

engage in out-dated modes of behaviour. Communication can occur in team

meetings, core briefs, staff supervisions and appraisals, via the intranet and

training.

3. Training – Polices and procedures can be promoted with on-the-job training,

which enables people to examine their own behaviours and compare to those

that are expected. Appropriate training can include recruitment and selection,

health and safety, dignity and equality and diversity, which ensure all

employees, can keep abreast with current legislation and what assistance is

provided within the organisation. Without the provision of training, staff may

engage in illegal and unethical behaviours that can put them and the

organisation at a risk of litigation.

4. Support mechanisms – Organisations can offer various support mechanisms

such as counselling or access to contact officers. The mechanisms allow staff

to understand and deal with their issues before they become formal grievances

or complaints. Bullying and harassment contact officers can also offer a

confidential support mechanism for those who have experienced or witnessed

workplace bullying and harassment. This can often provide a safe environment

to instil a culture of respect, dignity and fairness. Without support mechanism,

this can lead to individuals feeling frustrated and stressed, which can lead to

litigation under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 as people can be

oppressed and excluded from health and social care services or employment.

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3.2. Evaluate the effectiveness of systems and processes in promoting equality,

diversity and inclusion in own area of responsibility.

Having effective processes and systems within the council is crucial in ensuring the

promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion. Therefore, an analysis of the processes

and systems was conducted within the council / workplace and the following findings

were found -

1. Policies – Examination of the council’s policies suggests they very clear,

concise and descriptive and is according to legislation that outlines how they

should be formatted and implemented. There are three particular policies that

are appropriate for the promotion of equality, diversity and inclusion and these

are whistle blowing, equality and diversity and dignity at work, which all

outline clear behaviours that are expected of all stakeholders (staff, contractors

and customers). Before they are cascaded throughout the organisation, each

head of directorate and appropriate human resource professionals ensure their

suitability to limit possibilities of the inadvertently discriminating against

individuals and groups. The effectiveness of these polices are also assessed by

regular staff questionnaires, complaints and compliments and customer

feedback, which helps identify where there may be gaps that need rectifying.

Furthermore, all three policies highlight the council’s achievements drivers

and vision, which promote equality, diversity and inclusion. One major

achievement and driver is to close the gap on inequality while employing staff

and providing the services to the customers. The council’s vision is “A

Solihull where all partners, including local people, work together to promote

well-being, independence, dignity and choice.” These are infiltrated

throughout the organisation and are part of the organisational culture. These

polices also identify that there is intolerance of discrimination towards those

of protected characteristics identified by the Equality Act 2010. However, they

have gone beyond this and have identified other routes of discrimination and

these will also not be tolerated. These are against political beliefs, trade union

status, criminal record, employment status, social class, home address, culture,

language, HIV status, or responsibility for dependents. These finding suggest

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diversity is embraced, which promotes a culture of fairness, dignity and

inclusion, which implies the policies are effective and are fit for purpose.

2. Communication – Communication strategies within the council aim to achieve

the organisation’s objectives, engage with all stakeholders, and enable people

to understand the council’s role and to change people’s behaviour. This

process is effective as there is an intricate strategy in place to ensure

information is passed on to the relevant people. For example, there are many

training courses such as safeguarding adults and dignity that are cascaded

throughout the organisation. This enables managers to share their knowledge

and faster a culture of learning, in addition to promoting equality, diversity

and inclusion. Furthermore, important information regarding council and

government initiatives and changes in legislation is also passed through

monthly local and core briefs, supervisions, appraisals and team meetings.

Incidentally, core briefs are effective as they are standardised to enable

information to be consistently passed onto all departments within the people

directorate and this fosters a culture of professionalism. The intranet is also a

valuable source of information, but not all staff has access to computers and

relies on managers to obtain information on their behalf. The council enables

people to make the communication strategies more effective by encouraging

feedback to alert management of failures and omissions, especially those

concerning email, web designs and other Informational Technology issues. 

3. Training – The council’s training and development strategy is comprehensive

and is tailored to each directorate. Various policies such as health and safety,

assertiveness, communication, equality and diversity, dignity and whistle

blowing policies are communicated in training and all highlight behaviours

that are expected of staff. Relevant behaviours are outlined in the Performance

and Development Review Framework and aim to promote a respectful

organisational culture that promotes equality, diversity and inclusion; self-

awareness, service delivery, and communication. Management and human

resources regularly review the training to ensure it is kept up to date and

learning is aligned with the council’s strategic priorities. This suggests the

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training enables a sustainable and effective organisation that is ideal for

achieving the aims and objectives. 

4. Support mechanisms - Rather than having a bullying and harassment contact

officers, the council has an alternative, the Employee Assistance Programme

(EAP). This strategic process allows staff and their families to access to a

confidential, free and independent advice service. The EAP provides a service,

24 hours a day, 7 days a week and offers emotional support and guidance on

not only bullying and harassment, but with debt and financial management,

family matters and other general health and safety issues. The professional

body also governs the service, British Association for Counsellors and

Psychotherapists and this suggests it is a highly regulated service. This in

addition to occupational health, which is available within all public sector

organisations, promotes equality, diversity and inclusion as they enable staff to

remain in work or support them while they are returning to work after illness.

This proves to be an effective service as there are other individual and

organisational benefits such as   improved staff performance and health,

reduced staff turnover and absenteeism, which will have a positive impact on

customer services. 

3.3. Propose improvements to address gaps or shortfalls in systems and processes.

Examination of the council’s systems and processes suggests they are very

comprehensive and aim to promote equality, diversity and inclusion. However, there

is only one gap identified and that is having a buddy system, especially for those who

are being bullied and discriminated against. This can be an informal service that

provides guidance on how to complain and manage situations, which can be available

for service users and individuals. For staff, bullying can make people vulnerable to

unfair treatment and a buddy system would allow a route for someone to develop

trusting relationships within the workplace. This would enable staff to have support

and guidance on their work and examine policies and change them if there

inconsistencies and gaps, which would be detrimental to staff and service users.

Implementing this improvement would be difficult as this may be difficult in small

teams where there may be biases.

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4.1. Describe ethical dilemmas that may arise in own area of responsibility when

balancing individual rights and duty of care.

Ethical dilemmas and conflicts are a common occurrence within the remit of health

and social care, especially with service users, policies and organisational processes.

Therefore, it is important to be aware of legislation that has a dramatic impact of

maintaining a suitable balance between allowing an individual to make their own

decisions, while simultaneously maintaining their safety (Tilmouth and Quallington,

2012); both solutions are of equal ethical or moral value, which makes this a difficult

task. As already stipulated, legislation can include the Human Rights Framework

1998, Data Protection Act 1998, Mental Capacity Act 2005 and safeguarding / dignity

initiatives. One striking example is S.J who attends the day centre and is nearing the

end of his life with lung cancer as a result of smoking all his life. While at the day

centre, he likes to have a cigarette (choice) even though it is bad for him (duty of

care). S.J is aware of the detrimental effects of smoking in his health, he wants to

enjoy the time he has left, whereas on the other hand, the day centre staff may want to

preserve his life by not allowing him to smoke, so that his lung cancer will not

worsen. Indeed, he will smoke when away from the day centre anyhow, so stopping

his choice may make him resentful and not want to come and he will miss out on the

social interaction. Therefore, while at the day centre, it is more respectful and person-

centred to advise S.J of the dangers of smoking, and offer him a place to sit away

from others while he has a cigarette; there is a sheltered area in the day centre garden

for him to sit on his own. This has been offered, despite conflicting day centre staff

beliefs and opinions. By supporting his decision, his rights have not been infringed

and he has maintained in autonomy.

4.2. Explain the principle of informed choice.

Informed choice revolves around the ability to make own decisions after having

access to suitable information regarding the options available. Without access to

information prior to making a decision, people cannot weight the pros and cons

regarding particular treatment or service and therefore, cannot make the rightful

decision in how their care is received or what housing or education services they can

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apply for (Ovretveit, 1996). There are also other factors that can influence

autonomous decision-making (Tilmouth and Qualiington, 2012) –

1. Information provided takes in to account individual differences. For example,

guidance is provided in the correct language or format that is ideal for the

particular individual. Outcomes are also suitable for the individual.

2. Individuals are able to make own decisions regarding preferences and goals.

3. There is mental capacity to retain and process information. Therefore, it is

important to check understanding.

4. Freedom is given to enable autonomous decisions and being able act on these.

5. Time is given for reflection and deliberation.

6. Information concerning the options available needs to be realistic and

implementable.

4.3. Explain how issues of individual capacity may affect informed choice.

There are many internal and external factors that may adversely influence an

individual’s ability to make an informed decision. External factors may be as a result

of a lack of adequate information, protective behaviour over others and not being

provided with realistic choices. Internal factors may be as a result from mental illness,

brain damage, learning disabilities, dementia and stroke, which may result in

temporary or long-term incapacity to make autonomous decisions. However, unless

someone has deemed to lack mental capacity under the Mental Capacity Act 2005,

individuals are assumed to have capacity and this may mean allowing them to make

unwise decisions. Those who do not have mental capacity will not be able to retain

and assimilate information to provide a rationale for their decisions, or communicate

these coherently. If an individual lacks mental capacity, someone else can make

decisions on their behalf, but these must be in the person’s best interests.

4.4. Propose a strategy to manage risks when balancing individual rights and duty of

care in own area of responsibility.

While preserving individual rights and safety, it is important to use a strategy to

manage risks and potential hazards that can result in detrimental consequences. Risk

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assessments are an excellent strategy as they can be conducted with the particular

individual and these can take into account their perceptions and judgements, which

also maintains dignity and respect, as they are able to make autonomous decisions.

Using this methodology also allows the individual to consider possibilities and have

underpinning information to support independent thinking. Therefore, this emphasises

the important of staff not to taking on board unnecessary risks while supporting

individuals in the day centre. Instead, they should pass it back to the particular person

by giving them all the accessible information such as telling them about the risks of

having a fall if they walk without a Zimmer frame, especially those who have poor

mobility and have a history of falling. It would be unsafe and unethical to

unnecessarily restrict the person as this would override their decision and by doing so,

the carer has gained ownership of the risk. This strategy is well used within the day

centre and there are individual transport risk assessments on Harriet.

References.

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