Equality and diversity policy

COLCHESTER KINGS RFC:

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. 

WELCOMES the statutory requirements laid down in:

- 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.

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.

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 members, volunteers and committees reflects, as far as possible, the broad mix of the population of its local community;

- traditionally disadvantaged sections of the community are encouraged to participate in policy decisions about, and the management of the services provided. 

This policy applies to all volunteers, sponsors, committee members, players, supporters and coaches related to the team.

Equality and diversity are central to the work of Colchester Kings.

Kings 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.  Colchester Kings goal is to work towards a just society free from discrimination, harassment and prejudice.  Colchester Kings aims to embed this in all its policies, procedures, day-to-day practices and external relationships.

Colchester Kings aims to:

- Provide services that are accessible according to need;

- Promote equality of opportunity and diversity in volunteering, recruitment and development;

- Create effective partnerships with all parts of our community 

Colchester Kings objective is to realise its standards by:

- Sustaining, regularly evaluating and continually improving its services to ensure equality and diversity principles and best practices are embedded in our performance to meet the needs of individuals and groups;

- Working together with the community to provide accessible and relevant provision that responds to users’ needs;

- Ensuring members, volunteers and trustees are representative of the community served and the Safeguarding policies are fair and robust;

- Responding to volunteer’s & members’ needs and encouraging their development to increase their contribution to the team;

- Recognising and valuing the differences and individual contributions that all people make to Colchester Kings;

- Challenging discrimination;

- Providing fair resource allocation;

- Being accountable. 

Colchester Kings recognises, respects and values diversity in its committee, members, and volunteers.

Colchester Kings has this policy because it is a people-led organisation that must always ensure it meets the needs of the community through fair and appropriate recruitment and development of the people who are members of the club or volunteer for Colchester Kings.

This policy covers the behaviour of all members or volunteers in Colchester Kings and sets out the way they can expect to be treated in turn by the club. The overall responsibility for ensuring adherence to and implementation of this policy lies with the Club's committee.

Colchester Kings intends to implement this policy by:

- Ensuring that it is a condition of becoming a member of Colchester Kings;

- Ensuring that the Club committee, volunteers, supporters and players are made aware, understand, agree with, and are willing to implement, this policy.  All members and volunteers will be given a copy of this policy as part of their induction;

- Actively encouraging Club committee, members 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 Colchester Kings, 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.

Colchester Kings 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 committee will review the policy annually.