Equality & diversity policy

This policy describes the commitment of the National Football Museum to promote equality and diversity.

1. About this policy

  • This Equality & Diversity Policy is designed to implement the commitment of the National Football Museum (NFM) to equal opportunities.
  • The NFM is committed to promoting equality and diversity and a culture that actively values difference and recognises that people from different backgrounds and experiences can bring valuable insights to the workplace and enhance the way the Museum operates.
  • The Museum will seek to tackle and eliminate discrimination. It is the responsibility of everyone to ensure their own conduct conforms to the expected standards and reflects this policy.
  • This policy should be read in conjunction with the Bullying and Harassment policy

2. Scope

The policy applies to all those who come into contact with, and work in, the Museum including:

  • Visitors and customers accessing our services
    • Employees
    • Potential customers, residents and job applicants
    • Volunteers
    • Contractors
    • Stakeholders and partners
    • Board members

3. Aims

The key aims of the policy are:

  • To treat everyone with dignity and respect.
  • To ensure each service user has access to high quality services.
  • To create fair and just employment practices, which are free from discrimination, harassment, and victimization either direct or indirect.
  • To ensure all visitors, employees and our partners are encouraged to make their contribution to improving our services.
  • To integrate equality into everything the Museum does.
  • In delivering this commitment, the NFM acknowledges its legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and the protected characteristics identified therein, namely:
  • Race, ethnicity, or national origin
  • Sex
    • Gender reassignment
    • Marital status
    • Sexual orientation
    • Disability
    • Religion or belief
    • Age
    • pregnancy and maternity
  • ‘Socio-economic’, ‘paternity’ and ‘adoption’ are not protected characteristics / statuses as documented by the Equality Act 2010, however the NFM is committed to equal treatment for everyone.
  • The NFM demonstrates its commitment to gender identity more broadly, beyond gender reassignment as defined by the Equality Act by providing a supportive environment to recognise an individual’s gender identity, and for staff and volunteers to share their gender identity or trans status if they wish.
  • Discrimination, harassment or victimisation will not be tolerated.
  • Comments/complaints are welcomed as an opportunity to examine the quality of service provided.

4. Definition

  • Equality of opportunity is about eliminating all types of discrimination and promoting fair and equal treatment for everyone.
  • This means that employment and promotion opportunities and service provision are free from avoidable or unnecessary barriers and accessible to all.
  • Equality of opportunity involves the recognition and removal of discriminatory barriers, policies, practices and procedures that can be inherent in organisations and individuals. The Museum will ensure fair and inclusive ways of working.

5. Responsibilities

  • Board Members have overall responsibility for this policy, including providing leadership and direction.
  • The Chief Operating Officer and Senior Leadership Team are accountable for providing leadership in the implementation of this policy and for ensuring that business plans incorporate specific equality objectives.
  • All line managers have a responsibility to familiarise themselves with this policy, and to reinforce it through their own management behaviour and through appraisals of those

they supervise. This is to ensure that the commitment to equality and diversity is understood and implemented by all employees.

  • All employees and volunteers have a duty to:
  • Comply with and promote this Equality and Diversity Policy.
    • Co-operate with other procedures and practices that complement this Equality and Diversity Policy.
    • Be aware of our own behaviour and its impact upon others.
    • Report any suspected discriminatory actions.
    • Report any suspicions of harassment taking place.
    • Not victimise people because they have made a complaint or have been involved in a complaint of harassment or discrimination.
    • Seek guidance on matters of equality and best practice when unsure of the appropriate course of action.
    • Work within the Code of Conduct for Board Members or the Employee handbook as applicable.
  • Employees who are proven through investigation to have committed acts of victimisation, discrimination and/or harassment will be subject to disciplinary action.

6. Equality objectives

The NFM endeavours to integrate equality of opportunity and respect for diversity into all aspects of its activity. This is because the Museum recognises the importance of equality of opportunity within service delivery and employment, and is committed to meeting different needs through review and continuous improvement. The Museum will also make reasonable adjustments for other groups such as visitors, job applicants, volunteers and other stakeholders in order to achieve an equality of opportunity.

  • Services: that the needs of the diverse communities using the Museum and its services are met and that the programme of the Museum is diverse.
  • Visitors: The Museum acknowledges the needs of those groups identified in the Equality Act and will make provision for them and will develop targeted marketing initiatives to ensure it is accessible to as broad a section of the community as possible.
  • Employment: The Museum aspires to reflect the diverse nature of the community

within the company’s workforce and will make reasonable adjustments in order to do so. Its recruitment and selection procedures will seek to ensure that individuals are selected for work, or promoted solely on the basis of their merits and abilities.

  • Governance: The Museum will seek to have a Board which reflects the diverse nature of the community as well as the skills and experience required.

7. Procurement

The NFM is committed to ensuring equality throughout procurement practices and processes and will seek to follow good practice for procurement. The NFM will review its processes on a regular basis and ensure that social value has a suitable weighting within scoring matrixes.

8. Complaints

  • The NFM has a complaints procedure and encourages visitors and users of its services to make suggestions and comment on experiences both good and where something has occurred that is causing concern. The Museum will respond in a positive and engaging manner in resolving issues.
  • The NFM has a grievance procedure for staff detailed in the Grievance Policy, bullying and harassment complaint procedures detailed in the associated policy and a procedure for volunteers detailed in the Volunteering Policy.

9. Positive action

  • Positive action refers to a range of measures and initiatives that the NFM can lawfully take to help or encourage more diversity, where we have recognised that particular groups are underrepresented.
  • The NFM will identify areas where positive action measures are required throughout its operation e.g. where participation in the museum’s offer is particularly low amongst some groups or where there is a lower representation of staff from a particular characteristic, background, community or at different grades.
  • The use of positive action for recruitment purposes is carefully managed by the SLT, taking into consideration the evidence of underrepresentation of particular groups of staff, particularly if there are multiple characteristics or communities which require encouragement. Examples of positive action include:
  • Targeted advertising of jobs. This can be using specific, but not exclusive, media to advertise jobs.
    • Using positive action statements in recruitment adverts, for example stating that the employer welcomes applications from a particular group.
    • Participation in career fairs.
    • Holding open days.
    • Working with external partners such as MCC, linking to development and training programs and encouraging applications.
  • These activities are aimed specifically at encouraging applications from under- represented groups. However, positive action is not positive discrimination: the position is awarded to the best candidate regardless of whether they fall into a particular group of not. Recruiting managers will consult with our HR Partner to ensure recruitment processes are lawful.