Equality, diversity and inclusion

We're committed to promoting equality and eliminating unfair discrimination from all aspects of our work. 

We recognise that our position as a major provider of housing and care puts us in a position to reduce discrimination within our sector, for both colleagues and customers. We do this by making our services accessible and responsive to the needs of the communities we serve. 

We want all of our services and resources to be accessible to people regardless of age, disability, gender (and gender reassignment), marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation or other individual characteristic.

We are proud of our diverse Board and workforce and are taking steps to address under-representation where it occurs. We have over 130 LGBT+ Allies among our colleagues. We also have some wonderful role models across NCHA that span a range of diversity characteristics. 

Each year, we work towards a set of key objectives - and our progress against these is monitored by our Equalities and Diversity Forum. 

We have published equality, diversity and inclusion documents which set out our commitments and the steps we are taking to meet them. You can also view the latest updates on progress we are making towards closing the ethnicity pay gap and gender pay gap. 

Race and discrimination

We have signed up to the Race at Work Charter, which provides a framework for employers to ensure their workplaces tackle the barriers faced by ethnic minority people when it comes to recruitment and career progression. We've made a commitment to five actions to ensure that ethnic minority employees are represented at all levels and that our organisation is a reflection of the society we work in. This includes a commitment to applying the Rooney Rule for all our people manager jobs. The Rooney rule is named after Dan Rooney, the man who ensured that ethnic minorities were interviewed for top jobs in American football's national league. We have also established a colleague forum for black and minority ethnic employees, to ensure people have a safe space to talk about race and related employment concerns. 

In addition, NCHA was the first organisation in the country to sign up to Unite's Unity Over Division Charter. This commits us to working together to promote a more tolerant and inclusive place of work, with race equality at its heart.

LGBT+ Allies

We have over 130 colleagues who have signed up to be LGBT+ Allies. They support the organisation to have an inclusive culture, and have made a commitment to challenge all forms of inappropriate ‘banter’ in the workplace. They champion LGBT+ equality within the workplace by ensuring the needs of LGBT+ customers are met where possible, and keep up to date with LGBT+ issues to support the work of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion panel.

Disability Confident

NCHA has signed up to Disability Confident, a voluntary scheme to help employers make the most of the talents that disabled people can bring to a workplace. We're committed to recruiting and retaining disabled people, as well as those with health conditions. There are three levels - by our own assessment, we are currently at level two.