Welcome to the Equality and Diversity site which has been designed to help make equality and diversity a part of your everyday life.

Our Commitment

Braintree District Council recognises that there are people living in Braintree District who are placed at a disadvantage or who are discriminated against. We will take action to make sure that these people are treated equally and fairly in anything we do and we will value the contribution that all our diverse communities make to the quality of life in the District

We recognise that equality does not always mean giving everyone the same service, nor is it about treating all people in exactly the same way. It is about adapting the service to meet the needs of different groups of people.

We aim to provide services which can be easily accessed are available when people need them meet people's different needs do not discriminate

We will regularly talk to our communities to find out their needs, get their opinion on how we are performing, see how we can improve access to our services

We will support communities to be self-reliant and self confident, promote tolerance and mutual respect, confront prejudice and discrimination .

Equal Opportunities Policy

All Council employees are required to comply with the Equal Opportunity Policy and to fulfil their duties in line with the aims of the Policy. We will continue to develop and implement equality policies on employment and service delivery and will encourage its public, private sector and voluntary sector partners in the District to use good equal opportunity practices.

We aim to ensure equality of opportunity and non-discrimination in all aspects of its work to use sound employment principles and practices when appointing and redeploying staff to ensure that all applicants for jobs have equal access to information pertinent to their application to provide equity in all aspects of service delivery and to ensure that the Council's services are accessible to all who require them and are entitled to receive them to monitor and be responsive to the needs of all members of the community irrespective of gender, marital status, disability, age, race, religion, ethnic origin, sexuality, sexual orientation or any other factor upon which discrimination may be based to comply with existing equal opportunities legislation and Codes of Good Practice addressing these issues and to set its own standards to pursue the aim of equality of opportunity to act as a model of good equal opportunities practices for other organisations and service providers in the District

The Equality Standard for Local Government

The Council is delivering on its equality agenda by following a national framework called the - Equality Standard for Local Government which is also a national Best Value Performance Indicator. 

The Standard recognises the importance of fair and equal treatment in local government services and employment and is a tool to help enable authorities to mainstream gender, race and disability equality into council policy and practice at all levels.  By 2009 we will be expected to extend this work to incorporate religion/belief, age and sexual orientation.

The Equity and Access Group have produced a three year Corporate Equality Plan and Race Equality Scheme to help us acheive Level 3 of the Equality Standard by 2008

Braintree District Council's Race Equality Scheme

The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 introduced a new general positive duty on local authorities and other public bodies to promote racial equality. This duty requires us to be pro-active in addressing the issue of race equality. In practice this means that in carrying out our functions Braintree District Council must aim to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination; promote equality of opportunity; promote good relations between people of different racial groups.

Public authorities have been given specific duties to meet the general duty. Specific duties are set out for policy making; service Delivery employment.

The Council recognises that the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 supports institutional change, and therefore is an area that is a fundamental part of the Council's policies, functions, service delivery and employment.

Work on the Race Equality Scheme has been co-ordinated by the corporate Equity and Access Group, made up of the Lead Member with responsibility for equalities issues and officers from throughout the Council, ensuring that the equalities agenda is driven forward in each of our departments.

We are committed to fulfilling our statutory duties under the legislation and this Race Equality Scheme sets out how we propose to do this.

The Council as an Employer

Braintree District Council is an equal opportunities employer. In line with current legislation, we aim to ensure that no employee or prospective employee is treated unfavorably on the grounds of colour, race, gender, nationality, marital status, disability, age, trade union memberships, religious belief, responsibility to dependants or sexual orientation We aim to employ a diverse workforce that broadly reflects the communities we serve, particularly in respect of gender, disability and ethnic origin. We will take steps to ensure that people from groups currently under represented in the Council's workforce are encouraged to apply for posts with Braintree District Council and will make use of advertising media that reaches all parts of the community. All staff who are involved with recruiting and selecting staff will be trained for this role to work in accordance with the Council's Recruitment and Selection Policy. We recognise that every member of staff can influence how equality is achieved in the workplace and we will ensure that all staff are aware of their rights and responsibilities in respect of this. We aim to provide a work environment that is non-threatening and supportive. and if there are incidents of harassment at work we will take action to deal with this in line with the Council's Harassment Policy. We will give information to our staff about our equal opportunities policies and objectives and give them appropriate training to help us achieve our equal opportunities goals.

The Council as a Service Provider

There are groups of people in our communities who are disadvantaged or discriminated against. We recognise that these people have particular needs and will aim to ensure that these needs are identified and met whenever possible. As a provider of services we will be honest, straightforward and open to scrutiny. We will actively and regularly seek the views of our customers on the services we provide, and will take opportunities to focus our consultation on groups or communities who may not always have the chance to express their views. We will use the views of people who use our services, and those who don't, to redesign and update the services we provide. We will make sure that services are provided in a way that is responsive to the needs identified. We aim to provide quality services, delivered in a non-discriminatory way by staff that are well-trained and courteous. We will encourage other organisations that provide services for us under contract or on behalf of the Council to adopt the same approach We aim to provide services that are accessible to our residents and are developing the ways we design, plan and deliver our services to ensure that they meet the needs of our communities

The Council as a Partner

The Council will maintain strong links with all types of organisations in the District, including other statutory agencies, the business community and voluntary/community groups and organisations. We will share with them information, experience and examples of good practice on equal opportunities in employment and service delivery We will work closely with partners from all areas of the community to develop projects and ideas that will improve equality of opportunity in employment and service delivery We will encourage private firms and voluntary organisations working under contract to us to draw up and implement equal opportunity policies We will learn from the policies, practices and experience of comparable local authorities and other organisations. We will change or develop our own policies and practices to achieve improvements.

Disability Discrimiantion Act 1995

From October 2004 the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) places a legal duty on all those who provide services to the public to make reasonable adjustments to the physical environment of their premises to ensure that disabled people can access their goods, services and facilities. Click here for further information on the DDA.

- Please click here for the Migrant Project undertaken by BDC Community Services department .

- Please click here for information regarding Hate Crime .

- Please click here for information regarding  Disabiltiy Equality Scheme