Contact us

County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF
Tel: 0845 600 6400
Fax: 01670 620 223
Opening Hours:
Monday to Friday
Call us: 8am - 7pm
Visit us: 9am - 5pm

Equality and diversity

also known as: Diversity.

We are committed to making sure all Council services are accessible and provided free from prejudice and unlawful discrimination. Find out more in this area of our website.

Equality in Northumberland Equality

 

We are committed to making Northumberland County Council an accessible and inclusive organisation that welcomes and respects the diversity of all people who live and work in the County, its employees, elected members, and visitors to Northumberland.

 

This section of our website tells you what we are doing to promote equality in Northumberland and how we are meeting our new duties under the Equality Act 2010 to:

 

  • Eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation;
  • Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a characteristic and those who do not;
  • Foster good relations between people who share a characteristic and those who do not.

 

We have set out our commitment to equality in our Council Equality and Diversity Policy. Click here to read our Policy.

 

The Equality Act and the Protected Characteristics

 

The Equality Act 2010 covers nine protected characteristics, which cannot be used as a reason to treat people unfairly. Every person has one or more of the protected characteristics, so the Act protects all of us against unfair treatment.

 

The protected characteristics are:

 

  • Age
  • Disability
  • Race
  • Sex
  • Gender reassignment
  • Sexual orientation
  • Pregnancy and maternity
  • Religion or belief
  • Marriage and civil partnership

 

The Equality Act sets out the different ways in which it is unlawful to treat someone, such as direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, victimisation and failing to make a reasonable adjustment for a disabled person. This applies both in providing services and in employment.

 

For more information on the Equality Act, please visit the Equality and Human Rights Commission website by clicking here.

 

Our Equality Information

 

As a public sector organisation, Northumberland County Council has a legal duty to consider the effects of our services and practices on equality across people of all protected characteristics. This helps us to check if the way we do things has any unintended consequences for some groups, and to make sure they will be fully effective for all target groups. It can help us to identify any practical steps to tackle any negative effects or discrimination, and to promote equality and foster good relations between different groups.

 

The Council first published its Equality Information in January 2012 and has since updated this for 2013.


Our information includes lots of information relating to people who share a protected characteristic who are either: our employees or who are people affected by our services. This shows what we feel the key equality issues are for different groups, what we have in place already to address these issues, and what else we feel we need to do.

 

Click here to read our Main Report. (For our previous 2012 report - click here)

Click here for our Easier Read Summary

The main report gives a summary of these main issues, and each of the Appendices give more detail about this for each Council Group.

 

Appendix 1: Detailed Information About our Workforce

Appendix 2: Group Equality Analysis – Adult Services and Housing

Appendix 3: Group Equality Analysis – Children’s Services

Appendix 4: Group Equality Analysis – Public Health and Public Protection

Appendix 5: Group Equality Analysis – Finance

Appendix 6: Group Equality Analysis - Local Services

Appendix 7: Group Equality Analysis - Transformation

Appendix 8: Group Equality Analysis – Fire and Rescue

 

If you need this information in Large Print; Braille; Audio or in another format or language please contact us:

  • Telephone 0845 600 6400
  • Fax 01670 511 413
  • Textphone 01670 542 521
  • Typetalk 18001 0845 600 6400
  • Email ask@northumberland.gov.uk

 

Our Equality Objectives

 

As part of our duties under the Equality Act 2010, the Council was required to prepare and publish one or more equality objective by April 2012. The aim of this was to help the Council focus on the important equality issues for Northumberland and deliver improvements in policy making, service delivery, and employment.

 

In setting our Equality Objectives, it was important that we engage with lots of different people and groups to make sure the objectives we set were the right ones. We asked lots of different groups of people what they think through meetings, forums and surveys. We are also took account of previous consultations and engagement work with different groups used to inform our former Single Equality Scheme.

 

The Main Report, follows on from our 2012 Equality Information report and sets out our key Equality Objectives. Appendix 1 gives more detail about our engagement with local individuals and groups.

 

Main Report: Advancing Equality in Northumberland - Part 2: Our Equality Objectives

Appendix 1: Our Equality Objectives Engagement Report

 

Accessibility 

 

Information

 

We are committed to making sure our information is clear and accessible to all members of our community. If you need particular Council information in Large Print; Braille; Audio or in another format or language please contact us:

 

  • Telephone 0845 600 6400
  • Fax 01670 511 413
  • Textphone 01670 542 521
  • Typetalk 18001 0845 600 6400
  • Email ask@northumberland.gov.uk

 

We have produced some guidance for people involved in developing information to help make sure it is accessible to everyone. Click here to read a copy of the guidance.

 

disabled Go

 

disabled Go We have worked in partnership with disabledGo and local disability organisations to produce an access guide to 1,000 places in Northumberland. This aims to provide disabled people and their families with the information they need on whether places are accessible for their individual needs. The guide will make it easier to find information on places to visit and Council buildings and will help more disabled people take part in local activities. The guide also aims to promote awareness of the needs of disabled people and encourages organisations to become more inclusive by improving access to their buildings and services.

 

Click here to visit the disabledGo website.

 

Equality Impact Assessments

 

The Council has a legislative duty to consider the impact of decisions that it takes, including decisions about budget savings, on people who share a protected characteristic. To help us with this, we have an Equality Impact Assessment tool that we use when key decisions that might have an impact on equality are being made. Click here to find out more information about our Equality Impact Assessments. All Council Groups also complete an annual Strategic Equality Analysis focussing specifically on their functions and services. This is included in our annual Equality Information that the Council publishes.

 

Hate Crime in Northumberland

 

Hate crime is an extreme manifestation of prejudice and discrimination. It can have a devastating effect on victims and on whole communities. Northumberland County Council works closely in partnership with the police and other agencies to prevent all forms of hate crime, take action against perpetrators, and support and protect victims.

 

In partnership, the Council encourages anyone who is the victim of, or witness to, hate crime to report it immediately. This is vital to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice. Hate crime will not be tolerated in Northumberland. What is a hate crime? Hate crime is any criminal offence where anyone believes the victim has been targeted because of their race/ethnicity, religion/belief, gender/gender identity, disability, age, sexual orientation or any other actual or perceived characteristic.

 

Hate incidents are incidents that do not constitute a criminal offence but cause alarm, distress or harassment where anyone believes the victim has been targeted because of their race/ethnicity, religion/belief, gender/gender identity, disability, age, sexual orientation or any other actual or perceived difference. Hate crimes and incidents can also be directed at whole communities – for example desecration of graveyards, vandalism of places of worship, offensive graffiti in public places, or acts of terrorism.

 

Hate crime can include verbal abuse, threatening behaviour, offensive graffiti, harassment, malicious communications, damage to property and violence. This includes incidents committed on the grounds of:

 

  • Disability
  • Race or ethnic identity
  • Religion / belief
  • Gender or gender identity
  • Sexual orientation
  • Age
  • Immigration status or nationality.

 

Homophobia and Homophobic Bullying and Harassment


Homophobia is an irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against people who are gay and homosexuality.

Homophobic bullying and harassment can be described as any hostile or offensive action against lesbians, gay males, bisexual or transgender people, or those perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. 

These actions might be:

• verbal, physical, or emotional (social exclusion) harassment, insulting or degrading comments, name calling, gestures, taunts, insults, threats or 'jokes'
• offensive graffiti
• humiliating, excluding, tormenting, ridiculing or threatening refusing to work or co-operate with others because of their sexual orientation or identity.

 

Reporting hate crime

 

Why report a hate crime?

 

Only if hate crime is reported can we, together, take action to deal with it. No one has the right to harass, threaten or assault anyone because of who they are. How to report a hate crime? If there is an emergency call the Police on 999 – particularly if an incident is still happening or has just happened. Callers have the option of reporting an incident anonymously. We encourage victims to provide personal details, which will help us to investigate the incident more thoroughly.

 

If you do not wish to report to the Police, you can report an incident to Northumberland County Council by:

 

  • Email ask@northumberland.gov.uk
  • Call Northumberland County Council on 0845 600 6400
  • Report at your local housing office if you are a council or Registered Social Landlord (RSL) tenant.

 

When you contact the Council you will be referred to someone who can help you. A form can be sent out to you to complete. All information is treated in the strictest confidence. We need your help to stop discrimination and harassment.

 

Working for Us

 

We are committed to making sure that our recruitment and selection processes are fair and accessible to all people who may wish to work within the Council. The Council is committed to the ‘Two Ticks’ Disability Symbol. This means that all applicants who have a disability will be offered an interview if they meet the minimum essential criteria outlined in the person specification. In addition, reasonable adjustments can be made during the application, interview and assessment processes.

 

Click here to view current vacancies within the Council.

 

Information for Staff Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Staff Network

 

The Council is a Stonewall Diversity Champion which means it is part of a best practice forum for employers on sexual orientation. As part of this, the Council has been working together with Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to improve the experience of LGBT staff in the workplace. We have a staff group that meets regularly to talk about how things can be improved, provide support, and to work on making things better. The group is open to LGBT and non LGBT staff who have an interest in making our workplace more inclusive to all staff. For more information about the group contact the LGBT Champion, Patrick Price at: Patrick.Price@nhct.nhs.uk

For more information visit the LGBT Staff Network webpage.

 

To access the Council's Gender Reassignment Policy please click here

 

Equality Monitoring in the Workforce

 

It is important to us to understand how representative our workforce is of our wider community and to check that our processes and practices are accessible and fair to all staff. We also have a legal duty to collect and publish data on this. Therefore, the questions in the staff monitoring form are intended to help us gather this information, and we are asking all our staff to help us by filling in this form.

Click here to access an electronic copy of the monitoring form.

 

Equality Monitoring in our services

 

It is also important for us in some situations to collect equality monitoring data about the people who use our services so that we can make sure our services are accessible to all groups of people. We have produced guidance for services on how and when to do this in an appropriate way.

Click here to read to guidance on equality monitoring in services.

 

Equality and Non-Council Services

 

Under the Equality Act 2010 Northumberland County Council does not have any powers to make other businesses make adjustments to their premises unless they make an application under the building regulations to extend or refurbish their building or in some cases apply for licenses.

The Council is trying to encourage good practice and has provided an online access guide called DisabledGo, this provides information to disabled people and encourages businesses to improve access. Complaints about failure to make a reasonable adjustment to premises have to be made by the person who has been discriminated against (or their representative) they can choose to do this in a number of ways.

Click here to read guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission outlining people's rights and how they can enforce them.

This guide tells you about how you can expect a business to behave towards you to avoid all the different types of unlawful discrimination. The guide gives you an overview of how equality law applies to all businesses, and then goes on to look at particular issues that businesses providing goods, facilities and services in different sectors may need to think about when considering what equality law tells them to do. The guide will explain what action you can take if you feel you have been discriminated against.