Linda Bellos OBE, Chair Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners

INSTITUTE OF EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY PRACTITIONERS (IEDP)

The Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners (IEDP) is an independent professional body that has been operating fully since July 2009. The institute held its first general meeting in London on 10 June 2009 and ratified the election of its board members.

There was much talk over recent years about creating this body. Independent reviews by Focus Consultancy and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) recommended its creation. In May 2008, Kingston Smith Associates took the initiative, inviting people who responded to the LSC’s consultation to help form the institute. Over the next 10 months, a steering group established its aims and purposes, grew the membership to nearly 80 practitioners and planned the formal launch.

The launch in January 2009 was attended by equality, diversity and human rights practitioners from all business sectors. Dr Nicola Brewer, then the Chief Executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and Jonathan Rees, Director General of the Government Equalities Office, delivered the keynote speeches. Delegates were clear that the institute had been long awaited, but questions were raised about whether we existed to support only the public sector. As we explored what we needed from the institute, we dispelled concerns that only the public sector is duty bound to deliver equality and that the private and voluntary sectors may be scared off by ‘political correctness’.

Too often, our members find themselves in roles for which they are poorly resourced, especially when required to deliver equality results on service delivery and customer care. Equality of opportunity in employment is understood better, with more opportunities available for professional development.

The institute exists to offer support, professional development and accreditation to practitioners in all business sectors — public, private and not-for-profit. Even experienced practitioners can be stumped by the resistance of colleagues who have little knowledge of the subject and even less interest. Non-practitioners often regard equality and inclusiveness as someone else’s responsibility, not part of mainstream performance. Institute members often find themselves battling to get colleagues to understand the basics: what equality and human rights laws say and require; the business case for diversity and inclusion; and how to deliver equality results that make a real difference to the lives of individuals and communities.

Our website includes a member’s only area.  With over 300 members, our LinkedIn group connects practitioners with each other in a very immediate way, enabling them to share ideas, news and concerns.

The institute is an independent body that is run by practitioners for practitioners. All activities are funded by individual and corporate member subscriptions. Our definition of a ‘practitioner’ is a broad one. It includes:

• Specialist practitioners who work in the sector, for example as employees, consultants, trainers and academics
• Board members with an equalities portfolio
• Managers who must deliver equality and human rights outcomes as part of their main tasks
• Unpaid volunteers who advise public-, private- and third-sector businesses on delivering equality and human rights outcomes.

Competency standards and assessment
A core objective of the institute is to develop, promote, maintain and regulate national practice and professional standards in the field of equality, diversity and human rights. Over the past 18 months, an IEDP working group has been developing our approach to our membership, standards and assessment framework. Following two rounds of consultation with our members, the framework was ratified at the AGM in July 2010.

The working group is now drawing up details for assessment against the five domains identified in the framework and shown below:

Domain 1: Theory and principles
Domain 2: Legal and compliance framework
Domain 3: Personal behaviours
Domain 4: Influence, impact and making a difference
Domain 5: Record of professional development.

We intend to run the first assessment cohort in early summer so that we have assessed members by the next AGM in July 2011. A package of guidance materials will be available for members wishing to apply for the assessment.

The IEDP is seeking staff from higher education institutions and employers to join members of the board on the assessment panels. An independent validator has already been identified. He will observe and sample the work of the assessment panels in order to provide helpful feedback to the board and assurance that the panels are assessing evidence correctly and consistently against the standards.

Qualified practitioners
Equality and diversity practice is a body of expertise based upon a raft of equality and human rights law as well as statutory and non-statutory guidance and developing case law. It should not be left to unqualified employees to make up equality and diversity practice as they go along. Unfortunately, this is often the case. The IEDP know of many instances where public bodies and other businesses believe that one day of ‘diversity training’ is sufficient learning to deliver this complex area of expertise.

As a result, many businesses do not know how to provide evidence of the equal treatment and equality of opportunity they deliver to service users and employees. Some undertake time-consuming, costly and ineffective ‘tick box’ exercises, for example when writing policy and practice or doing equality analyses and diversity audits. No wonder they react negatively to perceived bureaucracy when they have no idea how to deliver good practice or understand the considerable business benefits of good equality and diversity practice.

When people do not know what the law says and how it applies to everyone, there is a great danger of misunderstanding and resentment where none should exist. For example, many people do not know that it may breach the law if a person is treated less favourably because they are white. The terms ‘reverse discrimination’ and ‘positive discrimination’ are often used, although there are no such legal concepts in UK law.

All businesses, including the public sector, have much to learn about the changes to equality law. One of the first challenges under the Equality Act 2010 was against a Christian couple who denied a same-sex couple access to a room-booking in their bed and breakfast establishment when it was clear that the two men wished to share a bed. The case was lost because the owners were found to have unlawfully denied the couple a service because of the protected characteristic of sexual orientation. The owners run their business from home but must apply equality law in the same way as any other business providing services to the public.

Equality Act 2010 consultation
The main provisions of the Equality Act 2010 came into force in October 2010. The coalition government has brought forward many, but not all, of the enabling provisions. The IEDP made formal responses to consultation on the various draft ‘Statutory Codes of Practice’ published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. We also responded to the ‘Public Sector Duties’ consultation published by the Government Equalities Office.

Concerns about the specific duties
At the time of writing, the government has not determined its proposals for the public-sector specific duties. In the name of reducing bureaucracy, the government proposes to remove requirements on public bodies to publish details of the:

• Engagement they have undertaken when determining their policies
• Engagement they have undertaken when determining their equality objectives
• Equality analysis they have undertaken in reaching their policy decisions
• Information they considered when undertaking such analysis.

If implemented, the IEDP believes that the proposals will roll back the gains made by all communities that enabled them to hold public bodies accountable under the legacy legislation for equality progress through the publication of community engagement practice and equality analyses including the information considered.

Publication is not an unnecessary bureaucratic process, as the government claims. On the contrary, publication of community engagement inputs and equality analyses are essential tools of local and national democratic accountability. In our view, if the proposals are implemented, they may increase costs and bureaucracy for public authorities since it is likely that more Freedom of Information requests will be made and more judicial reviews undertaken.   

Opportunities ahead
IEDP members are professional practitioners with the knowledge, skills and expertise that help all businesses to understand and benefit from the Equality Act 2010.  We are excited by the opportunities and challenges presented by the Act, including the significant opportunities to address unlawful discrimination in the provision of goods and services for everyone with a protected characteristic.

We look forward to driving up standards across our profession and sharing ideas and good practice amongst practitioners as we help to meet the greater challenge of advancing equality across the UK and beyond.

Biography of Linda Bellos OBE, Chair, Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners
Linda Bellos is a renowned management consultant, trainer and writer, specialising in the field of equality and diversity. She is a skilled and motivational communicator, contributing to many television and radio programmes. She is also in great demand as a conference speaker.

Linda has spent many years advising private- and public-sector organisations about business models that produce significant diversity results.

In 2003, Linda set up her own company, Diversity Solutions Consultancy Ltd.
Using her considerable expertise, Linda worked with her team to deliver ground-breaking online courses in a range of equality and diversity subjects. Listening to her clients’ needs and blending online with face-to-face learning solutions, Linda uses many resources to inspire and motivate management teams and staff across the UK and internationally.

Diversity Solutions Consultancy Ltd has a broad client base across the private, public and voluntary sectors. Its clients range from the BBC, Sky TV, Axa Insurance and Age Concern to central government departments and agencies, local government, the health sector, education and policing.

In 2007, Linda was awarded an OBE for her services to diversity. She was elected Chair of the Institute of Equality and Diversity Practitioners in June of 2009.

Contact details
Linda Bellos: Tel: 0844 4827 263; Fax: 0844 8225 215; Email: info@iedp.org.uk; Website: www.iedp.org.uk.