Corporate Requirements

The Council has a statutory requirement to ensure compliance with a number of corporate considerations when providing its services. The Council is delivering its services when a contractor is delivering services on behalf of the Council. It is therefore incumbent upon the Council to ensure that these statutory requirements are carried out by any contractor that is working for the Council. Consequently, the Council is looking for a commitment within Tenders to assisting the Council in the following duties. The Council does not consider that these requirements will be onerous and so pricing should not be affected in complying with any of these obligations but if a Tenderer believes there is a pricing impact, the impact of complying with these obligations should be clearly identified in their Pricing Schedule.

5.3 Equality and Diversity

5.3.1 The Council is Committed to:

Providing its services in a way that promotes equality of opportunity at every possibility. It is expected that the successful Tenderer will be equally committed to equality and diversity in its employment practices and service provision, and will ensure compliance with all anti-discrimination legislation.

5.3.2 Expectation of the Tenderer:

Tenderers should note that the successful Tenderer will be asked to contract with the Council to ensure that they adhere to these obligations. The Council will, if appropriate, monitor the successful Tenderers compliance throughout the Contract Period.

5.3.3 Compliance with Equality Legislation:

The Council requires service providers to demonstrate that they comply with equality in employment legislation. The levels of compliance become more demanding depending on the number of employees employed by the organisation. Organisations employing less than 5 employees face minimum requirements, whilst organisations employing 50 or more employees need to meet more comprehensive criteria. During the Contract Period the Council may work with contractors, who at present do not fully comply, to help them put in place policies and practices to do so.

LEVEL 1 (LESS THAN 5 EMPLOYEES)

Organisations with fewer than 5 directly employed persons will be expected to meet the appropriate level of compliance for the delivery of the Contract. Should recruitment increase the size of the organisation to 5 or more employees the organisation will be expected to meet the appropriate level of compliance.

LEVEL 2 (5 TO 49 EMPLOYEES)

All organisations with between 5 and 49 employees must achieve criteria 1 – 4 listed below.
1. All organisations must have an equality policy in respect of race, gender, disability, age, sexual orientation and religion/belief that covers at least:
(a) recruitment, selection, training, promotion, discipline, grievance and dismissal.
(b) discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, making it clear that these are disciplinary offences within the firm.
(c) identification of the senior position with responsibility for the policy and its effective implementation.
(d) how you communicate the policy to your employees.
2. Effective implementation of the policy in the organisation’s recruitment practices, to include open recruitment methods such as the use of job centres, careers service or press advertisements.
3. The policy should either be reviewed to reflect changes in legislation or within a three-year period whichever occurs first.
4. To monitor the gender, disability and ethnicity of job applicants. We would also encourage organisations to monitor in respect of age, sexual orientation and religion/belief.

LEVEL 3 (50 OR MORE EMPLOYEES)

All organisations with 50 or more employees must achieve criteria 1-4 in level 2 and the additional criteria 5-10 listed below:
5. Provide written instructions to managers and supervisors on equality in recruitment, selection, training, promotion, discipline, grievance and dismissal of employees.
6. Provide equality training for managers and any employees responsible for recruitment and selection.
7. In addition to criterion 4 (Level 2) carry out monitoring on the number of employees from different gender, disability and ethnic groups by grade when:
(a) in post
(b) applying for posts
(c) taking up training and development opportunities
(d) promoted
(e) transferred
(f) disciplined and dismissed
(g) a grievance is raised
(h) leaving employment
The Council would also encourage organisations to monitor in respect of age, sexual orientation and religion/belief.
8. If the above monitoring reveals inequalities, organisations will be expected to take steps to address imbalances.
9. In respect of 7 and 8 above, annual monitoring and reporting is required regarding equality issues within the workforce.
10. Organisation’s recruitment advertisements and publicity literature should state that equal opportunities practices are in place

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