Keystones Care

Principles and Commitments

Keystones embraces diversity as it enriches our organisation. Valuing individuals from a variety of backgrounds will attract and develop a more creative, multi-skilled and experienced employee base, which will, in turn, have a positive effect upon the service users we support.

Understanding and valuing staff and service user's various needs, backgrounds and different requirements is fundamental in our service delivery and the way we manage the organisation as a whole. Activities are tailored and reviewed in order to account for these different needs.

Keystones is committed to complying with our responsibilities in line with the Equality Act, 2010 and the sec 149: Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED; more details of which are found in this policy). The organisation will uphold all of its responsibilities in line with latest legislation, in order to provide a working and living environment that is free from discrimination, harassment and victimisation, and have robust procedures which prevent and tackle any incidents should they arise. Therefore, equality issues will be considered by the organisation both in terms of employment and service delivery (further details within the policy).

To achieve this, staff are trained in equality law and legislation, paying particular attention to those who recruit and assess referrals, and are required to promote and practice a positive culture of inclusion, equal opportunity and openness within the organisation.

Additionally, we aim to go beyond the confines of the law and celebrate the unique qualities of each and every individual who works at Keystones, receives support, or otherwise comes into contact with the organisation. Keystones deeply believes that diversity will strengthen our service and our capacity to adapt. It will allow us to provide a higher quality service as we draw on the extensive and broad skills of different individuals.

The managing directors and service managers have overall responsibility for the implementation of this policy. All staff have responsibility for following the policy in practice and acting in accordance with it during their work and practice at Keystones.

The Equality Act, 2010

The act harmonises and replaces previous legislation and ensures consistency in what the organisation needs to do to make the workplace a fair environment and comply with the law. It covers all 'protected characteristics' – age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership and pregnancy and maternity. Details of how Keystones will operate in accordance with the act are outlined within this policy.

Protected Characteristics

Age – this refers to a person of a particular age group (e.g. 60 year olds) or a range of ages (e.g. 18–24 year olds). It does not include children under 18.

Disability – A disability is defined in the Equality Act 2010 as a person who has a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial long-term adverse affect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities.

Sex – This refers to a person's biological status as male or female, as recorded at birth. Protection under this characteristic is separate from gender reassignment, which is a separate protection category under the Equality Act 2010.

Gender reassignment – this applies to a person who is transitioning or has transitioned from one gender to another, or a non-binary person if appropriate. The Equality Act 2010 protects individuals with this characteristic, whether or not they are undergoing medical treatment or have a gender recognition certificate.

Sexual orientation – means a person's sexual orientation towards persons of the same sex, persons of the opposite sex, or persons of either sex.

Pregnancy and maternity – applies to women who are pregnant or have given birth in the past 26 months. The Equality Act makes provisions to protect the rights of breastfeeding mothers.

Marriage and civil partnership – this applies to people who are married or in a civil partnership. Civil partners must be treated the same as married couples.

Race – this refers to a group of people defined by race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin.

Religion or belief – means any religion and includes philosophical beliefs including a lack of religion. Generally, a belief should affect a person's life choices or the way they live.

In accordance with the Equality Act 2010, where services or spaces are provided on a single-sex basis and a proportionate legitimate aim can be shown, the organisation reserves the right to apply the 'single-sex exception' in line with legal guidance. Any such decision will be made sensitively and based on the specific context.

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Public Sector Equality Duty consists of two parts – the 'general equality duty', which is the overarching requirement and substance of the duty, and the 'specific duties' which are intended to aid performance of the general equality duty.

The General Equality Duty

In line with the equality duty, Keystones will, in the exercise of its functions, have due regard to the need to:

1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act.
2. Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
3. Facilitate good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not (including tackling prejudice and promoting understanding between people from different groups).

The duty also explicitly recognises that disabled people's needs are different from those of non-disabled people. In considering meeting the needs of disabled people, any impairments of disabled people should be taken into account. This might mean making reasonable adjustments for a person or even treating a person more favourably than others.

The Specific Duties

The purpose of the specific duties is to help improve performance of the general equality duty, through focus and transparency.

Discrimination

Unlawful discrimination or harassment in the working environment will not be tolerated and the organisation will take all necessary action to prevent its occurrence and tackle any incidents should they arise.

Keystones aims to ensure that no employee, service user or job applicant or other person coming into contact with the organisation is subject to discrimination, either directly or indirectly, on the grounds of gender reassignment, race (including skin colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), disability, sex, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, age and religion or belief.

Direct Discrimination: Direct discrimination occurs when someone is treated less favourably than another person because of a protected characteristic they have or are thought to have, or because they associate with someone who has a protected characteristic.

Indirect Discrimination: Indirect discrimination can occur when you have a condition, rule, policy or even a practice in your organisation that applies to everyone but particularly disadvantages people who share a protected characteristic.

Discrimination by Association: This is direct discrimination against someone because they associate with another person who possesses a protected characteristic.

Perception Discrimination: This is direct discrimination against an individual because others think they possess a particular protected characteristic. It applies even if the person does not actually possess that characteristic.

Harassment

Harassment is “unwanted conduct related to a relevant protected characteristic, which has the purpose or effect of violating an individual's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for that individual”.

Victimisation

Victimisation occurs when an employee is treated badly because they have made or supported a complaint or raised a grievance under the Equality Act or because they are suspected of doing so.

Grievances and Complaints

Keystones will treat seriously all complaints of discrimination made by employees, service users, referrers/care teams, contractors or other third parties and will take action as appropriate.

If you believe that you have been discriminated against, you are encouraged to raise the matter as soon as possible with your line manager or managing director using the organisation's Grievance Procedure.

Reasonable Adjustments & Access Improvements

Where an employee or candidate has a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010, the employer is required to make reasonable adjustments to the job or the physical environment in order to facilitate the employment or continued employment of the employee.

This is an official document from Keystones Care's policy team. Last exported 08 January 2026.