What you said, what we did

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy consultation was open for 4 weeks and we received 76 responses. The consultation was emailed to all registered users as well as all customers who had advised of either a long term disability, health condition or support need after their completion of the ‘About You Survey’ during Q3 2024, in order to gather targeted responses.

Question	Agree %
Do you agree or disagree that the strategy clearly explains Equity, Diversity and Inclusion?	86.9
To what extent does each statement (below) demonstrate that Derby Homes is committed to creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive culture?	n/a
Reflecting our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion at the very top of our organisation, through our mission statement and Delivery Plan.	69
An on-going commitment to an equity, diversity, and inclusion champion at Board level, to provide advice, scrutinise progress, and help shape our future approach to inclusion.	65
Ensuring the Board and the Senior Management Team take an active role in driving the equity, diversity, and inclusion agenda, ensuring it is embedded into all decision-making processes.	66
Equipping leaders and managers with the tools and training to recognise, support, and advocate for diversity, fostering a culture of inclusion at every organisational level.	66
Championing diverse recruitment and retention practices, including mentoring employees so they have opportunities for advancement.	65
Supporting the formation of groups for under representative or shared interest groups within the workplace, such as groups for women, LGBTQ+ employees, ethnic minorities, or employees with disabilities.	63
Regular reviews of strategies, policies and practices to remove barriers that may hinder inclusivity using equalities impact assessments.	68

We also asked if there was anything else that respondents felt needed to be considered. 47 customers stated positive or neutral comments stating there was nothing to add to the strategy. 26 customers raised further points to be considered: Customers asked or gave examples of specific issues where they felt their needs had not been met by Derby Homes, and comments relating to how Derby Homes communicate with customers, including accessibility for those without the internet, problems with the AI phoneline, and lack of local housing offices.

The Quality and Inclusion team considered the comments left by customers:

Customer comment	Derby Homes response
Customers asked or gave examples of specific issues where they felt their needs had not been met by Derby Homes.	When we reviewed the queries from customers, we found that many examples included when customers had requested adaptations or applied for a property. As part of the next stages of the Quality and Inclusion Team’s workplan, an Equalities Impact Assessment will be performed on all service areas to ensure a consistent access to services with no barriers to inclusion and a review of the customer journey. These two highlighted areas will be reviewed first. The customer feedback, in the interim, has been passed to the relevant team for review.
Several comments related to how Derby Homes communicate with customers, including accessibility for those without the internet, problems with the AI phoneline, and lack of local housing offices.	We acknowledge that more work can be done with accessibility for customers to ensure consistency across the organisation. As stated above, this will be picked up as part of the Quality and Inclusion Team’s workplan to enhance our accessibility offer as we understand this is a priority moving forwards. All strategies and policies that are reviewed at the Board will have equality impact assessments attached to ensure accessibility is considered.

Based on the feedback received from customers, we made the following changes to the strategy:

• We included further detail on the ongoing monitoring of the strategy.

• We changed references to “different people” and “different backgrounds” to ‘all people’ and ‘all backgrounds’.