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Organisational Statements

Our organisational statements help everyone understand what is important to us and guide us in the right direction.

They show our values, vision, and goals, keeping us focused on what matters most.

We want to ensure that everyone understands and works together clearly and honestly.

We are aware that racism is endemic within every aspect of society. As an organisation, we are responsible for addressing and eradicating institutional racism within Innovate Trust and educating the wider community.

Innovate Trust have a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination including racism. We are committing to being an anti-racist organisation.

As such, we will reflect on our work practices to identify any practices that disproportionately disadvantage any employees who are from minority ethnic backgrounds. We want to ensure that we take action to do better.

As an organisation, we are aware that we are not yet representative of the various ethnicities of those living in the communities we operate. We are committed to becoming more representative and making sure that all our employees feel supported at Innovate Trust.

With this in mind, we have developed a race/ethnicity employee network to understand employee’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences and as a result, drive change at an organisational level.

We have:

  • signed the Business in the Community (BITC) Race at Work Charter


We are:

  • working on a Race at Work strategy to ensure that we are accountable and have a clear action plan to tackle racism and inequality within the organisation.


We will keep employees updated with our progress and aim to include them in our anti-racism work.

Terminology

Our aim is to use current terminology in our policies and statements. However, we know that language is constantly evolving, and debates are ongoing. As such, language will develop and change between reviews.

Please get in touch if you think the language used in this statement has become outdated, caused offence, or you have suggestions of alternative terms to use.

We acknowledge that we might not always get things right and we are open to suggestions and welcome your ideas and feedback.

We acknowledge that everyone has different and individual lived experiences, and we do not see people who have shared characteristics or identities as the same.

While we use certain terminology to group or identify people, we understand that there are limitations to doing this, for example stereotyping or generalising and therefore aim to only do this when relevant and appropriate.

Innovate Trust’s employee networks are inclusive and safe spaces for employees.

Networks allow employees to voice their opinions and have important discussions about making a difference within the organisation.

We have networks focusing on a range of topics and areas and welcome any new ideas for new networks. All networks have a Senior Manager Sponsor to represent and support the network.

The primary focus of networks will be reflecting the theme of the particular network in promoting appropriate change within the organisation. This includes:

  • introducing ideas for new and innovative ways of working
  • reviewing policies and procedures
  • celebrating awareness days
  • organising events and training
  • shaping future organisation work
  • having a voice
  • creating an inclusive community and culture within Innovate Trust.

As an organisation that supports people with learning disabilities, equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is at the core of everything we do. Innovate Trust is passionate about ensuring everyone is treated with dignity and respect and that both employees and the people we support receive the support that they require.

We are committed to and accountable for the progress we make within equality, diversity, and inclusion in all its forms.

The foundations of our EDI work at Innovate Trust are currently being set and we will be doing this in a range of meaningful ways. Our aim is to work transparently on producing and adapting reports, policies and procedures, training, and resources. We will also be reflecting on our EDI data to enable us to make sound business decisions.

As a leading disability organisation in South East Wales, we take pride in the work our employees and the people we support are achieving at Innovate Trust. Although disability is our main focus, the people we work with have intersectional identities and have a range of protected characteristics (detailed in the Equality Act 2010). Therefore, we want to ensure everyone is treated equally without discrimination based on disability or other protected characteristics.

We recognise that we have a long way to go and we look forward to making tangible EDI progress within the organisation. EDI is constantly evolving, and we aim to work according to current and best practices to ensure that employees are as informed as possible.

Our Commitments

At Innovate Trust, we are committed to:

  • Recruiting and retaining employees from diverse backgrounds on all levels and encouraging employees to progress into leadership roles through training and development.
  •  Implementing equality, diversity, and inclusion through our policies and every day working practices.
  • Gathering, reflecting, and reporting on employee EDI data and providing opportunities to those who want to ‘self-describe’ or would ‘prefer not to say’.
  • Writing honest and transparent EDI reports (such as our gender pay gap report).
    • Educating employees and individuals that we support about EDI and the nine protected characteristics within the Equality Act 2010.
  • Updating employees within the organisation on our EDI work, ensuring that everyone understands EDI and its importance.
  • Ensuring all employees and individuals that we support feel included, valued, and supported at Innovate Trust, regardless of any differences.
  • Creating a safe environment for employees without fear of discrimination, harassment, and prejudice.
    • Setting up and developing EDI-related networks for employees to have a voice and make changes within the organisation.
  • Promoting EDI initiatives, campaigns, and pledges within our employee networks.
  • Producing and sharing EDI resources through internal and external digital platforms.

We acknowledge that all employees, especially those in leadership and senior roles, have an important part to play in committing to EDI and maintaining an inclusive and welcoming culture at Innovate Trust.

Terminology

Our aim is to use current terminology in our policies and statements; however, we are aware that language is constantly evolving and that there are ongoing debates, as such, language will develop and change between reviews.

Please do get in contact if you think the language used in this statement has become outdated, caused offence, or you have suggestions of alternative terms to use.

We acknowledge that we might not always get things right and we are open to suggestions and welcome your ideas and feedback.

We acknowledge that everyone has different and individual lived experiences, and we do not see people who have shared characteristics or identities as the same. While we use certain terminology to group or identify people, we understand that there are limitations to doing this for example stereotyping or generalising and therefore aim to only do this when relevant and appropriate.

Innovate Trust is a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer and we are also members of The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei).

Innovate Trust is an inclusive employer, and we welcome applicants from all backgrounds that share our values to apply for our job opportunities.   

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the workplace is vital at Innovate Trust. As such, we aim to recruit a more representative and diverse workforce which reflects the communities in which we operate.

Anyone is welcome to apply for our job opportunities and we especially encourage those from underrepresented groups and those with intersecting identities; including (but not limited to) applicants from varying ethnic backgrounds, people of faith, disabled people, neurodivergent people, LGBTQIA+ people and people of any gender including trans, non-binary and intersex people.

We are committed to implementing additional support and a flexible, person-centred approach to working as much as possible.  

As an organisation, we support our employees to embark on their chosen career path through training and development. Employees have access to training in order to further support them with their careers.

All job applicants from minority ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ applicants, and disabled applicants who meet the minimum requirements of the job as set out in the Job Description and Person Specification will be guaranteed an interview.  

Our aim is to use current terminology in our policies and statements. However, we are aware that language is constantly evolving and that there are ongoing debates, as such, language will develop and change between reviews.

Please get in contact if you think the language used in this statement has become outdated, caused offence, or you have suggestions of alternative terms to use.

We acknowledge that we might not always get things right and we are open to suggestions and welcome your ideas and feedback.   

We acknowledge that everyone has different and individual lived experiences, and we do not see people who have shared characteristics or identities as the same.

While we use certain terminology to group or identify people, we understand that there are limitations to doing this for example stereotyping or generalising and therefore aim to only do this when relevant and appropriate. 

As an organisation, we are committed to ensuring that our employees and the people we support from LGBTQIA+ communities feel safe and supported at Innovate Trust.

This includes protecting our employees and the people we support from discrimination, prejudice, and hate crimes.

We acknowledge how integral gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation are to an individual’s sense of self and feelings of belonging. Therefore, we aim to celebrate and embrace the diversity and intersectionality of our identities at work.

At Innovate Trust, approximately 14% of our employees identify as LGBTQIA+. We are committed to becoming more representative as an organisation and ensuring our employees feel supported through inclusive recruitment, training, and employee networks.

Over the years, we have been working with our employee network, the Definitions Not Applicable network, to ensure that LGBTQIA+ employees can give feedback to the organisation so that we can understand how to support employees to the best of our ability.

We are gradually implementing actions from our LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Action Plan that we created on the Getting Started Programme with the support of Manchester Pride’s All Equals Charter. The All Equals Charter is a set of values, principles and commitments that we must adhere to in order to ensure the inclusion and prevention of discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people, both employees and the people we support.

We aim to ensure that we are accountable and have a clear action plan to tackle LGBTQIA+ inclusion within the organisation. We will update employees on our progress and seek to include them in our work.

As an organisation using the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to assess applicants’ suitability for positions of trust, Innovate Trust complies fully with the DBS Code of Practice and undertakes to treat all applicants for positions fairly.

It undertakes not to discriminate unfairly against any subject of a Disclosure on the basis of conviction or other information revealed.

Innovate Trust is committed to the fair treatment of staff, potential staff or users of services, regardless of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital status, responsibilities for dependants, sexual orientation, or offending background.

This statement on the recruitment of ex-offenders is made available to all Disclosure applicants at the outset of the recruitment process.

We actively promote equality of opportunity for all with the right mix of talent, skills and potential and welcome applications from a wide range of candidates, including those with criminal records.  We select all candidates for interview based on their skills, qualifications and experience appropriate for the vacancy.

Every employee or volunteer during their work will come into contact with a vulnerable person who uses one or more of our services.  Therefore Innovate Trust has adopted the global policy that every employee or volunteer must undertake an Enhanced Disclosure before they commence any work for the organisation.

We have a legal obligation to protect vulnerable individuals (such as children and vulnerable adults) from people who have committed serious offences, and as such meets the requirements in respect of exempted questions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. All applicants who are offered employment will be subject to a criminal record check from the Disclosure and Barring Service, before the appointment is confirmed. This will include details of cautions, reprimands or final warnings, as well as convictions, including “spent” convictions and as with all Enhanced Disclosure, other relevant non-conviction information, such as police enquiries and pending prosecutions will be included.

Where a Disclosure is to form part of the recruitment process, we encourage all applicants to voluntarily provide details of their criminal record at an early stage in the application process. We request this information is provided on the application form.  At that point the Senior Manager HR will consider any offences or other matter that might be relevant to the position. This information will only seen by those who need to see it as part of the recruitment process. This information will be treated in strict confidence, will be securely stored and kept for only as long as is necessary.

At interview, or in a separate discussion, we ensure an open and measured discussion takes place on the subject of any offences or other matter that might be relevant to the position.  We undertake to discuss any relevant matter revealed in a Disclosure with the person seeking the position before any offer of employment is considered.

Failure to reveal information directly relevant to the position sought could lead to withdrawal of an offer of employment.

Having a criminal record will not necessarily bar you from working with us. This will depend on the nature of the position and the circumstances and background of your offences.

If you have any queries or concerns, please ring the contact number contained in the advertisement of the post you are applying for.  If you are in any doubt about your declaration, you should seek further advice from places such as the Citizens Advice Bureau or Local Law Centre.

We make every subject of a DBS Disclosure aware of the existence of the DBS Code of Practice and make a copy available on request.

Innovate Trust recognises the public in Wales has a right, collectively and individually, to receive a bilingual service from the public institutions and organisations that work in Wales. We are currently engaging with the Welsh Language Commissioner to make steps towards becoming an inclusive organisation in terms of our use of the Welsh Language.

We are in the process of achieving targets that we want to meet in our Welsh Language Development Plan before receiving our Cynnig Cymraeg recognition.

The Cynnig Cymraeg is recognition by the Welsh Language Commissioner given to organisations with a strong Welsh Language Development Plan. The scheme intends to provide our organisation with a clear plan to follow, maintain, and develop our Welsh language services over time.

As a Welsh organisation, we believe that the English and Welsh languages should be treated on the basis of equality. We believe that offering services, activities, and resources which respect an individual’s choice of language can make a significant difference, which also includes BSL and Makaton.

We believe that by developing our own Welsh Language Scheme it will help to provide a first-class service to the people we support and stakeholders, help to recognise the bilingual nature of Wales, raise the organisation’s appeal in the wider sector, demonstrate goodwill, and encourage and help attract Welsh speaking employees and volunteers. It will also send a message of good practice to others in the third sector whilst adhering to our own equality, diversity, and inclusion policy and procedure.

Although there is no statutory requirement for Innovate Trust to prepare a Welsh Language Scheme under the Welsh Language Act 1993, we feel strongly that bilingual services should be provided to the communities and people we engage with.

By considering the Welsh language and the needs of individuals when developing new and revised policies and initiatives, Innovate Trust can make strides towards achieving the objectives of the Cynnig Cymraeg.