An equality plan outlines how your company's equality and diversity policy will be implemented.

Your equality and diversity policy should explain your business' stance on diversity and set out the legal rights and obligations of your staff. It is your promise to treat all employees, and potential employees, fairly and considerately.

See equality and diversity workplace policies.

Your equality plan allows you to integrate equality into your performance management system, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes.

You may draft an equality plan that focuses on one particular protected equality ground (such as racial group, sex, or disability) or, alternatively, on two or more grounds, or, to take a fully integrated approach, on all of the protected equality grounds.

Equality plan templates

The Equality Commission has published two template equality plans that may assist you in drafting your own:

• racial equality plan template (DOC, 50K)
• an integrated equality plan template (DOC, 151K) for all protected equality grounds

The Equality Commission can provide further assistance on request, such as where you may wish to develop an equality plan that focuses on any other specific equality ground (such as sex or disability).

Equality plans can also be used to develop plans to promote affirmative and positive action where this is deemed appropriate.

Equality plan sample template

The Equality Commission supports businesses to promote good equality practice and can help you to develop an equality plan for your business.

It has developed a sample equality plan document that you can download and customise for your own needs.

Download the Equality Commission's sample employment equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Having an effective equality plan in place will enable you to coordinate all equality-related work throughout your business. In addition, it will allow you to prepare for upcoming developments in legislation and best practice.

Advantages of having an equality plan

Developing a workplace equality plan can produce a number of business benefits.

It can help you:

• identify gaps and potential problem areas in your business
• raise awareness of your business's commitment to equality
• demonstrate actions undertaken to avoid discrimination in case of tribunal proceedings
• carry out equality training and awareness with employees
• access private investment, public procurement, and funding where commitment to equality of opportunity may be an eligibility factor

Your equality plan will also ensure that you revise your other employment policies eg bullying and harassment and redundancy policies, to ensure they also comply with equality standards.

Developing an equality plan with the Equality Commission

You can receive support from the Equality Commission to develop an equality plan for your business.

By accessing this support, you will also avail of their full range of speciality knowledge, training, guidance, and support and you will be able to work with Equality Commission staff to develop examples of good practice which could be promoted on the Equality Commission website. See equality plans.

Business benefits of an equality plan

Watch the video below of Paul Oakes, Manager of the Advisory Services Team at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, who explains how a business can benefit from developing an equality plan.

Paul also details the four steps a business should take when implementing an equality plan and explains how the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland can provide various means of support to businesses.

The Equality Commission can help you develop a workplace equality plan that will be tailored to the specific needs of your business.

Your equality plan should provide you with a practical and manageable framework for undertaking all equality work within your business.

Equality planning will also help you to assess what further work you need to undertake to promote good practice and it may also show areas where you need to ensure you meet legal requirements.

Step 1: Review your existing equality practices

When starting to develop your equality plan, you should first review your current employment practices against the Equality Commission's equality indicators. You can find these in the Equality Commission's template equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Reviewing your employment practices will help you determine the extent to which your workplace policies meet current equality legislation requirements and best practices.

You can then develop an equality plan outlining the actions you intend to take to remedy any areas of non-compliance.

Step 2: Draw up an equality plan

Your workplace equality plan should include:

• an outline of how your equality and diversity policy will be implemented - including set dates, how these will be implemented, and by whom
• a flexible structure that can be tailored to your specific needs
• a review of your other employment policies eg recruitment and selection, redundancy, bullying, and harassment
• a way of integrating equality into performance management systems, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes
• how you will evaluate your success and how and when you will review the overall working of your equality policy
• an ongoing equality training plan for all staff

Step 3: Train staff and promote equality across the workplace

You should establish equality awareness training within your business to support your workplace equality plan. Staff at all levels should be involved in this training.

New employees should receive equal opportunity awareness training as part of their induction process. See preparing for an induction.

The training should show your commitment to the promotion of equality of opportunity and the effective implementation of your equality plan.

Equality training should be ongoing, with an annual update for all employees. See staff training.

A critical stage in delivering equality in the workplace is to monitor the effectiveness of your equality policy and plan to ensure they are both working in practice.

Monitoring demonstrates your commitment to promoting equality within your business. It can also help you identify equality issues or problems that affect your employees and can help you implement solutions such as alternative policies or practices.

What does equality monitoring involve?

Equality monitoring involves gathering individual information from potential and existing employees at certain times and then comparing and analysing this against other groups of employees in your business or the broader workforce.

You should only collect information that you are going to use.

Ask job applicants for monitoring data on a sheet that can be detached from their application form so that the information can be kept separate from the selection process. It should be made clear that this information will only be used for equality monitoring and not in the short-listing process.

Download a sample monitoring questionnaire for job applicants (DOC, 13K).

To obtain an accurate view of your business you will also need to monitor the existing workforce. Explain your reasons for equality monitoring and make it clear you are only trying to ensure that every employee has the same access to training, promotion, and other opportunities.

Take action on equality processes

If you find some of your equality processes aren't working, you should find out why and take action.

For example, if you find your business is not attracting the number of jobseekers you might expect, you should look at your recruitment and selection procedures. Is one group benefiting at the expense of another?

If it is shown that this is the case, you should take affirmative or positive action, such as:

• encourage more people to apply for posts by considering job-sharing and part-time working
• advertise widely to attract a diverse workforce
• offer work experience opportunities or mentoring for students

For more information on the equality monitoring process, see the Equality Commission guidance on monitoring.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland offers employers free and confidential help to review and get the most from their workplace equality policies.

With many employees taking steps to return to the workplace after months spent working from home, now may be the time to think about reviewing your workplace policies such as those relating to:

• equal opportunities
• harassment
• recruitment and selection
• pregnancy and maternity
• menopause
• flexible working and others

You may even be considering introducing a customer service policy, particularly taking into account those customers and clients with disabilities.

If you’ve made a commitment to equality and diversity in your business, the Equality Commission may be able to help you review your equality policies and provide a free and confidential service to businesses. Many businesses have already made use of this service and some have also availed of free training from the Equality Commission.

How do I make use of the Equality Commission service?

If your business is interested in reviewing its equality-related workplace policies you can contact Paul Oakes, Equality Commission's Advisory Services Team Manager, by emailing poakes@equalityni.org.

Find out about the support available for employers and service providers from the Equality Commission.

An equality plan outlines how your company's equality and diversity policy will be implemented.

Your equality and diversity policy should explain your business' stance on diversity and set out the legal rights and obligations of your staff. It is your promise to treat all employees, and potential employees, fairly and considerately.

See equality and diversity workplace policies.

Your equality plan allows you to integrate equality into your performance management system, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes.

You may draft an equality plan that focuses on one particular protected equality ground (such as racial group, sex, or disability) or, alternatively, on two or more grounds, or, to take a fully integrated approach, on all of the protected equality grounds.

Equality plan templates

The Equality Commission has published two template equality plans that may assist you in drafting your own:

• racial equality plan template (DOC, 50K)
• an integrated equality plan template (DOC, 151K) for all protected equality grounds

The Equality Commission can provide further assistance on request, such as where you may wish to develop an equality plan that focuses on any other specific equality ground (such as sex or disability).

Equality plans can also be used to develop plans to promote affirmative and positive action where this is deemed appropriate.

Equality plan sample template

The Equality Commission supports businesses to promote good equality practice and can help you to develop an equality plan for your business.

It has developed a sample equality plan document that you can download and customise for your own needs.

Download the Equality Commission's sample employment equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Having an effective equality plan in place will enable you to coordinate all equality-related work throughout your business. In addition, it will allow you to prepare for upcoming developments in legislation and best practice.

Advantages of having an equality plan

Developing a workplace equality plan can produce a number of business benefits.

It can help you:

• identify gaps and potential problem areas in your business
• raise awareness of your business's commitment to equality
• demonstrate actions undertaken to avoid discrimination in case of tribunal proceedings
• carry out equality training and awareness with employees
• access private investment, public procurement, and funding where commitment to equality of opportunity may be an eligibility factor

Your equality plan will also ensure that you revise your other employment policies eg bullying and harassment and redundancy policies, to ensure they also comply with equality standards.

Developing an equality plan with the Equality Commission

You can receive support from the Equality Commission to develop an equality plan for your business.

By accessing this support, you will also avail of their full range of speciality knowledge, training, guidance, and support and you will be able to work with Equality Commission staff to develop examples of good practice which could be promoted on the Equality Commission website. See equality plans.

Business benefits of an equality plan

Watch the video below of Paul Oakes, Manager of the Advisory Services Team at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, who explains how a business can benefit from developing an equality plan.

Paul also details the four steps a business should take when implementing an equality plan and explains how the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland can provide various means of support to businesses.

The Equality Commission can help you develop a workplace equality plan that will be tailored to the specific needs of your business.

Your equality plan should provide you with a practical and manageable framework for undertaking all equality work within your business.

Equality planning will also help you to assess what further work you need to undertake to promote good practice and it may also show areas where you need to ensure you meet legal requirements.

Step 1: Review your existing equality practices

When starting to develop your equality plan, you should first review your current employment practices against the Equality Commission's equality indicators. You can find these in the Equality Commission's template equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Reviewing your employment practices will help you determine the extent to which your workplace policies meet current equality legislation requirements and best practices.

You can then develop an equality plan outlining the actions you intend to take to remedy any areas of non-compliance.

Step 2: Draw up an equality plan

Your workplace equality plan should include:

• an outline of how your equality and diversity policy will be implemented - including set dates, how these will be implemented, and by whom
• a flexible structure that can be tailored to your specific needs
• a review of your other employment policies eg recruitment and selection, redundancy, bullying, and harassment
• a way of integrating equality into performance management systems, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes
• how you will evaluate your success and how and when you will review the overall working of your equality policy
• an ongoing equality training plan for all staff

Step 3: Train staff and promote equality across the workplace

You should establish equality awareness training within your business to support your workplace equality plan. Staff at all levels should be involved in this training.

New employees should receive equal opportunity awareness training as part of their induction process. See preparing for an induction.

The training should show your commitment to the promotion of equality of opportunity and the effective implementation of your equality plan.

Equality training should be ongoing, with an annual update for all employees. See staff training.

A critical stage in delivering equality in the workplace is to monitor the effectiveness of your equality policy and plan to ensure they are both working in practice.

Monitoring demonstrates your commitment to promoting equality within your business. It can also help you identify equality issues or problems that affect your employees and can help you implement solutions such as alternative policies or practices.

What does equality monitoring involve?

Equality monitoring involves gathering individual information from potential and existing employees at certain times and then comparing and analysing this against other groups of employees in your business or the broader workforce.

You should only collect information that you are going to use.

Ask job applicants for monitoring data on a sheet that can be detached from their application form so that the information can be kept separate from the selection process. It should be made clear that this information will only be used for equality monitoring and not in the short-listing process.

Download a sample monitoring questionnaire for job applicants (DOC, 13K).

To obtain an accurate view of your business you will also need to monitor the existing workforce. Explain your reasons for equality monitoring and make it clear you are only trying to ensure that every employee has the same access to training, promotion, and other opportunities.

Take action on equality processes

If you find some of your equality processes aren't working, you should find out why and take action.

For example, if you find your business is not attracting the number of jobseekers you might expect, you should look at your recruitment and selection procedures. Is one group benefiting at the expense of another?

If it is shown that this is the case, you should take affirmative or positive action, such as:

• encourage more people to apply for posts by considering job-sharing and part-time working
• advertise widely to attract a diverse workforce
• offer work experience opportunities or mentoring for students

For more information on the equality monitoring process, see the Equality Commission guidance on monitoring.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland offers employers free and confidential help to review and get the most from their workplace equality policies.

With many employees taking steps to return to the workplace after months spent working from home, now may be the time to think about reviewing your workplace policies such as those relating to:

• equal opportunities
• harassment
• recruitment and selection
• pregnancy and maternity
• menopause
• flexible working and others

You may even be considering introducing a customer service policy, particularly taking into account those customers and clients with disabilities.

If you’ve made a commitment to equality and diversity in your business, the Equality Commission may be able to help you review your equality policies and provide a free and confidential service to businesses. Many businesses have already made use of this service and some have also availed of free training from the Equality Commission.

How do I make use of the Equality Commission service?

If your business is interested in reviewing its equality-related workplace policies you can contact Paul Oakes, Equality Commission's Advisory Services Team Manager, by emailing poakes@equalityni.org.

Find out about the support available for employers and service providers from the Equality Commission.

An equality plan outlines how your company's equality and diversity policy will be implemented.

Your equality and diversity policy should explain your business' stance on diversity and set out the legal rights and obligations of your staff. It is your promise to treat all employees, and potential employees, fairly and considerately.

See equality and diversity workplace policies.

Your equality plan allows you to integrate equality into your performance management system, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes.

You may draft an equality plan that focuses on one particular protected equality ground (such as racial group, sex, or disability) or, alternatively, on two or more grounds, or, to take a fully integrated approach, on all of the protected equality grounds.

Equality plan templates

The Equality Commission has published two template equality plans that may assist you in drafting your own:

• racial equality plan template (DOC, 50K)
• an integrated equality plan template (DOC, 151K) for all protected equality grounds

The Equality Commission can provide further assistance on request, such as where you may wish to develop an equality plan that focuses on any other specific equality ground (such as sex or disability).

Equality plans can also be used to develop plans to promote affirmative and positive action where this is deemed appropriate.

Equality plan sample template

The Equality Commission supports businesses to promote good equality practice and can help you to develop an equality plan for your business.

It has developed a sample equality plan document that you can download and customise for your own needs.

Download the Equality Commission's sample employment equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Having an effective equality plan in place will enable you to coordinate all equality-related work throughout your business. In addition, it will allow you to prepare for upcoming developments in legislation and best practice.

Advantages of having an equality plan

Developing a workplace equality plan can produce a number of business benefits.

It can help you:

• identify gaps and potential problem areas in your business
• raise awareness of your business's commitment to equality
• demonstrate actions undertaken to avoid discrimination in case of tribunal proceedings
• carry out equality training and awareness with employees
• access private investment, public procurement, and funding where commitment to equality of opportunity may be an eligibility factor

Your equality plan will also ensure that you revise your other employment policies eg bullying and harassment and redundancy policies, to ensure they also comply with equality standards.

Developing an equality plan with the Equality Commission

You can receive support from the Equality Commission to develop an equality plan for your business.

By accessing this support, you will also avail of their full range of speciality knowledge, training, guidance, and support and you will be able to work with Equality Commission staff to develop examples of good practice which could be promoted on the Equality Commission website. See equality plans.

Business benefits of an equality plan

Watch the video below of Paul Oakes, Manager of the Advisory Services Team at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, who explains how a business can benefit from developing an equality plan.

Paul also details the four steps a business should take when implementing an equality plan and explains how the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland can provide various means of support to businesses.

The Equality Commission can help you develop a workplace equality plan that will be tailored to the specific needs of your business.

Your equality plan should provide you with a practical and manageable framework for undertaking all equality work within your business.

Equality planning will also help you to assess what further work you need to undertake to promote good practice and it may also show areas where you need to ensure you meet legal requirements.

Step 1: Review your existing equality practices

When starting to develop your equality plan, you should first review your current employment practices against the Equality Commission's equality indicators. You can find these in the Equality Commission's template equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Reviewing your employment practices will help you determine the extent to which your workplace policies meet current equality legislation requirements and best practices.

You can then develop an equality plan outlining the actions you intend to take to remedy any areas of non-compliance.

Step 2: Draw up an equality plan

Your workplace equality plan should include:

• an outline of how your equality and diversity policy will be implemented - including set dates, how these will be implemented, and by whom
• a flexible structure that can be tailored to your specific needs
• a review of your other employment policies eg recruitment and selection, redundancy, bullying, and harassment
• a way of integrating equality into performance management systems, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes
• how you will evaluate your success and how and when you will review the overall working of your equality policy
• an ongoing equality training plan for all staff

Step 3: Train staff and promote equality across the workplace

You should establish equality awareness training within your business to support your workplace equality plan. Staff at all levels should be involved in this training.

New employees should receive equal opportunity awareness training as part of their induction process. See preparing for an induction.

The training should show your commitment to the promotion of equality of opportunity and the effective implementation of your equality plan.

Equality training should be ongoing, with an annual update for all employees. See staff training.

A critical stage in delivering equality in the workplace is to monitor the effectiveness of your equality policy and plan to ensure they are both working in practice.

Monitoring demonstrates your commitment to promoting equality within your business. It can also help you identify equality issues or problems that affect your employees and can help you implement solutions such as alternative policies or practices.

What does equality monitoring involve?

Equality monitoring involves gathering individual information from potential and existing employees at certain times and then comparing and analysing this against other groups of employees in your business or the broader workforce.

You should only collect information that you are going to use.

Ask job applicants for monitoring data on a sheet that can be detached from their application form so that the information can be kept separate from the selection process. It should be made clear that this information will only be used for equality monitoring and not in the short-listing process.

Download a sample monitoring questionnaire for job applicants (DOC, 13K).

To obtain an accurate view of your business you will also need to monitor the existing workforce. Explain your reasons for equality monitoring and make it clear you are only trying to ensure that every employee has the same access to training, promotion, and other opportunities.

Take action on equality processes

If you find some of your equality processes aren't working, you should find out why and take action.

For example, if you find your business is not attracting the number of jobseekers you might expect, you should look at your recruitment and selection procedures. Is one group benefiting at the expense of another?

If it is shown that this is the case, you should take affirmative or positive action, such as:

• encourage more people to apply for posts by considering job-sharing and part-time working
• advertise widely to attract a diverse workforce
• offer work experience opportunities or mentoring for students

For more information on the equality monitoring process, see the Equality Commission guidance on monitoring.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland offers employers free and confidential help to review and get the most from their workplace equality policies.

With many employees taking steps to return to the workplace after months spent working from home, now may be the time to think about reviewing your workplace policies such as those relating to:

• equal opportunities
• harassment
• recruitment and selection
• pregnancy and maternity
• menopause
• flexible working and others

You may even be considering introducing a customer service policy, particularly taking into account those customers and clients with disabilities.

If you’ve made a commitment to equality and diversity in your business, the Equality Commission may be able to help you review your equality policies and provide a free and confidential service to businesses. Many businesses have already made use of this service and some have also availed of free training from the Equality Commission.

How do I make use of the Equality Commission service?

If your business is interested in reviewing its equality-related workplace policies you can contact Paul Oakes, Equality Commission's Advisory Services Team Manager, by emailing poakes@equalityni.org.

Find out about the support available for employers and service providers from the Equality Commission.

An equality plan outlines how your company's equality and diversity policy will be implemented.

Your equality and diversity policy should explain your business' stance on diversity and set out the legal rights and obligations of your staff. It is your promise to treat all employees, and potential employees, fairly and considerately.

See equality and diversity workplace policies.

Your equality plan allows you to integrate equality into your performance management system, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes.

You may draft an equality plan that focuses on one particular protected equality ground (such as racial group, sex, or disability) or, alternatively, on two or more grounds, or, to take a fully integrated approach, on all of the protected equality grounds.

Equality plan templates

The Equality Commission has published two template equality plans that may assist you in drafting your own:

• racial equality plan template (DOC, 50K)
• an integrated equality plan template (DOC, 151K) for all protected equality grounds

The Equality Commission can provide further assistance on request, such as where you may wish to develop an equality plan that focuses on any other specific equality ground (such as sex or disability).

Equality plans can also be used to develop plans to promote affirmative and positive action where this is deemed appropriate.

Equality plan sample template

The Equality Commission supports businesses to promote good equality practice and can help you to develop an equality plan for your business.

It has developed a sample equality plan document that you can download and customise for your own needs.

Download the Equality Commission's sample employment equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Having an effective equality plan in place will enable you to coordinate all equality-related work throughout your business. In addition, it will allow you to prepare for upcoming developments in legislation and best practice.

Advantages of having an equality plan

Developing a workplace equality plan can produce a number of business benefits.

It can help you:

• identify gaps and potential problem areas in your business
• raise awareness of your business's commitment to equality
• demonstrate actions undertaken to avoid discrimination in case of tribunal proceedings
• carry out equality training and awareness with employees
• access private investment, public procurement, and funding where commitment to equality of opportunity may be an eligibility factor

Your equality plan will also ensure that you revise your other employment policies eg bullying and harassment and redundancy policies, to ensure they also comply with equality standards.

Developing an equality plan with the Equality Commission

You can receive support from the Equality Commission to develop an equality plan for your business.

By accessing this support, you will also avail of their full range of speciality knowledge, training, guidance, and support and you will be able to work with Equality Commission staff to develop examples of good practice which could be promoted on the Equality Commission website. See equality plans.

Business benefits of an equality plan

Watch the video below of Paul Oakes, Manager of the Advisory Services Team at the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, who explains how a business can benefit from developing an equality plan.

Paul also details the four steps a business should take when implementing an equality plan and explains how the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland can provide various means of support to businesses.

The Equality Commission can help you develop a workplace equality plan that will be tailored to the specific needs of your business.

Your equality plan should provide you with a practical and manageable framework for undertaking all equality work within your business.

Equality planning will also help you to assess what further work you need to undertake to promote good practice and it may also show areas where you need to ensure you meet legal requirements.

Step 1: Review your existing equality practices

When starting to develop your equality plan, you should first review your current employment practices against the Equality Commission's equality indicators. You can find these in the Equality Commission's template equality plan (DOC, 151K).

Reviewing your employment practices will help you determine the extent to which your workplace policies meet current equality legislation requirements and best practices.

You can then develop an equality plan outlining the actions you intend to take to remedy any areas of non-compliance.

Step 2: Draw up an equality plan

Your workplace equality plan should include:

• an outline of how your equality and diversity policy will be implemented - including set dates, how these will be implemented, and by whom
• a flexible structure that can be tailored to your specific needs
• a review of your other employment policies eg recruitment and selection, redundancy, bullying, and harassment
• a way of integrating equality into performance management systems, quality initiatives, and corporate planning processes
• how you will evaluate your success and how and when you will review the overall working of your equality policy
• an ongoing equality training plan for all staff

Step 3: Train staff and promote equality across the workplace

You should establish equality awareness training within your business to support your workplace equality plan. Staff at all levels should be involved in this training.

New employees should receive equal opportunity awareness training as part of their induction process. See preparing for an induction.

The training should show your commitment to the promotion of equality of opportunity and the effective implementation of your equality plan.

Equality training should be ongoing, with an annual update for all employees. See staff training.

A critical stage in delivering equality in the workplace is to monitor the effectiveness of your equality policy and plan to ensure they are both working in practice.

Monitoring demonstrates your commitment to promoting equality within your business. It can also help you identify equality issues or problems that affect your employees and can help you implement solutions such as alternative policies or practices.

What does equality monitoring involve?

Equality monitoring involves gathering individual information from potential and existing employees at certain times and then comparing and analysing this against other groups of employees in your business or the broader workforce.

You should only collect information that you are going to use.

Ask job applicants for monitoring data on a sheet that can be detached from their application form so that the information can be kept separate from the selection process. It should be made clear that this information will only be used for equality monitoring and not in the short-listing process.

Download a sample monitoring questionnaire for job applicants (DOC, 13K).

To obtain an accurate view of your business you will also need to monitor the existing workforce. Explain your reasons for equality monitoring and make it clear you are only trying to ensure that every employee has the same access to training, promotion, and other opportunities.

Take action on equality processes

If you find some of your equality processes aren't working, you should find out why and take action.

For example, if you find your business is not attracting the number of jobseekers you might expect, you should look at your recruitment and selection procedures. Is one group benefiting at the expense of another?

If it is shown that this is the case, you should take affirmative or positive action, such as:

• encourage more people to apply for posts by considering job-sharing and part-time working
• advertise widely to attract a diverse workforce
• offer work experience opportunities or mentoring for students

For more information on the equality monitoring process, see the Equality Commission guidance on monitoring.

The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland offers employers free and confidential help to review and get the most from their workplace equality policies.

With many employees taking steps to return to the workplace after months spent working from home, now may be the time to think about reviewing your workplace policies such as those relating to:

• equal opportunities
• harassment
• recruitment and selection
• pregnancy and maternity
• menopause
• flexible working and others

You may even be considering introducing a customer service policy, particularly taking into account those customers and clients with disabilities.

If you’ve made a commitment to equality and diversity in your business, the Equality Commission may be able to help you review your equality policies and provide a free and confidential service to businesses. Many businesses have already made use of this service and some have also availed of free training from the Equality Commission.

How do I make use of the Equality Commission service?

If your business is interested in reviewing its equality-related workplace policies you can contact Paul Oakes, Equality Commission's Advisory Services Team Manager, by emailing poakes@equalityni.org.

Find out about the support available for employers and service providers from the Equality Commission.