The social inclusion charity has been supported and assessed by Manchester Pride’s All Equals Charter to strengthen its equality, diversity and inclusion practices.

Social inclusion charity, Salford Foundation, have achieved ‘Good Practice’ for the All Equals Charter, doing especially well in ‘Services’ and ‘Progress Tracking and Reporting’.

The All Equals Charter is Manchester Pride’s programme to help businesses and organisations understand, recognise and challenge any form of discrimination in the workplace. The charter aims to make the workplace inclusive, diverse and equal for marginalised people.

Salford Foundation initially set up an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion task group to refresh and agree a new action plan. Staff from across the charity met regularly and worked together to prepare for the assessment and provide supporting evidence.

Phil East, Chief Executive from Salford Foundation said: “Our commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is embedded within our core values at Salford Foundation. I’m delighted that we have achieved the All Equals Charter accreditation as part of continuous improvement.

“However, it’s not the end of our journey. We will continue to strive harder and challenge ourselves to be a fully inclusive and diverse charity. I am grateful to all my colleagues for their commitment and dedication in enabling us to achieve this accreditation.”

All Equals Charter members strive towards accreditation from Entry Level up to Role Model Level. The members are invited to follow a set of commitments and principles, they are then regularly assessed to ensure their workplace, services and company promotes and embeds equality and diversity for all members of marginalised communities.

Dr Christopher Owen, Manchester Pride's Inclusivity Development Manager said: "I am deeply impressed with Salford Foundation's service delivery, offering exceptional support for LGBTQ+ people, including meeting the specific institutional needs of transgender people.

“While they continue to improve their policies, formal procedures and the collection and monitoring of data, they are very evidently working hard to develop and grow. Salford Foundation's entire team should be very proud of their clear dedication to LGBTQ+ inclusion."

The feedback provided by the All Equals Charter facilitates organisations to develop an action plan to further improve equality in the workplace and services for the LGBTQ+ and other marginalised communities living in Greater Manchester and further afield.

Francesca Moss who leads the EDI team alongside Maggie Langhorn Operations Manager has said: “We are all very pleased with the progress made so far and welcome the learning to come. It has been such a pleasure to work collaboratively with Manchester Pride and we are keen to keep promoting our work, whilst building on our strengths and developing, where needed.

“We look forward to seeing further achievements through implementing our action plan, continuing to put our service users at the heart of what we do; whilst also harnessing the skills of a great staff team. Equality, diversity and inclusion will always be a priority for us at Salford Foundation and we embrace the next steps”.

To find out how Manchester Pride can support your business in the development of intersectional inclusivity in the workplace, visit allequalscharter.com.