Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
Driving Change
At Eastlight, we believe society as a whole must develop a fairer, more inclusive environment, in which diverse backgrounds, experiences and abilities are embraced and celebrated.
To create meaningful, long-lasting change in our workplace, communities and beyond, we encourage open and honest conversations with our people, our residents and partners.
Supporting others is important to us. We give our people the knowledge and tools to feel equipped and confident to challenge racism, inequalities and discrimination.
Championing Diversity
We strive to foster a diverse and inclusive workforce, championing equality in our workplace and communities.
Our partnerships with disability organisations help us to ensure our application, interview process, onboarding and workplaces are accessible for all.
As a ‘Disability Confident Leader’, we continue to push boundaries, improving our systems, software and ways of working, to allow our people to do their best work.
Our people have an equal stake in how we operate, and their feedback helps to improve the overall experience our staff and customers receive from us.
Our Partnerships
We’re proud to have formed strong relationships with our strategic partners to help us deliver equitable homes and services to residents and supports our inclusive workplace.
These partners help us remain an employer and landlord of choice amongst staff and residents. They also help us identify key areas of improvement to co-design spaces where people feel seen, heard and respected.
Disability Confident
We’re proud to have been awarded ‘Disability Confident Leader’ (Level 3) status – the highest level in the Government’s Disability Confident Employer scheme.
Our levelling up included introducing a Neurodiverse Recruitment Programme, with the support of ECL, and enhancing partnerships with disability organisations.
Progress on our disability inclusivity journey to date also includes:
- Successfully completing the UK government’s Disability Confident status self-assessment
- Taking all the core actions to become a Disability Confident Leader
- Exploring additional actions that we can take to support our people through our Just Being You reverse-mentoring programme
- Committing to encouraging job applications by offering an interview to candidates who declare they have a disability, if the person meets the minimum criteria for the role
- Aiming to support candidates by providing reasonable adjustments during their application process, where possible.
ECL
We remain committed to being the catalyst for significant change by having open conversations with all our staff and residents to level up the inequality between disabled and non-disabled people. We also continue to improve our services and ways of working so that we are an accessible, inclusive and leading employer for diversity.
That’s why we are working closely with ECL (Essex Cares) to change how we recruit, to ensure neurodivergent individuals are supported throughout their application and time at Eastlight.
As part of our partnership, we provide the following for individuals applying for roles through the Neurodiverse Recruitment Programme:
- A ‘meet and greet’ before the interview stage to visit our headquarters, Eastlight House, and see what a typical working day looks like
- An opportunity to meet the recruiting manager before the interview stage to find out more about the role
- Additional adjustments throughout the recruitment process
- An interview where the panel has been briefed on interviewing neurodivergent individuals, with the assistance of ECL
- A dedicated support coach from ECL for the first six months of employment.
ECL provides high-quality social care services in Essex, London Borough of Havering and West Sussex, aimed at wellbeing, prevention and increasing independence.
BuildEast
Championing equality, diversity and inclusion across the East of England and nationally is important to us.
Eastlight is involved with BuildEast, a partnership of housing associations working together to meet the needs and ambitions of the people and communities across the Eastern region.
Agreed in May 2021, the BuildEast Charter outlines our joint commitments for leaders, employers and landlords.
What will the charter achieve?
- Increased knowledge and understanding across the region
- More diversity in our workforces, apprenticeships/traineeships and Boards
- Empowering people to mentor leaders to foster understanding on a wide range of lived experience – leading to improvements based on people’s differing needs.
HouseProud
The HouseProud Pledge scheme is a housing sector-wide commitment that ensures LGBTQ+ residents feel safe, secure and free to be themselves in their own homes.
In March 2026, we took the next step in our commitment by signing up to the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge – created by HouseProud and delivered by Stonewall Housing – at ‘Pledge Promise’ level. This means we are formally working towards strengthening support, visibility and inclusion for our LGBTQ+ residents across our homes and communities.
We support this work by engaging with LGBTQ+ residents, fostering positive relationships and creating an inclusive culture for our people and communities.
We are working towards achieving HouseProud Pledge Pioneer accreditation – building on our commitment as a ‘Pledge Promise’ signatory – by:
- Ensuring LGBTQ+ customers have a voice at executive / strategic level within the housing sector
- Increasing LGBTQ+ visibility in our workplace and communities
- Initiating a programme of staff training to improve the lives of our staff members and residents from the LGBTQ+ community.
HDN
By being a member of the social enterprise and membership organisation, Housing Diversity Network (HDN), Eastlight learns from and collaborates with like-minded partners in the housing sector who are equally committed to addressing inequality, maximising the potential of their workforce and catering to the diverse needs of the communities we all serve.