Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy

Al-Waris Foundation is committed to promoting equality, respecting diversity and providing an inclusive environment in its charitable activities.

The charity aims to ensure that people are treated:

Al-Waris Foundation recognises that equality does not always require identical treatment.

Different treatment may be appropriate where it is:

This policy establishes Al-Waris Foundation's approach to equality, diversity and inclusion in relation to:

This policy applies to:

Partner organisations and contractors may also be required to comply with relevant equality and safeguarding standards when delivering activities on behalf of the charity.

Al-Waris Foundation will seek to comply with applicable equality law, including the Equality Act 2010 where it applies.

The charity will also consider relevant requirements arising from:

Under the Equality Act 2010, protected characteristics include:

The exact application of protections varies according to the legal context.

Al-Waris Foundation will not knowingly engage in unlawful discrimination.

This may include:

Direct discrimination may occur where a person is treated less favourably because of a protected characteristic in circumstances prohibited by law.

Indirect discrimination may arise where an apparently neutral:

places people sharing a protected characteristic at a particular disadvantage and cannot be appropriately justified.

Harassment involving protected characteristics is not acceptable.

The charity will seek to maintain an environment in which people are not subjected to:

A person should not be subjected to unlawful victimisation because they have:

where protected by applicable law.

Equality does not necessarily mean treating every person identically.

People may have different:

The charity may take these differences into account where lawful and appropriate.

Al-Waris Foundation must use its resources to further its charitable purposes.

Beneficiary selection may therefore legitimately take account of factors such as:

This is not automatically unlawful discrimination.

Beneficiary-selection criteria should be:

Personal favouritism should not determine access to charitable assistance.

The charity may prioritise people experiencing greater need.

Relevant factors may include:

Al-Waris Foundation may direct projects to particular:

where this reflects:

The charity is not required to operate in every geographic area equally.

A lawful donor restriction may limit the people or location benefiting from particular funds.

Restricted funds must be applied according to their lawful restriction.

Equality considerations do not permit the charity to disregard valid donor restrictions.

Al-Waris Foundation recognises the importance that religion and belief may have for:

The charity will seek to treat people respectfully regardless of religion or belief.

Al-Waris Foundation may administer forms of religious giving such as:

where this is consistent with the charity's purposes and applicable requirements.

Eligibility requirements genuinely associated with a particular religious fund may be applied where lawful.

Such restrictions should not be extended unnecessarily to unrelated unrestricted charitable assistance.

Unless a particular lawful fund or charitable programme provides otherwise, beneficiaries should not be required to:

as a condition of receiving ordinary humanitarian assistance.

Reasonable religious expression by trustees, volunteers, beneficiaries and others should be respected where compatible with:

Beneficiaries, volunteers and other people interacting with the charity should not be treated unlawfully because of:

A project operating in a particular country will naturally primarily assist people located there.

This does not require the charity to provide identical services to people of every nationality.

Selection should remain connected to the legitimate purpose and scope of the project.

The charity will not unlawfully discriminate because a person is male or female.

Different arrangements may be appropriate where:

genuinely justify them.

Certain charitable activities may legitimately focus on women, men, girls or boys where this is:

Any restriction should be capable of reasonable justification.

Pregnancy and maternity should not result in unlawful disadvantage.

Reasonable consideration should be given to:

Al-Waris Foundation is committed to avoiding unlawful disability discrimination.

The charity should consider reasonable adjustments where required and practicable.

Possible adjustments may include:

What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances.

The charity should seek reasonable accessibility across:

Accessibility should be considered during design rather than only after a problem occurs.

Where reasonably practicable, Al-Waris Foundation's digital services should support measures such as:

Age should not be used as an arbitrary reason to exclude people.

Age restrictions may nevertheless be appropriate where justified by:

Children require additional safeguarding protection.

Age-appropriate safeguards are not discriminatory merely because adults are subject to different arrangements.

See the Safeguarding Children Policy.

The charity should avoid assumptions that older people are automatically:

Individual circumstances should be considered.

The charity will not unlawfully discriminate against a person because of sexual orientation.

All beneficiaries and volunteers should be treated with dignity.

The charity will seek to comply with applicable legal protections concerning gender reassignment.

Personal information relating to an individual's circumstances should be handled appropriately and confidentially.

The charity will not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of marriage or civil partnership where the relevant legal protection applies.

Financial hardship is not itself a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

However, socioeconomic circumstances are highly relevant to much of Al-Waris Foundation's charitable work.

The charity should avoid:

Every beneficiary should be treated with dignity.

The charity should avoid practices that unnecessarily:

Language barriers should be considered where they materially affect access to assistance or understanding.

Where practicable, the charity may use:

A person should not be unnecessarily excluded because they cannot complete a complex written form.

Alternative methods of obtaining necessary information should be considered where practicable.

Where a service can reasonably be provided through another route, the charity should consider people who:

Not every programme must operate through every communication method.

Volunteer opportunities should be offered fairly and according to legitimate role requirements.

Selection may consider:

Equality does not prevent Al-Waris Foundation from carrying out proportionate safer-recruitment procedures.

Appropriate:

may be used where relevant.

A criminal record should not automatically exclude a volunteer unless:

Disabled volunteers should be able to request reasonable adjustments.

The charity should consider:

where reasonable.

Health or disability information should only be requested where there is a legitimate reason.

Such information should be handled under applicable data-protection requirements.

Trustee recruitment should seek people capable of contributing effectively to governance.

Selection must also comply with:

The Board may consider whether a broader range of:

would strengthen governance.

Trustees should ultimately be selected according to the charity's governance needs and legal requirements.

A family relationship does not automatically prevent a person from being:

However, related-party situations require appropriate conflict-of-interest management.

Family relationships must not be used to bypass:

Contractors should be selected according to legitimate factors including:

Unlawful discriminatory selection practices should be avoided.

Local knowledge, language and geographic presence may legitimately be relevant when selecting overseas contractors.

Such requirements should be connected to actual project needs.

Where Al-Waris Foundation works with partner organisations, it should consider whether their practices create significant:

risks.

The charity should respect legitimate local customs during overseas work.

However, local custom does not automatically justify:

Projects should consider applicable local law.

Where local law conflicts with UK regulatory expectations or creates serious ethical or safeguarding concerns, the matter should be escalated appropriately.

Humanitarian assistance should be distributed according to legitimate humanitarian and charitable criteria.

Assistance should not be withheld because of personal prejudice.

Emergency response may require prioritisation.

Priority may legitimately be given according to factors such as:

Equal treatment does not require first-come-first-served distribution where that would produce an unreasonable outcome.

Food distributions should use reasonable and transparent eligibility or allocation arrangements where demand exceeds supply.

Volunteers should not favour:

without a legitimate charitable basis.

Water-project locations may be prioritised according to:

The charity is not required to distribute installations evenly between communities regardless of need.

Grant decisions should follow the Grant Making Policy.

Decisions should be based on:

Fundraising communications should be inclusive and respectful.

Fundraising should not depend on:

Donors should be treated fairly and respectfully.

The charity may apply different administrative treatment where genuinely necessary because of:

A donor's preference for anonymity should be respected where reasonably possible.

Legal or regulatory requirements may still require the charity to retain certain internal information.

Equality considerations do not prevent proportionate:

Such controls should be based on genuine risk and legal requirements rather than stereotypes.

Risk assessments should rely on relevant evidence and circumstances.

People should not automatically be treated as suspicious merely because of:

People may raise equality-related concerns under the Complaints Policy.

Complaints should be:

A complaint alleging discrimination should consider:

Equality considerations must operate alongside safeguarding.

Safeguarding measures may require different treatment according to:

Appropriate safeguarding distinctions are not automatically discriminatory.

Information about a person's protected characteristics may be sensitive.

It should only be disclosed where there is a legitimate reason.

See the Confidentiality Policy.

Information concerning matters such as:

may constitute special category personal data under UK GDPR.

Such information requires appropriate protection and a valid legal basis for processing.

The charity may collect equality-monitoring information where there is a legitimate reason.

Participation should normally be voluntary unless particular information is genuinely required for another lawful purpose.

Where practical, equality-monitoring information used for statistical purposes should be separated from individual decision-making.

The charity should not collect protected-characteristic information merely because it may be interesting.

There should be a legitimate purpose for collection.

Media should portray people respectfully and avoid discriminatory stereotypes.

See the Photography, Video and Beneficiary Consent Policy.

The charity may seek to represent the diversity of communities it supports.

Representation must remain truthful.

People must not be falsely presented as beneficiaries merely to create the appearance of diversity.

AI-generated illustrations may depict diverse communities where appropriate.

AI imagery must not:

Where AI tools assist decisions affecting people, the charity should consider whether the system may introduce:

Material decisions should not be delegated blindly to automated systems.

Al-Waris Foundation should not rely solely on an unexplained automated score to deny significant charitable assistance where meaningful human review is reasonably required.

Website content should use respectful and reasonably inclusive language.

Public information should avoid unnecessary barriers to understanding.

Forms should request only information genuinely relevant to their purpose.

Questions about protected characteristics should not be mandatory unless there is a legitimate reason.

People should be addressed respectfully using the information reasonably provided by them.

Administrative systems should avoid unnecessary assumptions based solely on a person's name.

Where practicable, reasonable communication preferences may be accommodated.

The charity is not required to provide every communication in every possible format but should consider genuine accessibility needs.

Charity events should consider reasonable accessibility and inclusion.

Relevant considerations may include:

What is reasonable depends on the event and available resources.

Where food is provided at charity activities, reasonable efforts should be made to communicate relevant dietary information.

Specific dietary provision may be appropriate where practical.

Where practicable, significant religious observance may be considered when scheduling:

Operational requirements may sometimes limit accommodation.

Dress requirements should be based on legitimate considerations such as:

Religious or cultural dress should be accommodated where reasonably compatible with those requirements.

Where beneficiaries, donors, contractors or members of the public seriously harass volunteers or representatives, the charity should take reasonable steps to manage the situation.

Providing charitable assistance does not require volunteers to tolerate abuse.

Bullying is not acceptable regardless of whether it relates to a legally protected characteristic.

The charity should seek to maintain respectful working and volunteering relationships.

Official Al-Waris Foundation channels must not be used to publish or promote unlawful hate speech.

Comments on charity-controlled platforms may be moderated where necessary.

Digital communications should comply with the Social Media and Digital Communications Policy.

Equality principles apply to:

Trustees and volunteers may hold personal beliefs and opinions.

They must not use their Al-Waris Foundation role to unlawfully discriminate against beneficiaries or others.

Equality and human dignity may legitimately be discussed by the charity where connected to its purposes.

Official channels must nevertheless comply with charity-law restrictions concerning party-political activity.

The charity recognises that people may lawfully hold differing:

views.

Disagreement alone should not automatically be characterised as harassment or discrimination.

Conduct should be assessed according to:

Trustees, volunteers and authorised persons should receive proportionate equality guidance relevant to their roles.

Training may cover:

Volunteers should:

Trustees should ensure that:

People responsible for projects should consider equality issues during:

Where lawful, the charity may use proportionate positive action to address disadvantage or underrepresentation.

Positive action should not be confused with unlawful positive discrimination.

Charity law may permit benefits to be targeted toward particular groups where this is justified by:

Targeting a genuine charitable need is not necessarily inconsistent with equality.

Al-Waris Foundation cannot necessarily assist every eligible person.

Where demand exceeds available resources, reasonable prioritisation may be required.

Criteria should be connected to:

Where waiting lists are used, the charity may consider whether strict chronological order would unfairly disadvantage people facing urgent or exceptional need.

Priority rules should be reasonable and consistently applied.

Equality and fairness may be undermined where decision-makers favour:

Relevant conflicts must be managed under the Conflict of Interest Policy.

Family or personal connections must not provide unjustified preferential access to:

A connected person may still legitimately participate where ordinary criteria are met and conflicts are appropriately managed.

A person raising a genuine equality concern should not be subjected to inappropriate retaliation.

This does not prevent the charity from addressing deliberately false or malicious conduct.

A complaint is not malicious merely because:

Good-faith concerns should be handled respectfully.

Serious discriminatory conduct may result in:

Where a significant equality concern arises, the charity should establish relevant facts proportionately.

The person complained about should normally have an appropriate opportunity to respond where this is consistent with:

Material equality complaints and decisions should be documented appropriately.

Records should be:

The charity should monitor equality risks proportionately.

Monitoring may consider:

The charity is not required to collect extensive demographic information where doing so serves no meaningful purpose.

Equality considerations should be incorporated when relevant policies are reviewed.

Particular attention should be given to policies affecting:

Where the charity materially changes a service, it should consider whether the change creates foreseeable and unjustified barriers for particular groups.

Al-Waris Foundation is a charity and should implement equality controls proportionately to:

Proportionality does not remove the obligation to comply with applicable law.

Anyone who believes they have experienced or witnessed inappropriate discrimination connected to Al-Waris Foundation may raise the matter through the charity's appropriate contact or complaints route.

Urgent safeguarding concerns should be raised through safeguarding procedures.

Nothing in this policy prevents a person from exercising any legal right to:

A breach of this policy may result in:

The response should be proportionate to the circumstances.

This policy should be read alongside:

This policy will be reviewed:

Version: 2.0 Status: Approved Approved by: Board of Trustees Approval date: 25/08/2026 Next scheduled review: 24/08/2027