Corporate Statements

We will continue to build an Association that our people feel proud of through recruiting, managing and developing our people in a responsible way and in a safe and rewarding environment. This includes ensuring our people have an opportunity to volunteer and support our chosen charities and develop our approach to people, rewards, health and well being. Our employee support package includes family friendly policies, healthcare for all and other flexible rewards tailored to individual needs.

Tenants want a sense of community, within their immediate area and the wider settlement. We are more than a landlord and provide services to improve quality of life and employability, tackle fuel poverty and discrimination, and address times of household crisis or financial difficulty through tenancy sustainability services provided through the SMART and ASSIST Teams. We are also addressing digital exclusion and engagement to ensure that tenants and other customers are part of what we do.

Our aim at community level is to grow and support the social capital and diversity of third sector and voluntary activity in communities we serve. We will continue to build sustainable communities through our investment in community regeneration.

What we will do to improve your social well-being
In the new community based operational model, Neighbourhood Officers will be able to make investment and operational decisions in support of their communities and work with tenants to find funding to improve their environment.

In order to calculate the social value of our projects, we will work with the SFHA to develop the methodology of determining social value.

In our wider role as a community anchor, we will support local groups by information sharing, offering volunteering opportunities for staff, provide governance and organisational advice and where appropriate support. We will develop a tenant apprentice scheme to help build confidence, engagement and customer board membership.

Tenants want a safe, secure, biodiverse, healthy, pollution free place to live in, to reduce waste and recycle more, and opportunities to participate in a low carbon world, whether that be in terms of energy use, transport or food. We will nurture a sustainable environment – through understanding and managing GHA’s impact on the environment, looking for new and sustainable ways to operate our business and supporting our tenants & customers to do the same.

This includes educating our colleagues to minimise the impact they and our services have on the environment and using products and contractors who will minimise the impact that our built assets (existing and new) have on the environment. One outcome of transforming our business by moving to a new Grampian 2.0 operating model will be reducing travel to work time and our carbon footprint.

As part of our CSR commitment we will decarbonise our business and share innovation with our sector. Grampian's electricity supply is already 100% renewable. We will move away from fossil fuel use over the next decade, and work with tenants to become a carbon neutral association. We are also assessing our stock and identifying opportunities in existing and new build homes to install new energy technologies such as solar panels, electrical storage batteries, renewable heating systems and LED lighting.

We support your community with a range of initiatives including energy saving, employment opportunities, enterprise, training and volunteering. As our work goes far beyond bricks and mortar we will continue to develop and expand this support.

What we will do to improve the environment you live in
Create a set of standards for thermal efficiency, local electricity generation and use, water saving and biodiversity for new homes through our Grampian Design Vision.

We will increase biodiversity in green spaces on our estates with better maintenance and management, including planting more trees, food forests and looking after your environment.

We will improve our supply chain on social and environmental targets to cover responsible sourcing, energy and waste.

We will work with tenants, community groups, the councils and third sector to reduce food waste and find alternative uses for surplus and waste food in our communities.

Our planned maintenance programme will design out waste.

We are working with communities, councils and the third sector to create a social enterprise to turn fruit waste into value and investment in the environment. We are creating a energy transition strategy and operating model for existing and new homes that stops our reliance on fossil fuels, whilst keeping homes affordable to run.

The Association revised its policy in regard to Equality in October 2021 with the assistance of external and specialist support. This combined with a new Action Plan reflects our commitment to social justice and making a positive difference for people.

The equality policy sets out a framework of objectives and specific equality procedures that we use to address discrimination as well as to promote social justice.

The policy objectives are implemented through an equality action plan and a range of other equality procedures. This ensures that we adopt a holistic and systemic approach to equality rights implementation.

This framework provides the foundation on which we will deliver services and take positive action to address inequality and incidence of modern slavery.

Procurement Selection Questionnaires were revised in 2021 to include questions related to modern slavery and human trafficking to identify and mitigate risk in supply chains. Specifically, all new procurement contracts were revised to ensure that they contain the following clauses:

• The Service Provider shall, and shall use reasonable endeavours to ensure that its employees or agents and/or supply chain shall, at all-time act in a way which is compatible with the Modern Slavery Act 2015.
• Where relevant the Service Provider must publish a statement as required by the Act.
• The Client reserves the right, upon reasonable notice, to audit this at any time during the contract period. In the event that the Client considers that a Service Provider is not in compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2015 the Service Provider must take all such appropriate remedial actions as requested by the Client to address any areas of concern.
• The Service Provider agrees to indemnify and keep indemnified the Client against all loss, costs, proceedings or damages whatsoever arising out of or in connection with any breach by the Service Provider of its obligations under the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

Grampian will only trade with those who fully comply with this Policy or those who are taking verifiable steps towards compliance. We will assess any suspected instances of noncompliance on a case-by-case basis and take appropriate remedial action.

In 2021, we revised our Procurement Strategy. This incorporated the UK and Scottish legislative framework and follows good practice in procurement.

We have a Safeguarding Policy in place to ensure that all suspected cases of neglect or abuse are investigated and reported. The ASSIST Team have been designated as Safeguarding Officers and underwent online training on Modern Slavery and this is due to updated by early 2024. ASSIST also has policies and training for vulnerable adults.

Our Whistleblowing Policy provides advice to colleagues and Board Members about how to report any instances of malpractice within our organisation or supply chain.