Equal Opportunities, Diversity and Non-Discrimination

Basic Principles

JPIP (including its members, employees and shareholders) views our employees as its single most important investment. The quality of our services depends upon the quality of our people and the future of our business depends upon offering our people an attractive career path so that we retain their energy and skills in the business over the years ahead.

JPIP believes a well managed, diverse work force expands its foundation of knowledge, skills and cross-cultural understanding, which in turn, enables us to understand, relate and respond to our diverse and changing customers wherever they are located. Our overall commitment to building a team of the highest quality is reflected in our diversity and inclusion philosophy.

Key Aims:

• To achieve and maintain a diverse, high-achieving group of employees in order that we can offer the highest level of service in the markets where we operate.

• To create an inclusive, flexible work environment that values differences and motivates employees to contribute their best.

• To serve our clients in the optimal way, by recognising that we must attract, develop, promote and retain a diverse workforce.

• To instil trust, mutual respect and dignity as fundamental beliefs that are reflected in our behaviour and actions.

• To make the senior management of our business accountable at all times for achieving our diversity and inclusion goals, in the belief that this in turn will drive our success.

Our policy

a) Statement of Policy

1)  We recognise that discrimination is unacceptable and we have made the decision to adopt a formal equal opportunities policy. Breaches of the policy will lead to disciplinary proceedings and, if appropriate, disciplinary action.

2)  The aim of the policy is to ensure no job applicant, employee or worker is discriminated against either directly or indirectly on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

3)  We will ensure that the policy is circulated to any agencies responsible for our recruitment and a copy of the policy will be made available for all employees and made known to all applicants for employment.

4)  The policy will be communicated to all private contractors reminding them of their responsibilities towards the equality of opportunity.

5) The policy will be implemented in accordance with the appropriate statutory requirements and full account will be taken of all available guidance and in particular any relevant Codes of Practice.

6)  We will maintain a neutral working environment in which no employee or worker feels under threat or intimidated.

b) Recruitment and Selection

1)  The recruitment and selection process is crucially important to any equal opportunities policy. We will endeavour through appropriate training to ensure that employees making selection and recruitment decisions will not discriminate, whether consciously or unconsciously, in making these decisions.

2) Promotion and advancement will be made on merit and all decisions relating to this will be made within the overall framework and principles of this policy.

3) Job descriptions, where used, will be revised to ensure that they are in line with our equal opportunities policy. Job requirements will be reflected accurately in any personnel specifications.

4) We will adopt a consistent, non-discriminatory approach to the advertising of vacancies.

5) We will not confine our recruitment to areas or media sources which provide only, or mainly, applicants of a particular group.

6) All applicants who apply for jobs with us will receive fair treatment and will be considered solely on their ability to do the job.

7) All employees involved in the recruitment process will periodically review their selection criteria to ensure that they are related to the job requirements and do not unlawfully discriminate.

8) Short listing and interviewing will be carried out by more than one person where possible.

9) Interview questions will be related to the requirements of the job and will not be of a discriminatory nature.

10) We will not disqualify any applicant because he/she is unable to complete an application form unassisted unless personal completion of the form is a valid test of the standard of English required for the safe and effective performance of the job.

11) Selection decisions will not be influenced by any perceived prejudices of other staff.

c) Training and Promotion

1) Senior staff will receive training in the application of this policy to ensure that they are aware of its contents and provisions.

2) All promotion will be in line with this policy.

d) Monitoring

1) We will maintain and review the employment records of all employees in order to monitor the progress of this policy.

2) Monitoring may involve:

a) the collection and classification of information regarding the race in terms of ethnic/national origin and sex of all applicants and current employees;

b) the examination by ethnic/national origin and sex of the distribution of employees and the success rate of the applicants; and

c) recording recruitment, training and promotional records of all employees, the decisions

reached and the reason for those decisions.

3) The results of any monitoring procedure will be reviewed at regular intervals to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of this policy. Consideration will be given, if necessary, to adjusting this policy to afford greater equality of opportunities to all applicants and staff.

March 2026