Priority Youth Housing

Priority Youth Housing is committed to providing an environment for staff and service users which is free from threat, harassment and intimidation.  Staff  and service users have the right not to be harassed, bullied or victimised.

• Priority Youth Housing will not tolerate harassment or bullying in any form.
• Anyone found to be causing harassment may have action taken against them. This may include withdrawal of support.
• Police action or legal proceedings may be necessary to protect service users, staff or any other person suffering from harassment.
• All service users are responsible for any nuisance or harassment caused by their visitors.

WHAT IS HARASSMENT BULLYING AND NUISANCE?

Harassment, nuisance and bullying are behaviours which are unwelcome and offensive to another person.

Nuisance: includes noise or personal behaviour which causes offence, or which  mean that someone cannot quietly enjoy their home.

Bullying: offensive, intimidating, malicious or insulting behaviour.

Harassment: behaviour which violates a person’s dignity or creates a hostile, degrading or offensive environment.  It may be related to age, sex, race, disability, religion, nationality or any personal characteristic of the individual. Harassment can be physical, verbal or non-verbal.  It can be repeated or persistent behaviour but can also take the form of a one-off incident. 

1) WHAT TO DO:

LET US KNOW – it is not acceptable for harassment to happen to you or anyone else. All incidents should be reported to a staff member. Incidents should be reported to your Support Worker, a Manager, or the Director. If you feel unable to do this you can ask how to contact a Board Member of Priority Youth Housing.

2)         WHAT PRIORITY WILL DO:

The complaint will be investigated within one week. 

Practical Support: If you make a complaint about harassment by others your  Support Worker will advise you of your rights and where you can get help.

If you are suffering from nuisance or harassment you will be offered support to help address the issues.  You will be provided with support by Priority, including linking you  into other support and counselling services, and access to legal advice where this is needed.

If you complain about harassment by another service user, we will investigate this. During the investigation we will keep you informed as far as possible of any action that is being taken.

Harassment of a member of staff or of other service users: Priority will need to consider withdrawal of support if a service user harasses other service users or members of staff.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

• Please refer also to Priority’s policies on Sexual and Racial Harassment.

• For further information about how you can make a complaint, please refer to the Complaints Policy.

• If want to know more about the legal action that can be taken to protect yourself from harassment then please speak to your Support Worker who can help you to obtain relevant legal advice.

Related policies for staff:

Grievance and Disciplinary Policies

Violence at Work Policy and Procedures