Diversity, Inclusion and Social Mobility

• We will achieve and maintain a workplace that is representative of the communities in which we live, work and serve.
• We will attract and recruit the best talent from diverse groups within our communities, with a priority focus on disadvantaged groups.
• We will continue to build an inclusive and empowering workplace culture, aiming to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and they belong.
• We will continue to develop inclusive leadership and a culture of allyship.
• We will embed inclusion throughout the employee lifecycle, in particular we will develop and retain our diverse talented colleagues.
• We will create positive impact in our communities through embedding inclusion in our services and working within our local communities with groups that have been traditionally disadvantaged, to drive wider positive impact through volunteering, skills sharing and mentoring.
• We will embed inclusive practice through the organisation, including through procurement and social value, business change and all people policies and processes, undertaking inclusion impact analysis to inform and shape practice.
• We will aim to achieve top 75 in the Social Mobility Employer Index, embedding social mobility and socio-economic inclusion throughout all aspects of our work.

We have:

• retained our ‘Gold Standard Employer’ status in Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion's (enei's) Talent, Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) benchmark, ranking as first public sector employer for the fifth year running
• achieved Ambassador Status from the Better Health at Work Awards
• collected socio-economic background data for the first time, with a 48% response rate
• grown our colleague networks and expanding our inclusive leadership and mentoring programmes
• maintained our Disability Confident Leader and Carer Confident Level 2: Accomplished accreditations
• increased engagement and membership in Colleague Experience Networks