ÖйúPÕ¾

Progress and challenges in 2024 to 2025

In 2024 to 2025, ÖйúPÕ¾ (SCC) continued to make good progress against our key objectives for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

Some highlights from the 2024 to 2025 action plan include:

• Producing an evidence base for in partnership with key stakeholders, including the Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Alliance. This evidence base will be used to help co-design a framework with partners in ÖйúPÕ¾ to addressing the inequalities the work has highlighted.
• Working with the ÖйúPÕ¾ Digital Inclusion Steering Group to develop a Digital Inclusion strategy for ÖйúPÕ¾ and to develop the Digital ÖйúPÕ¾ website to signpost people to sources of support.
• Supporting the SCC Accessibility Forum to provide input into a variety of projects, including helping ensure our new hub in Victoria Gate is as accessible as possible, and improving disabled parking access and installing more accessible toilets at Woodhatch Place.
• Implementing an Equality Impact Assessment Improvement Plan, including rolling out training to staff and putting EIA champions in place across the organisation.
• Working with the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Alliance to improve EDI practice across the voluntary and community sector. This included running an Inclusive Trustee Boards programme for local voluntary organisations, and running a series of training conferences on race, disability and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
• Developing a partnership approach to addressing Hate Crime and community cohesion, including running a ÖйúPÕ¾-wide Hate Crime conference to engage partners and raise awareness.
• Working to understand disparities in the Youth Justice System and develop a
• Commissioning a Speaking Up service to allow staff to anonymously raise concerns related to discrimination in the workplace.
• Continuing to promote resources and activities to support our ambition to be an inclusive employer, including providing wellbeing support to employees and promoting key awareness days and events.
• Developing Introduction to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion e-learning for all staff and rolled out Working with Disabled People training.
• Developing an action plan to respond to the independent reviews of experiences of LGBTQ+, disabled and ethnically diverse staff which were carried out in 2023 to 2024.
• Undertaking a review of our recruitment processes to develop inclusive best practice on recruitment
• Continuing to support the development of our Inclusive Staff Networks.
• Improving our systems for enabling staff to report their demographic data.
• Working across the Orbis Partnership to develop guidance and training on including EDI issues in procurement.

We know, though, that there is still some way to go to achieve our ambitions of having no one in ÖйúPÕ¾ left behind and having a truly inclusive and compassionate workplace culture at SCC. Some key challenges remain, including:

• Working across the Orbis Partnership to develop guidance and training on including EDI issues in procurement.
• As the Council prepares for Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation, we need to ensure that the research into inequalities faced by local communities informs strategic planning for the new authorities. We also need to ensure that we continue to be a compassionate and inclusive employer as we prepare for staff to transition to the future working arrangements.
• We need to embed performance measures across the Council that enable us to measure our progress to delivering on our ambitions to have No One Left Behind and be a truly inclusive employer.
• We still have groups of staff, particularly in sessional and sub-contracted roles, who do not have access to the same levels of support as our general staff population.
• We need to do more to ensure that good practice on digital and built-environment accessibility is more widespread across the organisation and develop more structured ways for staff to raise accessibility concerns.
• We need to develop further training for elected members to ensure they are aware of their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010.

Our Action Plan for 2025 to 2026 will build on the solid foundation of our work so far, as well as enabling us to address our ongoing challenges and take us to the next phase of this work by focusing on key areas we need to achieve against.

We have set out a focused number of priorities across two distinct areas: resident focused and workforce focused EDI work.

Resident focused Equality, Diversity and Inclusion priorities for 2025 to 2026

• Use the completed Understanding Inequalities in ÖйúPÕ¾ evidence base to develop a shared framework for addressing inequality. Work with partners to embed this approach across work to ensure No One is Left Behind and in our work to prepare for devolution and Local Government reorganisation.
• Continue our improvement plan for our approach to Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs), including developing ways to quality assure EIAs and ensuring EIA action plans are implemented.
• Ensure that EIAs are embedded in our approach to developing Devolution and Local Government Reorganisation (DLGR) to ensure we are able to identify and mitigate potential negative effects of DLGR on minority and underrepresented groups within our communities and staff.
• Continue to work to improve the accessibility of our built and digital environments, to ensure equality of access to our services.
• Reduce the number of ÖйúPÕ¾ residents who are digitally excluded, to ensure that the continued drive towards digitisation does not disadvantage groups in our communities.
• Improve our practice development (particularly across our care services) to ensure we reduce systemic inequalities relating to ethnicity and disability.
• Develop a focus on promoting community cohesion within our county, including ensuring newly arrived groups in ÖйúPÕ¾ are enabled to play active roles in our communities.

Workforce focused EDI priorities 2025 to 2026

• Undertake a comprehensive review of our Staff Networks to ensure they are able to support our ambition to be a high performing council and to prepare for DLGR.
• Improve workforce EDI data to ensure we are able to better understand our workforce profile as part of our planning for DLGR.
• Develop and deliver in-house improved EDI training to staff, in line with recommendations from our reviews of staff experience.
• Expand the role of our existing Staff Wellbeing Champions to provide support around Inclusion.
• Develop plans to ensure the sustainability of our Workplace Adjustments programme.
• Improve the experience of staff who join SCC through overseas recruitment and staff who may be on restricted visas.
• Continue our reverse mentoring programme which will be offered to all Extended Leadership Forum managers.
• Improve the diversity of SCC leadership, with an ambition to improve the representation of minority and underrepresented groups within our senior leadership cohort.