We’ve proudly become a signatory of Business In the Community’s Race at Work Charter.

As part of our promise to be a fairer and more inclusive place to work and an anti-racist council we’re committed to the five calls to action in the charter.

1. Appoint an executive sponsor for race

Geoff Raw, Chief Executive and Chair of the Corporate Equality Delivery Group (CEDG) is our executive sponsor. He provides leadership to our action plan driven by the CEDG to be a fair and inclusive employer and public service provider.

2. Capture ethnicity data and publicise progress

We capture ethnicity data to understand how fair and inclusive the council is for our ethnic minority staff and actively feed this data into change for the better.  Key priorities are to  increase the diversity of our workforce across all grades and to improve recruitment and progression outcomes for Black and Minority Ethnic future and existing staff.  We publish our Workforce Equalities Report annually on our website.

3. Commit at board level to a zero tolerance of harassment and bullying

The council has adopted a zero tolerance approach to racism. It means that if staff experience or observe discrimination we’ll listen, we won’t ignore it, we’ll take it seriously and we’ll take all appropriate action.

4. Make clear that supporting equality in the workplace is the responsibility of all leaders and managers

Fairness and inclusion is a core part of our leadership development programme.  All managers are expected to champion equality and inclusion within their teams and service delivery.  This is monitored through their performance appraisals.

5. Take action that supports ethnic minority career progression

We are working closely with our BME Workers’ Forum to develop positive action initiatives and ensure that staff have opportunities to progress.  We are also providing a range of fair and inclusive and anti-racist training to officers to increase the awareness of bias and structures that can create barriers for our Black and Minority Ethnic staff.

Signing up to the charter shows our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work and in becoming an anti-racist council.