Dorset Council has an important role to play in helping reduce inequalities in the county and safeguarding the rights of people protected by the Equality Act 2010.
As a public body and local organisation, we recognise that the council has a special responsibility to show leadership through our actions and words on equality, diversity and inclusion.
Tackling inequality, challenging discrimination, promoting inclusion and celebrating diversity helps to achieve this vision for Dorset. We are committed to leading by example, working with others, investing in communities, and listening and acting when people tell us how we can deliver better services.
We invite you to read our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2024-2027. This document sets out our approach, objectives and actions for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion over the next four years, building on the valuable work done to date.
By placing fairness at the centre of what we do, promoting equality of opportunity and celebrating diversity and community cohesion, we can help to build a fairer future for all.
If you would like document in an alternative format, please call 01305 221000 or email customerservices@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk
Cllr Ryan Holloway, Cabinet Member for Corporate Development and Transformation
Cllr Ryan Hope, Cabinet Member for Customer, Culture and Community Engagement
Aidan Dunn, Executive Director of Corporate Development and Chair of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Board
Our Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy describes our plans over the next four years to deliver better outcomes for those living and working in Dorset. The intention of this strategy and supporting action plan is to make a positive difference to our residents, workforce and visitors.
Dorset Council has a legal duty to:
These provisions are found in the Equality Act 2010.
The Equality Act also introduced the term 'protected characteristics' to refer to specific aspects of a person's identity that cannot be used as a reason to discriminate against. These are:
We are following the definitions for each protected characteristic provided by the Equality Human Rights Commission, case law and guidance provided by central government and the NHS. It is important to note that carers are also protected through association with any of the above nine protected characteristics.
We recognise there are some additional characteristics that impact people in Dorset and their ability to access services and/or participate in public life, and we also consider these when making decisions and refer to these as 'local protected characteristics'. These include:
Appendix 1 provides a definition we have adopted for each local characteristic. Our definitions are based on the 2021 census and other relevant information provided by the Equality Human Rights Commission, case law, guidance provided by the central government and best practices.
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), the council is required to:
However, the drive behind this strategy is not just to meet a legal requirement. We recognise that there is continuing and persistent inequality in society and, as a council, we have an influential community leadership role in challenging that inequality. It will also help us ensure that what we do is always for the benefit of Dorset’s residents by:
To ensure that our workplace and our services are meeting the needs of everyone, we have a responsibility to listen and respond better. As one of the county's largest employers, we also have a responsibility to lead by example. This document outlines the principles and objectives that will guide us on our journey.
The Dorset Council Plan 2022 to 2024 sets out our vision to “make Dorset a great place to live, work and visit”. The development of a new equality, diversity and inclusion strategy is key to achieving this vision. This strategy makes an essential contribution to the achievement of all five priorities set out in the Council Plan:
In particular, the purpose of this strategy is to support achievement of the council’s vision by focusing on the priorities of ‘stronger, healthier communities’ and a diverse and engaged workforce to enable us to become ‘a more responsive, customer focused council’
As a council, we believe in the value of diversity in our workforce by:
In developing this strategy, we talked to our colleagues and partners within Dorset to gather their views on the top priorities for equality, diversity and inclusion at the council. As a result of this activity, we have identified five high level outcomes which underpin this strategy. They are summarised below as the change we want to see over the four years of the strategy.
We recognise that we have a long way still to go on our EDI journey, and culture change takes many years to achieve. We must acknowledge that the council is working under considerable constraints – for instance, the ongoing financial pressures. Whilst recognising this, it is acknowledged that undertaking council work through an EDI lens will benefit all, whether you are an employee, resident or visiting the Dorset Council area. This strategy sets out our clear direction of travel and our commitment to deliver the change required for our residents and our employees.
This strategy and action plan was developed through engagement with employees and stakeholders, including colleagues from the voluntary and community sector. Throughout 2022, 2023, and 2024, we met with representatives from our EDI Reference Group, employee networks, recognised trade unions, and senior officers.
We asked questions about our key actions, rationale and success measures for this work. Drafts of this strategy were shared with these partners and their feedback was used to shape the final version to produce a genuinely co-designed strategy. This work was undertaken to embed EDI into all council activities.
We have also used the Local Government Association’s Equality Framework as a tool to assess our progress on EDI to date and to help shape our future direction of work.
To support the development of our new EDI Strategy and Action plan, we have drawn on key council strategies, including those outlining our work with the voluntary and community sector, young people, the provision of library services and how we lead, manage and support the development of our employees. Where appropriate, relevant tasks have been incorporated into the action plan.
Dorset Council is committed to embedding inclusive practices, culture and behaviours to contribute towards making Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. This approach enables employees to engage fully in their work and helps our communities thrive. The need to ensure everyone is treated equitably, with dignity and respect, is at the heart of everything we do.
To support us in making informed decisions, it is important that we understand who our residents and our employees are. Population and workforce data tell us that the needs of our customers, visitors and employees are continually changing; therefore, we need to anticipate and respond to current and future requirements.
Equality, diversity and inclusion: Our workforce data.
We use census information to understand who may access our services or work for us. It provides insight into who lives in the Dorset Council area.
The council has recently adopted care experience as a local protected characteristic, and at the end of May 2024, we had 298 active care leavers. The 2019 Indices of Deprivation shows that 46% of the population lives in rurally isolated areas. It is important the council considers the needs of different communities when developing policies for future employees or services for our residents.
(There is no pregnancy or maternity data provided in this section because it is not provided by the 2021 census or suitable information being available).
Our workforce demographic data, which we publish annually, tells us that in 2024.
Our workforce does not reflect the communities we serve in relation to disability, ethnicity and sexual orientation. However, it should be noted that there are some big gaps in the available data. This could be because employees do not understand why the council wants this information and choose not to provide it because they do not feel confident enough to share or know they can. Further work is needed to improve the quality of data on the profile of our workforce.
As a council, we must publish information on our gender pay gap every year. Our Gender Pay gap as of 31 March 2023 identified that the mean hourly pay gap of 0.24% is negligible and well below the average for public and private sector organisations.
Whilst the 2021 census has published information concerning gender identity, we are unable to make any comparisons concerning gender identity as we currently do not ask our workforce this question.
EDI work is being undertaken in several ways across the council, and this part of the strategy provides an overview of the activity. With the council providing over 450 services to 380,000 residents, it is vital we have clear governance structures to oversee all EDI work. The EDI Strategic Board aims to review and embed EDI activity within Dorset Council and the delivery of its services when working with partners and stakeholders. Membership of the Board is drawn from senior officers and trade unions. A member of the Senior Leadership Team leads the board.
| Group | What does it do? |
|---|---|
| Portfolio holder for Corporate Development and Transformation | The elected member holds the EDI responsibility for the council. |
| People and Health Overview/Scrutiny Committees | Responsible for overseeing the Council’s statutory functions in relation to EDI |
| Senior Leadership Team (SLT) | Ensures the strategic direction set by our councillors is followed. They make high level decisions that have an impact on more than Key decisions made by individual directorates are also shared with SLT. The group meets weekly. |
| Senior Sponsor | Represents the voice and advocate for the Employee Network they are sponsoring within and outside Dorset Council. |
| EDI Strategic Board | Has strategic oversight of EDI within Dorset Council and all its external work. |
| EDI Operational Group | Oversees the operational EDI work within Dorset Council and the wider community |
| Breaking Down Barriers Group | The purpose of this network is to provide structure for engagement and a platform for discussion and cooperation on themes or projects that contribute to improving accessibility for the residents of Dorset and the employees of Dorset Council. |
| EDI Reference Group | The role of the group, which comprises external organisations, is to act as a critical friend to the council and assist in delivering the council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action plan. |
| Network Leads Group | Provides an opportunity for Network Leads to discuss items of relevance with employees of specific relevance to the Employee Networks. |
| Specific task and finish groups to progress specific pieces of work | Undertakes specific time-limited pieces of EDI work. |
Dorset Council’s first EDI Strategy and Action plan was published in 2021. It identified 35 actions. We have completed 14 actions and partially progressed 18 actions. A small number of actions (3) have not been progressed. We are proud of the achievements to date but realise there is more work to do, which is outlined in this refreshed strategy and action plan. An overview of activity5 is published annually as part of our Public Sector Equality Duty requirements.
As a council, we have committed to several accreditations, charter marks, and strategic commitments:
Appendix 4 provides a rationale for why we have signed each one. Resourcing requirements will be met via the EDI budget.
We have refreshed the council’s equality objectives, which support the council's wider vision, based on feedback from colleagues and partners. These updated objectives are to:
These objectives align neatly with the Equality Framework for Local Government. As part of this framework, there are three levels of attainment: ‘developing’, ‘achieving’ and ‘excellent’. The focus of our work up to 2027 is on fully meeting the ‘developing’ and ‘achieving’ criteria in all areas. This approach continues to build on our current achievements and provides a clear focus to inform future priorities. After 2027, we want to achieve the ‘excellent’ category in all the identified areas.
We have developed an action plan to help us meet the four themes of the local government equality framework, aiming to make Dorset a great place to live, work and visit. It is broken down under the key priorities to be achieved within each financial year. Some priorities will be running throughout the period as they are key to providing the evidence base to inform activity and show impact. We recognise that there might be change, whether locally, nationally or internationally; if this occurs, the EDI Strategic Board will decide whether or not existing priorities need to be added or changed. Success in achieving our priorities is based on the expectation that officers will be held accountable and that the work is part of normal business activities.
An action plan has been developed by seeking feedback from identified internal stakeholders (Senior Leadership Team, EDI Strategic Board, EDI Operational Group, employee networks, trade unions), the community and voluntary sector and members of the Integrated Care Board.
Figure 7 provides a breakdown of the considered priorities. The detailed action plan is held internally by members of the EDI Strategic Board. If you want to see a copy of this action plan, please email EDI@dorsetcouncil.gov.uk.
"When I first joined Dorset Council five years ago, I felt like I didn’t fit in. when I checked the intranet and couldn’t find anything for Black workers like me. Although there’s been some progress, it’s been slow. One big win for me and my colleagues is seeing the Black History Month flag raised, something I’d never seen before. I’ve been part of efforts to make the hiring process better for everyone. The Council introduced courses like the Black Talent Leadership and Beyond Difference Leadership programme, thanks to the support of our Learning and Development team. Our EDI officer has been a great help, and we now work closely with our communications department to share information.”
Florence Matimba, Chair of Ethnic Minority Employee Network
“This group is highly engaged and always suggests considerations we may have overlooked. They also seem to be flexible to engage in different ways. They have shown interest in coming in person to access our libraries and help us find ways to make the spaces more inclusive. They also don't just make assumptions on behalf of the networks they represent. They proactively look for ways to get involved and challenge us to engage with them directly.”
Officer feedback on the impact of the EDI Reference Group
Top-level priorities 2024 to 2025:
It is important to provide a definition for each of our local characteristics. The council draws on these definitions to measure our activity in relation to each characteristic which are based on the 2021 Census, NHS and central government.
| Local characteristic | Definition |
|---|---|
| Armed forces veteran | People who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in armed forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. |
| Carers | An unpaid carer may look after, give help or support to anyone who has long-term physical or mental ill-health conditions, illness or problems related to old age. This does not include any activities as part of paid employment. This help can be within or outside of the carer's household. |
| Care experience | An organisational definition has not been agreed upon. It is a priority for 2024. |
| Gender identity | Refers to a person’s sense of their own gender, whether male, female or another category such as non-binary. This may or may not be the same as their sex registered at birth. We are aware that the quality of this data has been questioned and will continue to follow guidance provided by the Office for National Statistics. |
| Lone parent family | A family with a single male or female parent living with either dependent or non-dependent children. Note: The definition of a lone parent does not make any distinction between situations where a child has regular contact and/or partly resides with their other parent and a child who solely resides with and is cared for by one parent. Only the parent living with their children is included in the estimated number of lone-parent families and households |
| Rural isolation | People who live in areas of the county that have been highlighted nationally as being a significant geographical distance to a range of important local services. |
| Socio-economic status | A household is considered to be deprived if it meets two of the following dimensions or more:
|
| Local and national protected characteristic | Accreditations, charter marks and strategic commitments | Why have we signed this commitment? |
|---|---|---|
| All protected characteristics | Equality Framework for Local Government | We are drawing on the framework because it helps councils:
|
| Age | Age-friendly employer pledge | 47.2% of our workforce is from the age group 50-74. As a council, we want to recognise the value of our workforce. |
| Armed forces | Armed Forces Covenant | The 2021 census identified that 14.2% (45,768) of our residents are veterans. Through our covenant work, we want to ensure that the services we offer recognise the needs of our veterans and their families. |
| Disability | Disability Confident | As one of the largest employers in Dorset, we believe it is appropriate to take a leading role in recruiting, retaining and supporting the career development of disabled people. |
| Race | Social Care, Workforce Race Equality Standard | As one of the largest employers in Dorset, we believe it is appropriate to take a leading role in recruiting, retaining and supporting the career development of disabled people. |
| Mental health | Mindful Employer | We are committed to supporting the mental health of all our employees. Membership of this charter supports our work in this area. |
| Religion or belief | International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism | Central government required councils to adopt this definition. |
As a member of the Dorset Integrated Care Board (ICB), we have signed the South West Leading for Inclusion Strategy. The purpose of the strategy is to:
NHS (with a specific focus on the Dorset Integrated Care System) is the best place to work.
