Equality, diversity, and inclusion - our commitment

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is a statutory duty on listed public authorities carrying out public functions. It makes sure we  consider how our functions affect people with different protected characteristics. These functions include our policies, programmes, and services. The PSED supports good decision-making by helping our decision-makers understand how their activities affect different people. It also requires us to monitor the actual impact of the things we do. For example, to keep under review how different groups of employees are performing and to identify and take action if some employees with protected characteristics need more support than others.

View our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion policies

Our objectives

Wyre Forest District Council has both a moral and a statutory obligation to reflect the needs of a diverse population through its service provision and as an employer. We are committed to employing a diverse workforce and providing equitable services to the people of the Wyre Forest district. Our aim is to fully meet our obligations and to learn from best practice, as we strive to improve as a local authority.

1. We will provide services and facilities that are fair and accessible to meet the diverse needs of our communities.

We will achieve this by:

• Carrying out equality impact assessments to ensure decision making is fair and that no group is disadvantaged.
• Analysing customer data, via information obtained from our Let Us Know process, to enable us to improve service delivery.
• Providing a range of channels for residents and businesses to easily access information about council services.
• Ensure that all digitally published materials are accessible to people with disabilities and ensuring the council's website meets web accessibility standards.

2. Provide organisational commitment to actively promote inclusion through better understanding of our workforce/potential workforce and be seen as an employer of choice.

We will achieve this by:

• Analysing and responding to any issues or disparities found through our collection and recording of recruitment diversity data (based on the protected characteristics as identified in the Equality Act 2010), as well as through our gender pay gap reporting.
• Providing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training to all our staff and Councillors.
• Creating a staff Equality, Diversity and Inclusion task force to influence and challenge EDI work and activities at the council.
• Review and consider findings of employee engagement surveys to make informed decisions around equality and inclusion within the organisation.
• Publish workforce profile and gender pay gap reports annually on our website.
• Proactively promote recognised dates that celebrate diversity and support inclusion across the workforce.

We will measure/monitor our achievements through:

• Effective consultation
• Satisfaction surveys including staff surveys
• Feedback from EDI task force
• Annual report on our Let Us Know complaint/compliments process
• Annual equalities reporting
• Post implementation policy reviews
• Annual Governance Statement
• Social media monitoring

Translation

Should you need to use interpretation or translation services please contact us.