Equality, diversity and inclusion

Our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy informs our actions to further advance diversity and inclusion. This strategy builds upon much of the excellent work that is already in place and demonstrates our commitment to diversity and inclusion for our workforce, the way we manage our services and our influence with stakeholders. It sets out what our workforce can expect from the organisation, its leaders and from each other in order to foster a culture of inclusion and belonging. By embracing new ways of working, utilising technology and facilitating greater collaboration across our teams, organisations and sectors we can create a workplace environment that supports each one of us to feel and perform at our best.

As a public sector organisation, we are required to ensure that equality, diversity and human rights are embedded in all our functions and activities as per the Equality Act 2010, the Human Rights Act 1998 and the NHS Constitution.

The Equality Act 2010 provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and ensure equality of opportunity for all. We have general and specific responsibilities known as the ‘public sector equality duties’.

The general equality duty requires us to meet the three aims of the Act. These are:

• Eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act;

• Advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not

• Fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

Specific equality duties: 

To assist public authorities in meeting the three aims of the general duty, specific duties were introduced. Meeting the specific duties provides the public with the information they need to challenge and hold us to account for our performance on equality.

In England, each listed authority is required to:

• Publish gender pay gap information

• Publish annual equality information to demonstrate its compliance with the general equality duty

• Prepare and publish one or more specific and measurable objective that we think we need to achieve to further any of the aims of the general equality duty

Read our 2024/2025 report on our Public Sector Quality Duty.

Full details of the public sector equality duty are available on the Equality and Human Rights Commission website.

The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) was introduced by NHS England and the NHS Equality and Diversity Council in 2015. The WRES was developed as a result of evidence that NHS staff from a Black and Minority Ethnic backgrounds (BME) have a poorer experience at work and have less opportunities than their white colleagues. Implementation of the WRES is a requirement for both the NHS commissioners and providers organisations. The WRES is a key component in how organisations measure their work to deliver tangible and lasting interventions to race equality and inclusion, as well as supporting how, as a commissioner, we deliver on our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED).

Download our Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) Report 2020-2021 and Action Plan.

Download our Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) Report 2019-2020 and Action Plan.

In 2018 the Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) was launched in the NHS to improve the experiences of disabled staff working in and seeking employment in the NHS. This is a fundamental part of our diversity and inclusion work, and understanding how this issue affects our staff is hugely important to us.

Integrated Care Systems were required to return their workforce data for the WDES in 2021 and as part of this we will also publish our data and develop an action plan to address any disparities.

Through this strategy we have acknowledged the need to tackle all forms of discrimination and inequalities and addressing systemic racism is a critical priority for the organisations of the North East London Health and Care Partnership.

Read our anti-racist strategy in full.