We’re a more effective regulator when we’re truly representative of broader society. Find out more about our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) priorities.
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Our colleagues are the key to our success as a regulator. We aim to promote a culture that enables them to speak openly, encourages innovation and supports collaborative working. This helps us to:
- build capability
- enable our people to act decisively
- continuously improve how we operate
We aim to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace environment: one that’s free from discrimination and bias, celebrates difference, and supports colleagues to deliver at their best.
We believe this empowers our people to fulfil their potential and results in better decision making in the public interest.
Our DEI programme
In 2022, we used an evidence-based approach to conduct a major review of our internal DEI work. Following this review, we launched a new internal DEI programme that will run from 2023 to 2026.
The objectives of our DEI programme are to:
- address areas of under-representation
- make adjustments to deal with imbalances and deliver fair and equitable outcomes for our people
- foster an inclusive work environment
- establish a strong accountability framework for progress against our DEI outcomes
Our priorities and outcomes
We identified 4 priorities where we need to take action to have the greatest impact.
Each priority has associated outcomes describing where we want to be at the end of the 3-year period, including areas of success and progress measurements.
- Diversity: we promote diversity of thought, and we reflect the diverse lived experiences of the communities in which we work and the consumers we protect.
- Equity: we acknowledge that we don’t all start from the same place and that we need to make adjustments to address imbalances and deliver fair and equitable outcomes for our people.
- Inclusion: We have an inclusive culture where our people experience psychological safety and feel like they belong.
- Personal leadership and accountability: we are all accountable for delivering and embedding our DEI programme and our Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) obligations.
Working with our diversity networks, DEI divisional delivery groups and other key stakeholders, we've developed 12 targeted interventions to help us progress against our DEI priorities. These include:
- enhancing our DEI data reporting to increase transparency and inform action
- reviewing our recruitment practices to ensure they are free from bias and set people up for success regardless of their background
- a review of our progression support offering to provide equitable opportunities for all colleagues
- making changes to enhance the lived experience of colleagues with physical or mental health conditions and disabilities
Governance and delivery
A DEI programme board oversees our DEI programme. It is made up of leaders from across the business and diversity network group sponsors.
The programme board is supported by delivery groups, which implement the programme at a divisional level and use data and evidence to address local DEI priorities.
Our achievements to date
Data and reporting
In April 2023, we published an internal DEI data dashboard for all colleagues to access. The dashboard provides progress against our gender and ethnicity representation targets. It also shows trends around recruitment, promotions and turnover.
In addition, more colleagues have chosen to share their personal information. Having a more complete picture of our organisation gives us a better evidence base to identify new themes and target our interventions more effectively.
Sponsorship programmes
In November 2023, we paused our current Race and Ethnicity Sponsorship Programme to conduct a comprehensive review of how it aligns with our broader talent initiatives. This assessment will allow us to take a more holistic approach to supporting the career progression of female and minority ethnic colleagues.
We plan to introduce a new version of the programme in 2024.
Recruitment and resourcing
Our aim is to recruit in a reflective manner that:
- is free from bias
- sets people up for success, regardless of their background
We do this by removing barriers, challenging decision-making, and inviting diverse perspectives into the assessment and selection process.
Through the DEI resourcing workstream we are delivering a data and evidence-led approach to make sure we take action where it’s needed most.
As we move into the second year of this workstream, we will focus on:
- introducing diverse hiring panels
- targeted sourcing strategies
- enhanced line manager learning
- updates to our interview and assessment approach
While we’ll keep focusing on meeting our targets for gender and minority ethnic representation, we’ll also make sure our recruitment process is accessible and equitable throughout. The process will support all applicants but with a particular focus on:
- neurodivergent candidates
- candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds
In addition, our early careers attraction strategy continues to target under-represented groups.
We have also introduced an additional partnership to target support for candidates from lower socio-economic backgrounds through their application process.
Accessibility and disability
Supported by accessibility experts and colleagues across the business, we introduced a new Staff Accessibility Forum. This group identifies and addresses organisational accessibility themes to support our colleagues.
More broadly, we have gathered and assessed evidence about disability-related enquiries and will look at how we address these in the most effective way possible.
Memberships and benchmarks
As with previous years, we hold DEI memberships which support colleagues with their day-to-day work.
In addition, we have progressed submissions for DEI benchmarks and accreditations to help us assess our progress as an inclusive employer.
We regularly review the benchmarks and memberships we hold to make sure they add value to the organisation.