Action plan

Equality, diversity and inclusion: vision and action plan

1. City vision
2. Action plan

Our shared vision and best city ambitions

All our partners work together:

1. Leadership and governance
2. Culture and values
3. Data and lived experiences
4. Communication and engagement
5. Education and training

Our approach:

1. 1. People and communities
2. 2. Service delivery through the council
3. 3. Workforce - the council as an employer

1. People and communities

Why it matters

It is important that everyone benefits from the City’s success.

We know that some communities have poorer outcomes than others. We want to live in a fair society that recognises people’s different needs and situations, and removes barriers that limit what people can do and can be.

Tackling poverty and inequality drives economic and social growth. We need to break the link between poverty and inequality, and poor health and wellbeing outcomes. We will support those most affected by COVID-19 and the cost of living crisis.

We want to see improved outcomes across a broad range of areas including Education, Health, Housing, Transport, Culture, Employment, Criminal Justice, Climate Change and more.

By investing in prevention and using asset based approaches, we can build community capacity focussing on what people can do, rather than what they can’t. More power in the hands of our citizens, will inspire citizens to change the things they believe need changing, and help us tackle systemic inequalities.

As a multi-cultural city and a City of Sanctuary, we welcome people from across the globe to build their lives in our city.

We will look to build safe and strong communities for all. The council will always work to foster good relations within and between our communities with a view to building good community relations.

We need everyone to play a part, with all business and public institutions and partners fully embracing their responsibilities to make Leeds a truly inclusive city. This is our Best City Team Leeds approach.

Our commitment to all Leeds communities and citizens

Our ambition is for Leeds to be the best city in the UK.

Everyone should be able to be themselves and feel warmly welcome in our city. We will do all we can to ensure that everyone is treated fairly and with respect, one of our core values. We will be a caring and compassionate council for all.

We will support one another to make Leeds the best place it can be, and work with you to co-design and co-produce the best solutions for you and your community. We will always be ambitious and optimistic about the future of Leeds.

We value the contributions that all citizens in Leeds make to our city and we want everyone to recognise and appreciate these. We will ensure that council services meet the needs of diverse communities and will work hard to fully understand community issues.

There is no place for racism or any form of discrimination in Leeds, and we will do all we can to eliminate racism and inequality – wherever we find it, by challenging and addressing inappropriate behaviour.

Through groups like our Leeds Race 4 Equality Forum we will work together to understand the root causes of racism and prejudice in Leeds and work as a city to address them.

We will deliver against key equality related agendas including asset based community development, our Hate Crime Strategy, work on anti-Muslim prejudice and anti-Semitism, delivering against the Faith Covenant, LGBT+ Inclusive Leeds, Age Friendly and Child Friendly Leeds, Women Friendly Leeds and the Social Model of Disability.

Things to focus on – to make the biggest difference

• Better and more equal access to essential services for all communities.
• A safe and welcoming city for all.
• The best start in life for children in all areas.
• Safe access to a local park/green space in all communities.
• Improved housing quality, accessibility and affordability, and tackling fuel poverty.
• Closing education attainment gaps, and skills and opportunities for employment for all ages.
• Tackling the disproportionality of experiences within the youth justice system, through our Race and Identity action plan.
• Work to integrate new migrants to the city.
• A public transport network that is low carbon, affordable, safe and accessible.
• Celebrate the contributions of our diverse communities through positive identity, culture and heritage.
• Responding to the mental health crisis, which deepened during the pandemic.
• Progress on our net zero target – energy efficiency, diet and active travel, ‘green’ jobs.
• Closing stark gaps in healthy life expectancy and premature mortality across the city.

Taking action

We will:

• work with the Lord Mayors Office and third sector partners to ensure appropriate celebration of communities right across the city
• continue to develop the role of the Elected Members for the Protected Characteristics to ensure that there are strong champions for the diverse communities in the city
• support the citizens who lead the Equality Hubs as ‘Hub Reps’ through an enhanced development and support offer
• ensure each Equality Hub has an action plan for the year ahead
• hold an annual Equality Assembly with all the Hubs and hold regular meetings throughout the year between their leaders to ensure that we work in an intersectional way across the different protected characteristic agendas
• ensure our equality annual report reflects our work in communities and is presented in a way that is accessible for everyone
• better understand the financial situation for third sector organisations who work on the equality agenda and target support as appropriate

2. Service delivery through the council

Why it matters

All council services should be inclusive and accessible. This includes services we directly deliver and those we commission.

We must give due regard to equality and diversity when reviewing existing and developing new strategies, policies, services and functions. Legally, we have a duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation.

In day to day delivery, our aim is always to provide excellent quality customer service, and to meet the needs and expectations of all those who use our services.

We will respond to and learn from complaints made against council service delivery and in particular where these relate to perceived or actual discrimination.

As a council, we hold significant spending power in the city via the procurement of goods, works and services. By taking a social value approach, we can have a positive influence on the big issues facing the city. We look beyond the price of each individual contract to the collective benefit to a community when we choose to award a contract.

We will access and use high quality data about the needs of Leeds people and communities including the emerging data from the 2021 census to inform service delivery.

Our commitment

We will treat everyone with the same attention, courtesy and respect regardless of:

• age
• disability
• race or racial group (including colour, nationality and ethnic origin or national origins)
• religion or belief
• sex
• marriage and civil partnership
• gender reassignment/ gender identity
• pregnancy and maternity
• sexual orientation
• caring responsibilities
• social class
• trade union activity

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that we do not unlawfully discriminate.

Our commitment covers all of the following:

• council Members
• service users
• those applying to access services
• contractors and sub-contractors
• employees
• volunteers
• our partnership arrangements

Our principles for inclusive service delivery

We will:

• assess the needs of existing and potential service users
• ensure fair access to services, making reasonable adjustments when needed
• engage and involve interested groups and individuals in our decision making
• work hard to understand and address the causes of unfairness and poor outcomes
• treat people fairly, according to their needs
• show zero tolerance to any form of intimidation, bullying or harassment
• fairly award contracts, and commission services
• secure fair and flexible working practices
• deal with all complaints promptly and with sensitivity to all those involved
• provide access points for reporting hate crimes
• actively seek feedback and use it to improve the way we work
• undertake regular equality monitoring and reporting

Taking action

We will:

• put our Corporate Equality Board at the forefront of guiding and shaping our approach to EDI work
• ensure that our services engage with the Equality Assembly and Hubs to ensure that customers are consulted on service design and change
• work with the council's access officers in Highways and Planning to ensure that the social model of disability is firmly embedded
• report against our complaints outcomes to ensure that lessons are learnt from customer feedback
• ensure our Translation and Interpreting team and web team lead on best practice to make sure our information to customers is provided in appropriate formats
• aim to deliver the best customer service appropriate to customers needs through our contact centre and community hubs
• roll out new third party reporting and signposting centres alongside the online reporting option to make Hate Crime reporting more accessible for everyone

3. The council as an employer

Why it matters

UK legislation sets important standards around equality in employment – covering areas such as age, disability, race, religion, sex and sexual orientation. It remains important that we recognise the prevailing diversity deficits and tackle underrepresentation and discrimination where we find it.

However, our approach goes beyond legal compliance. It’s about the way we treat everyone and is key to employee performance, engagement, wellbeing and everything that makes us #Teamleeds

There are many advantages of being a diverse and inclusive organisation. Being so brings a diversity dividend, which means we benefit from different backgrounds, perspectives, skills, knowledge and lived experiences. A workplace that represents the communities we serve helps us to deliver better services.

In addition to having equality and greater diversity within the workplace, we must also be inclusive, allowing all individuals to participate and fulfil their potential, by bringing their full and best self to work.

Our commitment to all council colleagues

We will help all colleagues to be their best at work, so that they:

This is a whole team effort, and there will be visible and ongoing support from the top and throughout the organisation. We will work alongside our staff networks, trade unions and all colleagues to deliver change and improvement.

Everyone should be able to bring their whole self to work and feel warmly welcome in our team.

We will make sure everyone in the council is treated fairly and with respect, one of our core values. We will be a caring and compassionate employer for all, and we will celebrate and make the most of our differences. We will always look to be fair in our decision making.

We will support, train and develop all of our managers and leaders so that equality and diversity is an integral part of their role and to enable inclusive workplace culture and behaviours.

It’s good for business, our workforce and Leeds people

We want to tackle the diversity deficits and realise the diversity dividend across the organisation. Being diverse, and having an inclusive workplace, can help us to:

• have a bigger and broader pool of skills and talents to call on
• gain better creativity, problem solving and innovation
• understand our customers better
• have happier and more effective teams - listened to, involved and willing to put forward ideas
• boost our reputation as a great employer
• attract the best people and enable them to flourish
• deliver better service and outcomes for the people of Leeds

Taking action

We will:

• make the council the Best Place to Work, in line with our people strategy 2020 to 2025
• create a great all round experience for all staff, with the support of their leaders and managers, in a positive organisational culture driven by our council values
• create a diverse and representative workforce at all levels in the council through fair recruitment, progression and development
• do more to listen to and understand the real, lived experiences of colleagues at work, and build a culture in which people have a strong voice and feel able to speak up
• introduce a Freedom to Speak Up Guardian role for the council
• take a zero tolerance approach to racism and discrimination
• act on the findings of our Workforce Race Equality Standard project in Social Care, and use it to inform council wide change
• continue to build modern and inclusive workplaces, practices and team cultures
• ensure everyone has high quality appraisals and wellbeing support
• maintain living wages and Fair Work across the council workforce
• develop inclusive policies and processes
• benchmark and network with others

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