As a large public sector employer and a provider of services, Essex County Council is committed to diversity and equality in principle and practice and provides a range of support services in the following areas:
We aim to support the achievement across the county of everyone able to participate in society and having the opportunity to fulfil their potential, irrespective of their differences and background.
We respect and value people as individuals and work to ensure there is equality of opportunity for all.
As an employer, we seek to increase the diversity of our workforce, ensuring we recruit high-calibre individuals with a range of social identities. We want employees who are able to provide excellent services which our customers deserve.
Our approach to diversity and equality is expressed within the Diversity and Equality Strategy and the Diversity and Equality Policy, which sets out how officers work to achieve our goals.
The progress we are making in achieving a diverse workforce is assessed through the Annual Workforce Monitoring Report. This supports our Achieving Workforce Diversity Action Plan. All of our information can be found on the Workforce Diversity page.
We work diligently to maintain a robust approach to equality and diversity issues, and to ensure we are inclusive and fair to all. This supports us to comply with the Equality Act 2010, which requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities. We measure our achievements with other public bodies using the Equality Framework for Local Government.
As a public sector body, the council has a duty to comply with the specific Public Sector Equality Duty that requires us to publish relevant and proportionate information to show how we are responding to the Equality Duty.
The Essex Insight portal stores useful information about our customers and communities. We have information on who uses our services, how people feel about using our services and their outcomes. We use this information for developing policies and designing services. The council also has to set equality objectives.
Our governance structure and equality impact assessment programme ensure we take a proportionate approach to considering issues of equality and fairness in everything we do.
Our policies relate to and affect those employed / contracted by Essex County Council, our residents, customers, partners and companies who do business with the council.
For individuals who are not employed by Essex County Council seeking information on equality and diversity issues related to employment, we recommend GOV.UK as a valuable source of information. You can also find out further information on your rights as a customer receiving services.
We recognise our role as a community leader and work towards building a county where different communities feel they are respected and get on well together.
We work in partnership with a range of organisations including the Essex Cultural Diversity Project to raise awareness of the county’s diverse cultural heritage and to create opportunities for different communities to come together.
We also work in partnership with organisations county wide to promote equality and share best practice through the Essex Equality and Diversity Network and partnerships.