Equality, diversity and inclusion

This sets out how we are working to comply with our Public Sector Equality Duty, as set out in the Equality Act 2010 and in the supporting regulations.

You can find the details of the general and specific duties on the government website. 

The general duty requires public authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation, and any other unlawful conduct prohibited by the act.

• advance equality of opportunity between people who are and people who do not share a relevant protected characteristic.

• foster good relations between people who share and people who do not share a relevant protected characteristic.

The characteristics protected by the Equality Act (2010) are:

•  Age

• Disability

• Sex (gender)

• Gender reassignment

• Sexual orientation

• Race

• Religion and/or belief

• Pregnancy and maternity

•  Marriage and civil partnership

We also consider other groups such as:

• Carers

• Military veterans

• Asylum seekers

• Refugees

• People from deprived areas

In terms of the specific duties, as an employer with over 250 employees we are required to:

• publish one or more equality objectives at least every 4 years.

• publish information on general duty compliance with regards to people affected by our policies and practices every year.

• publish information on general duty compliance with regards to our employees every year. 

• publish gender pay gap data by 31 March every year.

Our equality objective has been to ensure equity and inclusion in access and outcomes to health and care services through our commissioning processes.  Our focus has been to develop, implement and embed a new process of impact assessments, using insights from patient experience and population data to ensure we commission services and develop policies that will help us achieve this.

We have developed an approach which brings together equality, health inequality, quality, and sustainability impact assessments.

We have implemented an impact assessment panel which meets monthly to review all the impact assessments and provides peers support and challenge.  Panel members include people with expertise in each of the impact areas, including access to data from patient experience, employee experience and population health.

Our aim is that all commissioning decisions and policies do this thorough impact assessment as part of the development process. 

Completed impact assessments will be published on our website.

Our objective is that ongoing work will be undertaken to embed this process fully, to continue to develop the data sources to support the process and to ensure that we share learning from the assessments to support future service development and provision.

To support the ambition to fully embed the Impact Assessment template and process, a number of significant actions have been delivered in 2025/26.

 

• The Impact Assessment Review Panel continues to meet to review all the impact assessments and provides peer support and challenge. Due to the volume of impact assessments being completed, these have been stepped up to fortnightly.
• A policy has been developed and approved with a clear process flow chart to guide colleagues.
• A training package has been developed and delivered, with over 50 colleagues attending from NHS SYICB and wider NHS partners.
• A suite of support and reference documents have been developed to help colleagues know where to go for accurate research and insight to help inform their impact assessments. These include:
  • A South Yorkshire population data dashboard
  • Equality profiles of all protected characteristics which highlight common inequalities of access, experience and outcomes that these groups face.
  • A protected characteristic resource guide which details key sources of insight from trusted organisations.
  • Good examples of previously completed impact assessments made available for reference.
  • Contact detailed of Impact Assessment Champions who are available to support colleagues with questions about the template or process.
• As a result of requests, the intranet page of support resources has been made available to all NHS staff.
• Working alongside the Project Management Office, a process has been put in place to ensure that projects are supported to be developed and reviewed.
• Ongoing guidance is regularly provided from the involvement team to colleagues completing impact assessments.

The South Yorkshire Insights Bank was developed and launched in 2025.  It is a publicly accessible, central resource that gathers a wide range of qualitative insight, including patient feedback, community engagement findings, and survey results, to support improved planning and service delivery across South Yorkshire. By enabling a “gather once, use many times” approach, the platform helps avoid repeated questioning of communities, reduces duplication across organisations, and builds a more complete picture of local health and wellbeing. The Insight Bank currently holds over 200 sources of information and is constantly growing.

Click here to view NHS South Yorkshire workforce demographic pie charts.

Areas of focus in respect of representation when compared to South Yorkshire population data include:

 

• Ethnic diversity generally but specifically at board level and bands 8b and above.
• Age in respect of people below the age of 40.

 

Recruitment is paused due to organisational change, but these areas of focus will be prioritised when this is restarted.

 

We have previously run action to increase our representation of people from minoritised ethnicities, this includes work to address this at board level we ran a successful cohort of our Associate Non-Executive Director development programme, planning for a second cohort is paused due to organisational change. For inclusive progression at all levels, our reciprocal mentoring programme for aspiring leaders from an ethnic minority background and established leaders, has run three successful cohorts. Due to organisational change the ICB will no longer be part of the steering group for this programme. A fourth cohort is planned by other SY NHS organisations and will be open to ICB colleagues.

Areas of focus in respect of representation when compared to South Yorkshire population data include:

Ethnic diversity generally but specifically at non-executive and executive director level and bands 8b and above.

Age in respect of people below the age of 40.

Recruitment is paused due to organisational change, but these areas of focus will be prioritised when this is restarted.

We have previously run action to increase our representation of people from minoritised ethnicities, this includes work to address this at board level we ran a successful cohort of our Associate Non-Executive Director development programme, planning for a second cohort is paused due to organisational change. For inclusive progression at all levels, our reciprocal mentoring programme for aspiring leaders from an ethnic minority background and established leaders, has run three successful cohorts. Due to organisational change the ICB will no longer be part of the steering group for this programme. A fourth cohort is planned by other SY NHS organisations and will be open to ICB colleagues.

 

Staff Survey Results for 2025

The annual NHS staff survey provides information on how safe and well at work our employees feel.  The results in this respect were:

• Employees experiencing physical violence from patients – 0.7%
• Employees experiencing physical violence from managers – 0%
• Employees experiencing physical violence from staff/colleagues – 0%
• Employees experiencing harassment, bullying from patients – 9.1%
• Employees experiencing harassment, bullying from managers – 6.4%
• Employees experiencing harassment, bullying from staff/colleagues – 7.5%
• Employees experiencing unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature from patients – 1.4%
• Employees experiencing unwanted behaviour of a sexual nature from staff – 0.9%

 

 

The WRES data from the staff survey results tells us that:

• Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives or the public in the last 12 months:

• White Staff – 8.73%
• All other ethnic groups – 11.76%

• Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in the last 12 months:

• White staff – 10.89%
• All other ethnic groups – 15.69 %

• Percentage of staff believing that the organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion:

• White staff – 53.85%
• All other ethnic groups – 45.10%

• Percentage of staff experiencing discrimination at work from manager / team leader or other colleagues in the last 12 months:

• White staff – 3.16%
• All other ethnic groups – 17.65%

 

 

The WDES data from the staff survey results tells us that:

• Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients/service users, their relatives or the public in the last 12 months:
  • Staff with a LTC or illness – 12.24%
  • Staff without a LTC or illness – 7.64%

• Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from managers in the last 12 months:
  • Staff with a LTC or illness – 9.52%
  • Staff without a LTC or illness – 5.41%

• Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in the last 12 months:
  • Staff with a LTC or illness – 13.61%
  • Staff without a LTC or illness – 5.43%

• Percentage of staff saying that the last time they experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work, they or a colleague reported it:
  • Staff with a LTC or illness – 41.67%

• Staff without a LTC or illness – 53.85%

 

 

Training and development regarding equality, diversity, and inclusion 

 

The Board development around anti-racism has been paused due to organisational change spanning the entirety of 2025/2026 and will be restarted after this concludes. We have continued to ensure that all staff are up to date with their statutory and mandatory e-learning on equality, diversity and inclusion and all other required areas.

 

We have also continued to provide webinars and resources for all staff on a variety of topics including menopause, islamophobia, antisemitism, transphobia, LGBTQ+ History and a comprehensive programme of learning around neurodiversity.

 

To provide a wide range of learning opportunities we commission and arrange sessions, share session run by other NHS organisations and voluntary and private sector sessions that are free of charge alongside any relevant training resources all of which are offered to our employees. As part of this we have publicised the NENC ICB’s Boost platform which has further EDI training including anti-racism training available. We have also made resources available via our anti-racism webpage.

 

A sexual safety charter working group was initiated in 2025 with members including HR, Safeguarding, staff side, staff networks, FTSU and a Sexual Misconduct in the Workplace Policy is due to be launched in 2026. The national Understanding Sexual Misconduct in the Workplace training is available on ESR.

 

Staff Networks

We have five staff networks now established in the integrated care board:

• Race and Allies Network - chair Vivienne Williams, exec sponsor Chris Edwards
• Disability and Allies staff Network – Chair Gordon Laidlaw, exec sponsor Emma Latimer
• LGBTQ+ and Allies Network – Chair Alex Henderson-Dunk, exec sponsor Lee Outhwaite
• Green Network – Chair Kavitha Sethumadhavan, exec sponsor David Crichton
• Neurodiversity Network – Chair Jennifer Raynor, exec sponsor Cathy Winfield

 

We included our staff network chairs in a steering group relating to a recent organisational change.  This was a specific action to increase representation of protected characteristics in the decision making relating to this programme which affected all employees. We also directly involved them in the planning around the interview process for this round of organisational change.

 

We also host a Staff Network Chairs South Yorkshire network meeting twice a year to foster wider collaboration and learning between NHS Trusts. Here we collaborated upon and launched a Staff Networks Handbook to support staff networks and ensure consistency in approach where practicable.

With the introduction of NHS England’s EDI Improvement Plan in June 2023, we are now also aligning our work to the 6 identified High Impact Actions: 

Progress in 2024 on the High Impact Actions:

 

High Impact Action 1:  

All our Board members have at least one EDI objective and these will be reviewed post-organisational change in 2026/2027. They reflect our commitment to anti-racism and to health inequalities more broadly.

 

High Impact Action 2:  

Our WRES data indicates that there is a relative likelihood of white staff being shortlisted from application compared to BAME staff is 2.95 times greater.  Our WRES data indicates that there is a relative likelihood of white staff being appointed from shortlisting compared to BAME staff is 1.5 times greater. 

 

 

 

High Impact Action 3:  

Our gender pay gap for 2025 / 2026 shows that: 

• Women earn 85.15p for every £1 that men earn when comparing median hourly pay.  Women’s median hourly pay is 14.85% lower than men. 
• When comparing mean (average) hourly pay, women’s mean hourly pay is 23.9% lower than men’s. 

Post organisational change, we will be reevaluating the new pay gap information to see the impact of organisational change on this area and to subsequently develop actions to address them.

 

Our ethnicity pay gap for 2025 / 2026 shows that:

• Ethnically minoritised colleagues earn 75p for every £1 that white colleagues earn when comparing median hourly pay.  Ethnically minoritised colleague’s median hourly pay is 24.9% lower than white colleagues. 

• When comparing mean (average) hourly pay, ethnically minoritised colleague’s mean hourly pay is 21% lower than white colleagues.

 

 

For these calculations the data of White Gypsy/Romany colleagues have been included in the ethnically minoritised colleague group. The data categories of ‘other specified’ and ‘not stated’ have not been used as there is insufficient information to align those categories with either group.

 

Our disability pay gap for 2025 / 2026 shows that:

• Colleagues with a disability or long-term condition earn 95.6p for every £1 that colleagues who declared no disability or condition earned. Colleagues with a disability or long-term condition’s median hourly pay is 4.45% lower than those declaring no disability.
• When comparing mean (average) hourly pay, colleagues with a disability or long-term condition’s mean hourly pay is 1.18% lower than those declaring no disability.

 

For these calculations we have used the categories of Learning disability/difficulty, Long-standing illness, Mental Health Condition, Other, Physical Impairment, Sensory Impairment and Yes-Unspecified for the category of disabled and have used the category stating ‘No’ to any disability, condition or impairment as the comparative category. This has left out the categories of Not Declared and Prefer Not to Answer, which accounts for 14% of colleagues.

 

High Impact Action 4: 

 

Our main reasons for sickness absence for 2025/2026 were:

• Anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses
• Benign and malignant tumours, cancers
• Musculoskeletal problems
• Those marked ‘other known causes – not elsewhere classified’

 

We are doing a lot of work to understand the health inequalities in our workforce.  Prevention is a key part of our approach and is about: 

• Assessing what affects workforce health and wellbeing most and what support colleagues need. 
• Promoting and raising awareness about the support already available 
• Do more of the activities we know are most effective 

We are taking a population health approach where we recognise the diversity of the workforce, explore what influences health and wellbeing and uses data and evidence to plan and monitor what works to prevent and tackle issues. This includes being mindful of the specific needs of people from a range of ethnic groups, colleagues with disabilities and long term conditions, those who have caring responsibilities at home, and many other diverse characteristics that make up our workforce. 

This is set out in our Health and Wellbeing roadmap (Download pdf document) which is a South Yorkshire health and care approach to improving health and wellbeing.

 

Health & Wellbeing offers:

A range of health and wellbeing offers are available through the SY ICB People Experience team including the SY Mental Health Hub, menopause support line and comprehensive information and resources, financial wellbeing platforms and education, the Sleep School platform and regular activities, and many more. These have been regularly promoted to SY ICB colleagues through various channels. Additional internal offers have been available to SY ICB colleagues such as mindfulness sessions and pilates classes.

Health & Wellbeing calendar of activities & campaigns: Health and Wellbeing Calendar :: South Yorkshire I.C.S.

 

A key campaign in 2025 was National Walking Month in May which kickstarted a regular initiative of wellbeing walks which are still ongoing, led by the Wellbeing Champions and Mental Health First Aiders.

 

Aims to increase physical activity of the ICB’s workforce was also linked to prevention of the main causes of sickness absence – mental health and MSK issues due to the wide ranging benefits of walking. In terms of health inequalities, walking is a free and low impact form of exercise. The walking month campaign was inclusive and discussed the benefits of both walking and ‘wheeling’ for wheelchair users, whilst also promoting the benefits of being outside in nature for those unable to do much walking.

 

Mental Health Awareness and Suicide First Aid courses were also arranged and available for colleagues from SY ICB to attend (suicide was only available for existing MHFAs as it complemented and enhanced their training).

 

In 2025, we had over 60 trained Wellbeing Champions and Mental Health First Aiders. Additional support was provided for organisational change impacting SY ICB.

 

Suicide Prevention webpage and policy:

In 2025, SY ICB signed up to the Baton of Hope suicide prevention accreditation at bronze level (the first NHS organisation to do so). This has provided various useful resources which were shared with Wellbeing Champions and MHFA’s, added to the Intranet and promoted as part of suicide prevention awareness campaigns along with the existing suicide prevention website Suicide Prevention & Support :: South Yorkshire I.C.S. and Intranet page.

 

The ICB’s first suicide prevention and postvention policy was also developed in 2025 and is currently awaiting approval.

 

Inclusive Wellbeing & Employment Support webpage:

The People Experience team created a new Inclusive wellbeing & employment support webpage which includes local and national organisations who offer specialist support for wellbeing, neurodiversity and disability in the workplace. This information was duplicated on the ICB’s Intranet.

 

Health & Wellbeing Toolkit for managers:

This launched in June 2025 as part of the Health & Wellbeing three-year roadmap. Manager Toolkit :: South Yorkshire I.C.S. This has been promoted on the wellbeing resources for managers section of SY ICB’s Intranet.

 

South Yorkshire Women Inspired Network:

Established in 2022 by the People Experience team, the network has evolved into a cross-sector committee representing diverse professional backgrounds. Membership includes colleagues from the NHS (including SY ICB), VCSE, local authorities, and the private sector.

 

The network runs a variety of webinars, events, courses, inspirational talks and career mentoring programmes. Webinars include health and wellbeing and EDI topics including neurodiversity and mental health, live cook-along sessions and exercise sessions. South Yorkshire Women Inspired :: South Yorkshire I.C.S.

 

Menopause support:

In 2025, we had 30 trained menopause advocates and champions at SY ICB. Our Henpicked menopause friendly accreditation is ongoing and is being submitted for re-accreditation.

 

The SY ICB hosted a Meno fest 2025 event held on 18^th October (World Menopause Day) and this included talks on various topics related to menopause, interactive workshops, exercise sessions, support sessions, quizzes and a wide range of stalls. Around 630 people were impacted by the event including colleagues from SY ICB. MenoFest :: South Yorkshire I.C.S.

 

Financial Wellbeing:

A comprehensive programme of financial wellbeing webinars was delivered and advertised on the platform of activities and ICB Intranet. The topics for these sessions have been tailored to adapt to current circumstances of organisational change and redundancy affecting some colleagues in health & care including redundancy and pension, whilst also offering a wide variety aimed at all including general financial wellbeing.

 

Financial education and advice platforms were also available from partners including Mintago and My Money Matters. The Mintago app includes free financial advice and a lost pension hunter tool, along with other features. This supports health inequalities by enabling free access to financial advice which may not usually be an affordable service.

 

Sleep Posture improvement project: This was a collaboration between Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber, the Sleep Charity, Levitex Sleep and SY ICB’s People Experience team.

 

The project focused on health inequalities by targeting NHS colleagues who were carers, shift workers or experiencing menopause, supporting them to improve their sleep posture and overall sleep quality. Regular group peer support sessions were offered, along with one to one consultations, a free pillow was provided and a pre-recorded webinar recording about sleep posture was added to the Sleep Wellbeing webpage. Some SY ICB colleagues accessed the support that was available.

 

Over 300 staff members were reached, and their experience informed the final shape of the service. The project demonstrated significant impact, with 75% reporting improved sleep quality, a 40% reduction in tiredness, and a 64% improvement in sleep disturbance.

 

The project has been shortlisted for an HSJ award which is taking place in March 2026.

 

High Impact Action 5:

 

In 2024/25 the ICB commenced and led a system wide improvement programme, with a wider team of colleagues representing all our provider organisations, focussed on the progression of our global majority colleagues and those who have been recruited internationally. This programme was initiated in response to data which highlighted that the % of Agenda for Change colleagues in clinical roles was significantly lower above band 5 roles than below band 6 roles.

 

The programme continued through 2025/26 following improvement methodologies, and as such was systematic, data driven, thorough and inclusive in its approach. Quantitative and qualitative data was gathered, processes and experience journeys mapped, stakeholder panels engaged, guidance and validation sought, and more than 400 clinical colleagues engaged, surveyed and invited to focus groups to have open and honest discussion in a safe environment.

 

All the information gathered was analysed and resulted in over 40 co-designed individual recommendations to improve the end-to-end process and colleague experience from advert stage through to appointment. Whilst the programme focussed on nursing colleagues due to them making up the largest volume of Agenda for Change workforce, the recommendations were validated as transferrable for all workforce groups.

 

In 2025/26 we continued to run various initiatives to support retention of our International Educated colleagues such as:

We also have the health and wellbeing support outlined in HIA 4, as well as the following resources:

 

Religious Guides:

In 2025, the People Experience team published religious guides titled

‘Wisdom beyond wards’ which were intended to be part of a suite of guidance which aims to equip our NHS colleagues at all levels to understand the religious and spiritual needs of all people.  Wisdom_Beyond_Wards_-_Maysoon_Shafiq.pdf. The guides were promoted to SY ICB colleagues.

 

Connect Club sessions:

Connect club are safe spaces for colleagues who join with a brew and chat making links to others in the same situation while hearing about some of the support available to International Educated Colleges. Sessions delivered in 2025 including health & wellbeing support and offers, financial wellbeing, the power of staff networks and the role of the Chaplaincy department. Internationally Educated Colleagues :: South Yorkshire I.C.S. All sessions were open to SY ICB colleagues.

 

Health & Care Skilled Worker Visa Workshops:

In September 2025, the second round of Health & Social care visa workshops delivered by Immigration Advice Services (IAS). These followed on from those arranged in December 24 and February 25. Internationally Educated Colleagues :: South Yorkshire I.C.S. All sessions were open to SY ICB colleagues.

 

 

High Impact Action 6:

 

We are working to develop our culture into one which eliminates the conditions and environment in which bullying, harassment and physical harassment occur, using our data to evidence this.

The staff survey results show:

• A decline of 26.3% since 2024 in staff who would recommend the organisation as a place to work.
• An increase of 0.1% since 2024 in staff who have personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from managers.
• A decline of 1.3% since 2024 in staff who have personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from other colleagues.
• An increase of 0.5% since 2024 in staff who have personally experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from patients / service users, their relatives or other members of the public.

A increase of 7% since 2024 in staff who experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work reporting it.