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Equality and diversity

We want our organisation to be more like the communities we serve. We aim to demonstrate our objectives and priorities for diversity and equality within the Force.

The diversity of our workforce has a direct impact on the quality of service we provide to the public. Each one of our officers and staff members brings valuable skills, experience, and knowledge to the organisation. These are enriched and enhanced by the differences in:

  • Race
  • Gender
  • Disability
  • Sexual orientation
  • Faith
  • Age

Our inclusive workforce helps to improve the service we provide:

  • Employing people from different backgrounds gives us a better understanding of the lifestyles, beliefs, and cultures of people living in our communities
  • Employing people who can speak different languages means we can communicate more effectively with people living in our communities
  • Employing people from different communities increases the level of trust and understanding between the police service and those communities

We are proud to be…

A member of the National Equality Standard (NES)

We are delighted to have been evaluated as fully certified for the National Equality Standard and to have achieved the NES compliant accreditation for best practice in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion in the workplace.


A Disability Confident leader

Challenging and changing attitudes towards disability, providing support, and removing barriers in our workplaces.

Plans and reports

Equality Annual Reports

As a public body, we are required to publish Equality Information which demonstrates our compliance with the General Equality Duty. This report contains information about:

    • The protected characteristics of our workforce
    • The protected characteristics of our communities
    • An overview of our equality-related activities
    • Information about how protected groups are affected by our policies and practices
Inclusion, Diversity and Equality Action Plan

This strategy sets out our legal obligations, what we want to achieve, and how we will monitor our performance. The objectives reflect our work with diverse communities inside and outside the Police, and demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that equality and diversity is at the heart of our work:

Ethnicity Pay Gap Report

One of Avon and Somerset Police core values is ‘Inclusion’, so we consider it vital that we take steps to report on, discuss and address our ethnicity pay gap.

At present, there is no legal requirement for ethnicity pay gap reporting.

As part of our commitment to tackling inequalities and to improve inclusion in the workplace, we will be compiling and reporting annually on our ethnicity pay gap report.

Race Matters

The National Police Race Action Plan aims to address longstanding issues and disparities faced by people of Black heritage in their interactions with the police, who have been shown to have the lowest levels of trust and confidence in the police.

The local report on Identifying disproportionality in the Avon and Somerset criminal justice system outlines recommendations to reduce disproportionality for people from Black heritage and racially / ethnically minoritised backgrounds in the criminal justice system.

Find out how we will implement the recommendations and address the issues of a long history of racial inequality.

 

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