This page describes our equality and diversity priorities as an employer.
Nicola Dandridge, Chief Executive, Staff EDI report 2021:
'Equality, diversity and inclusion are core to our mission and our values, underpinning all the work we do and how we do it. As an inclusive employer we aim to challenge ourselves to fulfil the commitments set out in our mission and values, as well as ensuring we meet the same standards we expect of the providers we regulate, and the requirements of the equality and human rights legislation.
'Gaining a better understanding of our staff profile is one significant element of our approach. The staff profile data that we have gathered has enabled us to identify a range of aspirational targets, and to gain a better understanding of the impact of our objectives, plans and activities on different groups of staff; as well as the potential or actual bias and barriers that they may face.
'While we are making progress in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion, we know we have more to do. By continuing to develop our equality data, we can ensure that we have a strong evidence base to inform the action we take in the future to realise the ambitions for equality, diversity and inclusion that are at the heart of our mission and values.'
In 2018, eight equality objectives were established.
Objectives one to five describe our priorities in facilitating the elimination of discrimination, equality of opportunity and the fostering of good relations between different people in respect of students. These are available to read in our equality and diversity statement and objectives.
Objectives six to eight (listed below) describe our priorities and how we plan to achieve this for our employees.
Objective six: Fostering inclusive leadership and an inclusive and open culture.
- Senior leader role modelling for inclusive leadership and management to drive positive culture change.
- Ensure accountability from managers and directors across the OfS.
- Ensure our internal equality, diversity and inclusion strategy and practice is consistent with our external equality, diversity and inclusion ambitions.
- Better understand our staff profile, views and experiences and harness the employee voice to build diversity of thought and perspective.
Objective seven: Supporting staff to build diversity and inclusion into their work.
- Ensure that staff at all levels have the training, tools and personal agency to contribute to positive culture change at all levels of the organisation.
- Embed equality, diversity and inclusion across all areas of work, and foster a culture which regularly and routinely considers and discusses issues of equality, diversity and inclusion.
- Harness the employee voice, via the creation of staff networks to take into account staff views, experiences and build diversity of thought and perspective.
Objective eight: Behaving as an inclusive employer which attracts and retains the widest pool of talent where all staff can unlock their potential.
- Improve black, Asian and minority ethnic representation across the OfS workforce and throughout the recruitment and selection process, including at senior level roles.
- Improve the balance between the sexes across the OfS structure and reduce the gender pay gap.
Read about our objectives for student equality and diversity.
Staff equality data
In line with our equality duty, the OfS is committed to publishing equality data on our workforce.
The latest OfS staff equality and diversity data was published on 8 June 2021.
The data in the report provides an overview of our equality and diversity employment monitoring to 31 March 2021. It includes sex, age, disability, ethnicity, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. The data relates only to staff directly employed by the OfS, excluding any temporary or contingent staff.
OfS equality, diversity and inclusion targets
Following detailed analysis of staff data, six aspirational targets were agreed. We believe these will help diversify the workforce at the OfS and lead to a step change in the way we work and ultimately will lead to better outcomes. The aspirational targets are set out below.
Target: 80 per cent disclosure rate for all protected characteristics by March 2022
With the exception of disability, the disclosure rate for all protected characteristics is at or very close to this level. In an inclusive organisation we would expect high disclosure rates. Low disclosure rates make it impossible to form judgements about the extent to which the organisation is inclusive. A particular priority will be to increase disability disclosure rates.
Target: approximately two-thirds of appointments at pay band 11 and above should be women over a three-year rolling period
In order to increase the proportions of women in senior roles (pay band 11 and above) so that senior roles are more reflective of the profile of the sexes below pay band 11, we have set an aspirational target that over a three-year rolling period, approximately two-thirds of appointments at pay band 11 and above should be women.
Target: approximately 55 per cent of appointments should be men over a three-year rolling period
To create an organisation more balanced between men and women, we also need to increase the proportion of men throughout the organisation, particularly below pay band 11.
To achieve this outcome, we have set an aspirational target that on an annual basis approximately 55 per cent of all appointments should be men - which would result overall in approximately 57 per cent of employees being women in the organisation by 2030.
The two targets in this area are designed to work together. The first would support the removal of any glass ceiling within the OfS by ensuring that senior staff recruitments reflect the current profile of the organisation. As actions to achieve the second target deliver, we will want to revise this target. The second is designed to balance the organisation so that it better reflects the wider population. Currently 55 per cent of staff in higher education are women and 51 per cent of the working age population are women.
Target: over a three-year rolling period, approximately 20 per cent of appointments at pay band 10 and above should be people from BAME backgrounds.
In setting the targets we have reflected the black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds (BAME) profile of Bristol (16 per cent), current application rates from people from BAME backgrounds (17 per cent) and the fact that we have an increased presence in London which has a higher local proportion of people from BAME backgrounds.
The target aims to address the underrepresentation of BAME staff, particularly at senior levels. We have set an aspirational target that, over a three-year rolling period, approximately 20 per cent of appointments at pay band 10 and above should be people from BAME backgrounds, resulting in 10 per cent BAME people in pay band 10 and above by 2030.
Target: on an annual basis approximately 20 per cent of appointments throughout the organisation should be people from BAME backgrounds.
We have also set an aspirational target to increase the overall proportions of staff from BAME backgrounds across the organisation; on an annual basis approximately 20 per cent of all appointments should be people from BAME backgrounds resulting in 13 per cent of BAME people in the organisation by 2030.
Target: over a four-year rolling period, approximately 7 per cent of appointments at pay band 10 and above should be LGBT+
This target reflects a balance between the current civil service position for LGBT+ staff (5 per cent) and our own profile (9 per cent), but would still leave LGBT+ representation in senior posts below the rest of the organisation. LGBT+ representation in the organisation is relatively high based on comparator data, especially recent ONS data.
To address the fact that there are currently no employees in senior management roles (pay band 10 and above) who have identified that they are LGBT+, we have set an aspirational target that over a four-year rolling period 7 per cent of appointments at pay band 10 and above are LGBT+.
See the equality, diversity and inclusion statistics for staff at the OfS
Collection of staff data
OfS staff are able to input their personal data directly into our integrated Human Resources and Finance system.
We have been clear that declaring this information is voluntary and individuals can choose to ‘prefer not to say’ if they do not wish to share their data.
We will continue to raise awareness of the importance and impact of disclosure and regularly encourage staff to review their data. In 2021 we worked with staff to deliver improvements by reviewing and harmonising our EDI data categories with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) standards and guidance. These changes took effect on 1 April 2021.
