Everyone is equal. We do everything we can to ensure all our environments are free of discrimination, victimisation and harassment. We do this by:
- encouraging equality and diversity
- stopping unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
- making sure our services are accessible to everyone
The Equality Act 2010 came into force in October 2010. It replaced a range of anti-discrimination laws with one single Act. The aim of the Act is to:
- strengthen the law
- fight discrimination in all its forms
- help to make equality real for everyone
Under the Act, we as a public authority must do everything we can to:
- end discrimination, harassment and victimisation
- advance equality of opportunity
- foster good relations between different parts of the community
It’s unlawful to discriminate anyone because of the following protected characteristics:
- age
- disability
- race or nationality
- sex
- gender reassignment
- sexual orientation
- religion or belief
- marriage and civil partnership
- pregnancy and maternity
It’s our duty to make sure that we:
- make sure people with protected characteristics do not suffer from any disadvantages
- meet the different needs of people with protected characteristics
- encourage people with protected characteristics to participate more in public life and activities
Each year we’re required to publish information about our equality objectives and how we're meeting them. You can read our latest Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) information here:
The Equality Delivery System (EDS) helps us improve the services we provide to local communities and helps us provide better working environments for those who work in the NHS, while meeting the requirements of the Equality Act 2010.
From 2023, EDS2023 implementation has been mandatory in the NHS Standard Contract.
At the heart of EDS2023 are 11 outcomes against which NHS organisations and their partners assess and guide themselves. They are grouped under three domains:
Domain one
Commissioned or provided services
Domain two
Workforce health and wellbeing
Domain three
Inclusive leadership
We have a statutory duty to assess how our policies and services affect our staff and patients. We call this an Equality and Quality Impact Assessment (EQIA). The purpose of the EQIA is to stop discrimination of all kinds.
If you like to know more about Equality and Quality Impact Assessments, email equalityanddiversity@ncic.nhs.uk
Employers with 250 or more staff must publish information about their gender pay gap. The gender pay gap compares men and women’s average pay across the organisation. It is not the same as equal pay, which is about making sure men and women doing the same or comparable jobs get the same pay.
We publish the following:
- gender pay gap (mean and median averages)
- gender bonus gap (mean and median averages)
- proportion of men and women receiving bonuses
- proportion of men and women in each quartile of the organisation’s pay structure
| Gender Pay Gap Analysis |
|---|
| 2023 |
| 2022 |
| 2021 |
| 2020 |
| 2019 |
The Trust’s gender pay information is also published on the Government website.
NHS England requires all NHS Trusts to explore whether or not they are fully achieving race and disability equality in the workplace.
In order to do this we collect and collate data. The data is collected as part of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) and NHS Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) and includes the consideration of recruitment and selection, entry into the disciplinary process, access to training and staff experiences of harassment, bullying, abuse and discrimination.
The documents below provides a summary of our data along with our action plans:
The Trust encourages equality and diversity. We do everything we can to be free of discrimination, victimisation and harassment. The Trust is committed to providing an inclusive environment in which staff share the same core values. So diverse employees can work together, develop and shine.
We support this through the continued development of our staff networks:
- DisAbility
- Armed Forces
- Cultural Diversity
- LGBT+
Members actively engage and contribute towards promoting awareness of equality, diversity and inclusion within the Trust. For further information or to join staff networks please email EqualityandDiversity@ncic.nhs.uk
If English is not your first language, we can arrange for an interpreter to come to your appointment.
If you need a translation of any of our publications or a different format like:
- Braille
- large print
- audio
Please email the interpreter team on interpreters@ncic.nhs.uk.
We ask our staff to complete an annual survey. We use the results of the survey to make improvements to working conditions and patient care.
Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust 2019 Staff Survey results:
North Cumbria University Hospitals 2019 Staff Survey results: