Annual review: April 2021 to September 2022
Updated 13 November 2024
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Foreword
Since the launch of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in August 2020 we have focused on delivering a set of actions that will help ensure the CMA is truly an inclusive and great place to work.
The first 2 years of our Strategy were delivered within the context of a worldwide pandemic and where organisations were working remotely, with few opportunities for face-to-face sharing and learning. Despite these challenges, we continued to make progress in delivering our commitments against our plans, not least due to the commitment, passion and energies of our people. We are immensely proud of how our diversity and wellbeing networks have come together with so many other colleagues across the CMA to both support one another and continue to push ahead with our ambitious plans.
We have established a governance structure for reporting our achievements and this ensures that the most senior levels of the organisation are regularly discussing these important themes and considering how each of us can contribute to our ambitions.
We have established a highly effective Positive Action Steering Group to help ensure actions are delivered. This group comprises, not only senior leaders and champions of Race and Disability, but also volunteers from across the organisation who are passionate about making a positive difference to the CMA and helping us to develop our plans and support and deliver on our commitments.
Through the work of this group and the commitment of staff network leads and volunteers, we have made real improvements in talking about race and disability. These have included building targeted and bespoke development programmes focused on career development, ensuring that ethnic minority colleagues have opportunities for mutual mentoring conversations with senior colleagues, sharing lived experience and holding discussions about removing barriers and generating ideas for change at the CMA.
The CMA is a place where all colleagues, irrespective of any particular characteristic are included, but there is still much more to do. To deliver our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2024, we have developed and published a detailed 2 year action plan that outlines how we will deliver the final 2 years of our 4 year EDI strategy. Between now and the end of December 2024, we will accelerate our spotlight on improving our diverse representation of colleagues, particularly at a senior level. We will pay particular attention to how we can more meaningfully close our ethnicity and gender pay gaps.
In recent months we have engaged with colleagues across the organisation to improve the experience of everyone working at the CMA, developing 5 thematic areas where we can make real and meaningful impact. Building a culture of inclusivity is one of our themes, reaffirming our ambition to be a place where all colleagues can thrive as individuals and one that absolutely reflects the people and businesses we are here to serve.
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive
Amelia Fletcher, Non-Executive Director and Wellbeing, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality Steering Group (WIDE) Chair
Executive Summary
In July 2021 we published our first-year review of our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2024 and our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan 2020 to 2022. These were developed together with our staff networks, our Executive and senior diversity champions, the Wellbeing, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality Steering Group and staff representatives.
Together, they set out our strategic and tactical objectives to deliver meaningful change.
The core strategic objectives were and remain as:
- Building a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects and understands the public we serve.
- Ensuring all colleagues are valued and can contribute to our success.
- Empowering and enabling all colleagues to thrive and prosper.
In addition, we wanted to prioritise a focus area and so developed and started to deliver our Race Action Plan 2020 to 2021, established to pursue initiatives to support and champion our ethnic minority colleagues and improve ethnic diversity at senior leadership level.
The Positive Action Steering Group was established to ensure the delivery of our Race Action Plan and has met monthly since October 2020 to help drive our chosen projects forward.
During our review in July 2021 of our Race Action Plan we knew that we needed to drive focused progress for our disabled colleagues and so we created our Disability Action Plan 2022 to 2024.
Highlights from April 2021 to September 2022
Between April 2021 and September 2022, highlights have included:
- Putting Inclusion at the centre of how we work – we have aligned resources to ensure identified projects were properly resourced and time was allocated to deliver the work. This resulted in HR leads being identified to support the delivery of projects and also directly support staff network leads in their role. We reviewed our staff networks and increased the range we have, with a new spotlight on All Ages, a refreshed Inter-Faith Network, a refocused Internationals Network (previously our EU group) and a spotlight on our Social Mobility Network with an emphasis on engaging across the wider Civil Service to identify opportunities and learning.
- Diversity of thought – we have embedded our Advisory Committee (AdCo) as an important adviser in key aspects of our decision-making.
- Challenged our approaches – we reviewed our use of social media and social media outreach work to better showcase our diverse organisation including employee testimonials.
- Smarter networking and partnerships across our EDI work – we carefully engaged with external partners and networks to ensure we worked with organisations that understood our needs, values and how their expertise could help us. For example, we engaged with Mind to provide an external assessment of our wellbeing and mental health culture and support for staff; also, following due diligence to research the right partners that can support us, we became members of Purple Space, Employers for Carers, Business Disability Forum, and engaged with EDI experts within the UK Regulators Network.
- Established a robust structure to deliver our plans – in 2020 we created our Positive Action Steering Group to drive the delivery of our Race Action Plan. The group comprised a range of diverse members who all had a passion for changing and improving and who volunteered to help the CMA to deliver the ambitions set out in the plan. This group was key to the delivery of the 2020 to 2021 Race Action Plan and has since gone from strength to strength. Further details are set out in the ‘Positive Action Steering Group (PASG)’ section.
- Developing our talent – Our 2020 to 2021 action plans provided the foundations to establishing targeted support for our diverse talent through personal development programmes, coaching and mentoring programme. See section on ‘Our Action Plans and Priority Focus’ for achievements delivered under the Race Action Plan.
- Learning from our data - in 2021 we published our Ethnicity Pay Gap for the first time, which now provides a baseline of performance with which we can track our future performance.
- Embedded Use of Data – ensured that our data is at the centre of how we work and how we use data to inform our thinking and proposals. Having established the Diversity Dashboard and made it available on the intranet to all staff we are able to use as a key reference to check our progress.
Our EDI structure
Our current structure for establishing and delivering our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion work spans across the whole of the CMA with a range of opportunities for people at all levels of the organisation to get involved in the areas they are passionate about and help to make real improvements at the CMA.
By conducting a thorough consultation and engagement exercise with CMA colleagues and ensuring an inclusive approach in the development of our 4 year EDI strategy and our detailed action plans, we have the right building blocks in place to help us focus energy and resources on the right areas that people value and that we know will have impact on how we work at the CMA.
With clear plans in place, we established a robust people structure to ensure actions could be taken forward by the right people and senior leaders could drive change and were kept sighted on the impact of the work.
We have EDI Champions at both Board and Executive Team level who come together quarterly to share and receive updates on our equality, diversity and inclusion progress.
Our Advisory Committee (AdCo)
Established as a key action from year 1 of the Race Action Plan to help inject diversity of thought at our most senior levels of decision making, our Advisory Committee (AdCo) has within a year become an integral part of the CMA’s decision making. Their views have challenged our thinking into and across a wide range of issues considered by our Executive Committee, Board and Pipeline Steering Group.
To create the group we sought a wide range of volunteers with a range of diverse experience who were passionate about giving their views, thoughts, perspectives in order to ensure our Executive Committee particularly were receiving a broad a perspective of ideas. We made 9 initial appointments to the group.
An external chair was sought from wider government departments, with a diverse background and from an underrepresented group; this has proven very successful as we recognised that the CMA and CMA AdCo members needed the benefit of working with someone from an external organisation, working at a senior level who could bring their experience of other environments, could challenge and give views from their perspective.
AdCo’s impact has been evaluated and views sought from the CMA Board and a number of committees. Quotes include the following:
- It has challenged senior thought and decision-making processes and impacted positively the group think.
- Brings fresh perspective. Give staff outside most senior levels experience of big-picture issues at the CMA and of decision-making at senior levels.
- Brought genuine diversity of thought across a range of issues
- Sarah Cardell at a recent Race Conference on 7 July. In summary, Sarah noted that AdCo is an example of Allyship. It was recognised that, before AdCo was in existence, there was an absence of representation in senior-decision making and AdCo has proved to be powerful and influential. Members were described as “fantastic” at contributing to the discussions and AdCo has fundamentally changed the way XCo thinks about issues. Sarah went on to say that there is genuine respect and appreciation shown by XCo in recognising the value of the contribution.
Following 12 months of sharing their thoughts, views and recommendations on the CMA’s work, AdCo are now seen as an integral part of our decision making and a valuable source of diverse thought and opinions.
Positive Action Steering Group (PASG)
Our Positive Action Steering Group (PASG) was established as part of delivering year one of our Race Action Plan in 2020 to 2021. We sought a group of volunteers focused on race as a priority theme, who could give their time and energy to deliver the actions within the plan. A group of 12 were selected from a range of volunteers and colleagues were allocated to projects and work they were interested in. They were supported by a range of HR colleagues to form focused project teams, tasked with delivering the actions within the plan.
Key deliverables up to the end of September 2022 include:
-
Aspire - a targeted development programme. We made the commitment to provide a focused skills development programme for Grades AO to G6 which would provide a structured approach to development needs, with those applying hungry to succeed and develop. A full cohort of 16 were enrolled and they benefited from a series of support sessions, coaching and action learning groups. The programme ran for 12 months and by the end delegates told us extensively about the value of the programme at a personal leave. All participants were focused on their careers and felt properly supported and encouraged by the activities within Aspire.
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Accelerate – a 12 month sponsorship programme for ethnic minority colleagues aspiring to become senior civil servants. We needed a solution to deliver targeted support for ethnic minority colleagues that would both help them to understand the challenges of senior level and SCS roles, give them the tools and insights to succeed in those roles and provide targeted sponsorship from our senior leaders. Accelerate was our solution to sponsorship programme. Accelerate ensures that we could identify talent from minority ethnic groups and provide targeted support to focus on their needs. At the end of the 12 month programme a full evaluation was completed which showed the programme value, impact on delegates and progress of career journeys over a period.
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Using data to check our progress on recruitment outcomes. We wanted to understand what happens to applicants through every stage of the recruitment process to fully understand the outcomes of recruitment campaigns. The Recruitment Dashboard was created as a resource to enable hiring managers to interrogate their campaigns. We can now review each campaign and ensure a local understanding of each decision made at key stages. Along with the Diversity Dashboard which shows workforce profile both CMA wide and locally within directorates, we have the right data to inform decisions and challenge practice.
Over 2021 to 2022 with the development of our second Race Action Plan 2022 to 2023 and our Disability Action Plan 2022 to 2023, we refreshed the PASG to ensure we had the right people in the group that could help us to focus on both race and disability. The group has equal numbers of volunteers who meet monthly along with the Executive Director Champions to discuss progress with delivering the actions.
The group have ensured they are actively seeking out views and thoughts from both staff network members and the wider organisation in order to shape the thinking about the right ways to deliver the ambitions set out in the plans. The detailed actions are explored in the ‘Our action plans and priority focus’ section.
In July 2021, following the Board approval of the annual report and recommendations for 2021 to 2022 plans, volunteers were again sought to form the refreshed PASG who would focus on delivering both Race and Disability Action Plans. In this time this refreshed group has been highly visible and has taken active steps to engage the workforce across the whole of the CMA in conversations, focus groups and one-to-one discussions in key race and disability themes which has ensured the CMA have been able to learn about what is working, refocus on the right areas and help to ensure that the whole workforce has a positive experience of working at the CMA.
Staff networks
Our Staff Networks are a vital part of our organisation. Each one is led by a member of staff who has the passion and dedication to champion their chosen network; they are sponsored by a senior champion with coaching and support also provided by HR professionals helping each network shape and deliver their priorities.
We ensure that each Staff Network has opportunities to showcase their work to our Board EDI Champion. Staff Network leads meet as a group in the Wellbeing, Inclusion, Diversity and Equalities group (WIDE) and our Board Champion, along with our Executive and Senior Director level sponsors attend to discuss the achievements and priorities for the year, ensuring that the networks work together and consider intersectional issues where resources and interest can be pooled.
Since 2020 we have seen further growth in the number and nature of our staff networks with the creation of All Ages, Social Mobility, and a redesigned Inter-Faith Network. This brings our total number of networks to 12 and ensures a thriving structure of improvement and support for a wide range of CMA colleagues, many of which are involved in directly delivering the work of their networks.
We have benefited from distinguished speakers, tea and talks and focus groups discussing and dealing with an eclectic range of topics, for example, shyness and neurodiversity, myth busting Ramadan, hidden disabilities, Talk about Race and employees sharing their stories. The value of building time in the day to come together and talk about key diversity and inclusion issues to helps all colleagues learn and become more aware, helping to generate a culture where we encourage, share and support each other whatever our background, lived experience or interests.
We engage with and involve our staff networks in a range of work including:
- consulting our networks on our performance management progress and seeking their views on key components of the framework;
- the annual Staff Survey where we presented diversity results and asked for their views to help us form our Corporate Action Plan
- consultation exercises to co-create our diversity action plans to ensure they are ambitious and reflective of what our employees want from their experience at work.
What does our data show?
Workforce Profile – whole CMA 2019 to September 2022
Using our Diversity Dashboard data we are able to show the movements in our workforce profile, across the whole organisation from 2019 to September 2022. We use the most recent Civil Service published data (March 2022) to track our progress and report on improvements. Please note that annual percentages reported in the table below are for the end of the financial year.
| Key protected characteristic | Percentage (CMA) | |
|---|---|---|
| Percentage (Civil Service) | ||
| Female | 51% | 55% |
| Part time | 13% | 20% |
| Ethnic Minority | 24% | 15% |
| Disability | 5% | 14% |
| LBGTQ+ | 7% | 6% |
Sex
Our profile for all staff is close to 50:50 overall, though we have fewer female staff than typical within the Civil Service at a rate of 51% against a Civil Service benchmark of 55%. We also have fewer part time staff than typical for the Civil Service at a rate of 13% against a Civil Service benchmark of 20%.
| Sex | Percentage of staff |
|---|---|
| Female | 51% |
| Male | 49% |
The profile of CMA staff is 51% female and 49% male. The proportion of male Senior Civil Servants (SCS), increased from 55.9% to 57.9% in 2020 to 21 to 2021 to 22 and the proportion of female SCS staff decreased from 44.1% to 42.1%. The proportion of females increases slightly at the end of Q2 2022 to 2023 to 42.86%
Percentage of women in all staff positions since 2016
| Year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2016 to 2017 | 49% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 48% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 49% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 49% |
| 2020 to 2021 | 50% |
| 2021 to 2022 | 51% |
Percentage of women in SCS positions since 2016
| Year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2016 to 2017 | 39% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 36% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 42% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 42% |
| 2020 to 2021 | 44% |
| 2021 to 2022 | 42% |
Ethnic Minority Groups
Overall, we have a significantly higher proportion of Ethnic Minority staff than is typical across the Civil Service, however, this is not consistent across all grades in the organisation and is poor at SCS with a current level of 6.35% against a Civil Service benchmark of 10%.
24% of staff are from an Ethnic Minority background, with Asian or Asian British as the largest ethnic group. Increasing Ethnic Minority representation in our SCS senior leader population is a key priority for us and we are continuing to work hard to address this.
The proportion of Ethnic Minority SCS, increased from 1.8% in 2020 to 21 to 4.8% in 2021 to 22.
Q2 of 2022 to 2023 saw a further increase of Ethnic Minority SCS to 6.35%.
| Ethnic Group | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Ethnic Minority | 24% |
| White | 68% |
| Not declared | 6% |
| Prefer not to say | 3% |
Percentage of ethnic minority staff since 2016
| Year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2016 to 2017 | 17% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 19% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 21% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 21% |
| 2020 to 2021 | 22% |
| 2021 to 2022 | 24% |
Percentage of ethnic minority staff in SCS positions since 2016
| Year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2016 to 2017 | 3% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 1% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 0% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 0% |
| 2020 to 2021 | 2% |
| 2021 to 2022 | 5% |
| 2022 to 2023 up to Q2 | 6.35% |
Largest ethnic groups
| Ethnic group | Percentage of staff |
|---|---|
| Asian or Asian British | 12% |
| Black or Black British | 5% |
| Mixed ethnic background | 4% |
| Chinese or Other group | 2% |
Disability
Our proportion of staff with a disability is lower than typical for the Civil Service at a rate of 5% of all staff against a Civil Service benchmark of 14%.
5% of all staff have a disability. At SCS level, 3% of staff have declared a disability.
Percentage of staff with a disability since 2016
| Year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2016 to 2017 | 5% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 5% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 6% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 5% |
| 2020 to 2021 | 5% |
| 2021 to 2022 | 5% |
Percentage of staff with a disability in SCS positions since 2016
| Year | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 2016 to 2017 | 3% |
| 2017 to 2018 | 3% |
| 2018 to 2019 | 3% |
| 2019 to 2020 | 4% |
| 2020 to 2021 | 4% |
| 2021 to 2022 | 3% |
LGBTQ+
Our proportion of LGBTQ+ staff is higher at a rate of 7% against a Civil Service benchmark of 6%. 82% of all staff are heterosexual and 7% are LGBTQ+.
| Sexuality | Percentage of staff |
|---|---|
| Heterosexual | 82% |
| LGBTQ+ | 7% |
| Prefer not to say | 7% |
| Not declared | 4% |
Age
For the period 2021 to 2022, our data shows that the majority of staff are in the 25 to 34 or 35 to 44 age range.
| Age range | Percentage of staff |
|---|---|
| 16 to 24 | 3% |
| 25 to 34 | 33% |
| 35 to 44 | 33% |
| 45 to 54 | 21% |
| 55+ | 9% |
Religion
CMA staff represent a wide range of beliefs. The highest proportion of staff identify as having no belief.
| Religion | Percentage of staff |
|---|---|
| No Religion | 39% |
| Christian | 31% |
| Not stated | 9% |
| Prefer not to say | 9% |
| Muslim | 4% |
| Hindu | 4% |
| Other | 2% |
| Judaism | 1% |
| Other | (*) |
| Buddhist | (*) |
*Less than 10 employees
Our action plans and priority focus (summary)
For the period April 2021 to September 2022 the CMA has 3 connected action plans that are delivering each of its 3 strategic diversity and inclusion objectives. Our 3 plans are:
- Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan 2020 to 2022
This plan sets out our bold approach to equality, diversity and inclusion at the CMA, ensuring we have identified the right strategic objectives, supported by key actions which will help us to bring lasting change and ensure we put inclusivity at the centre of how we work.
- Our Race Action Plan 2021 to 2022
This is an area of major importance to ensure we challenge how we work, create a meaningful set of actions which will tangibly improve our performance, in recruiting, developing, supporting and listening to those from ethnic minorities and underrepresented groups.
- Our Disability Action Plan 2021 to 2023
This is a vital area that we recognise needs scrutiny and challenge to improve our performance, not only in how we recruit but, also in how we support and develop our disabled colleague. Our plan is the first focus on disability and is built around 2 foundation pillars which will ensure we build the right conditions for disabled colleagues to firstly be attracted to our roles and workplace and to thrive in their roles once they join us.
Against each of our 3 strategic objectives outlined below, we have illustrated our delivery promise from our action plans and set out the progress we’ve made in the period to deliver each promise.
1) To build a diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects and understands the public we serve
Summary: We seek to build a truly diverse and inclusive organisation that reflects the wider UK population and consumers we serve. Diversity brings different insights, creates challenge and encourages change and innovation. Over the next 2 years we will ask ourselves some tough questions, talk to our diverse talent about the barriers they have faced and be smarter and more transparent with our recruitment data. We’ll use this to devise strategies to engage with and attract talent from specific and harder to reach groups.
Get closer to the community
Achievements and progress
Programme of engagement and external outreach with consumer bodies, charities and local community groups has been established and is being supported by a number of senior leads across the CMA.
Work to date has involved key meetings with a range of 3rd sector business groups, charities, regulator for Social Housing and local authorities including Tower Hamlets and Brent.
This has led to key sharing event and leads for our Distinguished Speaker series.
Forward look to 2024
We will continue to make the links and connections to enhance our learning about what will make a difference to community groups and inform how we work
To use our data in an even smarter way
Achievements and progress
A structure for reporting a consistent data set was established and the interactive Diversity Dashboard is available to all at the CMA. It tracks performance across all characteristics and provides a solid foundation for our reporting.
Progress has been maintained over this reporting period with presentations at teams on using the information.
A focus has been on creating a Recruitment Dashboard to track an applicants journey and understand at what stages they may fall out of the process. It is starting to roll out from July 2022.
Forward look to 2024
This will remain a focus over the next period as we work to understand more about a candidate’s journey and identify through the data where we can refine how we work.
Work to improve self-declaration rates
Achievements and progress
This work has 2 components:
- Central records and diversity reporting:
Over 2021 to 2022 we have seen our declaration rates improving. Our Diversity Dashboard shows that this is true for all characteristics when comparing Q4 2021 to 2022 to Q4 2020 to 221.
All new starters complete this information as part of their joining pack. Gaps in data appears among our longer serving staff groups and this area remains a focus. It should be noted that declaration rates are high, and, with the exception of sexual orientation are all over 90%. (Sexual orientation is 89.3%).
We have started collecting socio-economic data for all staff, with blogs anew updates. At the same time, staff are encouraged to review all of their EDI data held on the system. Success of these campaigns will be monitored.
We have included a focus on self-declaration and building trust across the CMA to declare as part of our Disability Action Plan 2022 to 2023.
- Staff Survey 2022:
this survey will run across Q3 and contains a range of questions about protected characteristics and in the lead up to the survey, specific focus will be placed on explaining the importance and benefits of self-declaration to staff to ensure we can make decisions from the Survey based on a true understanding of our workforce and that we are truly representative.
Forward look to 2024
We will ensure that staff are still encouraged to share their data to help inform our work.
Work to learn about EDI initiatives from other organisations
Achievements and progress
The HR team continue to research the D&I work of other organisations in order to test our thinking and challenge our performance. Feedback to date has helped us to shape our sponsorship programme and has helped build a network that we can engage with on these areas.
We are engaged with the UK Regulators Network EDI group and learning from other regulators’ initiatives.
Forward look to 2024
We will continue to engage with wider Civil Service and other organisations to learn from their initiatives.
Improve diversity of SCS leadership
Achievements and progress
We have seen slight improvement in the diversity of this group, with those from underrepresented groups being appointed. We have tracked those moving through our development programmes and we will continue to report on progress.
Forward look to 2024
We have introduced a programme of work focusing on increasing female representation at SCS level to drive improvements in this area.
Use of data – for recruitment purposes and ethnicity pay gap
Achievements and progress
Use of data has been a focus over this last year and as part of this the Ethnicity Pay Gap was voluntarily published on 25 March 2021.
Forward look to 2024
Report will be published annually
2) Ensuring all colleagues are valued and can contribute to our success
Participate in CO Covid-19 Pulse Survey
Achievements and Progress
We participated in this key pulse survey in Q1 2020 to 2021 and the results provided useful insights to help inform the reoccupation work at that time.
No further pulse surveys have been issued as Cabinet Office will now run this every 2 years; the next is due in March 2023.
Forward look to 2024
We will look for opportunities to participate in relevant pulse surveys, led by Cabinet Office.
To test and evaluate the impact of our EDI work, we will consider the benefits of running our own internal Inclusion Pulse Survey at key points in line with the standards set in the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.
Develop a package of development initiatives
Achievements and Progress
We have now established a set of programmes that help to focus on supporting career progression and inclusion and striving to better understand natural biases and build strong relationships with people from other cultures.
They include themes such as natural bias and allyship, and have been shaped into a full programme.
Forward look to 2024
We will continue to shape our development offer and monitor our progress over 2022 to 2024.
Focus on LGBT+ inclusivity
Achievements and Progress
Our submission was made in the 2021 Workplace Employers Index (WEI) prior to the expiration of our membership. A summary report was received which will help the CMA to consider future work to ensure we are considering the needs of our LGBT+ colleagues.
Forward look to 2024
We will continue to grow our external network and work closely with wider Civil Service and other Regulators to build our network and share good practice in this area.
Celebrate inclusivity work and champion initiatives
Achievements and Progress
Delivery of ongoing support to networks and corporate CMA with an ongoing programme of awareness raising and communications.
Key activity in:
- Staff networks – reflect external facing work
- Declaration comms
- Review and update of EDI pages (ongoing)
- Aspire launch for September 2022 programme
- Health and Wellbeing Fortnight (October)
- Delivery of Race and Disability Action Plans (ongoing)
Forward look to 2024
This programme will continue to be a priority as we work to ensure staff networks are supported, key work is delivered, communicated and celebrated as we work to ensure it is understood across the CMA.
Continue to develop the analysis of our equality data on distribution of end of year performance markings and in year staff recognition awards
Achievements and Progress
This work is ongoing with some notable milestones over this performance year, particularly
- Compared 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020 ethnicity performance markings to identify trends and progress.
- Analysis by religious belief has been included in reporting of staff recognition awards to SMC and Pay Group.
- Analysis of performance ratings by age and religious belief has been included for the 2019 to 2020 performance year (November 2020).
- Ethnicity Pay Gap Report published for the first time March 2021 with an action plan aligned to the Race Action Plan.
2021 to 2022 achievements:
In June 2021, XCo agreed a set of equality reporting principles to be applied to the analysis of the distribution of end of year performance markings for Grade AO – Grade 6 and in year staff recognition awards.
As part of our analysis, we now use formal statistical methods (inference testing) to indicate whether the likelihood of any differences in outcomes between particular groups is ‘statistically significant’. A traffic light system (RAG) has been adopted to interpret the analysis of the distribution by grade, directorate, sex, ethnic group, disability, sexual orientation, working pattern, religious belief, marital status and age band.
Forward look to 2024
We will continue to analyse our data to determine areas for improvement and to inform areas for development.
Greater diversity of thought as part of senior decision making
Achievements and Progress
Following detailed research into options, we established our diverse Advisory Committee model and sought applications from across the organisation; a detailed summary of which is set out in the ‘Our Advisory Committee (AdCo)’ section.
Forward look to 2024
The Advisory Committee will continue to be embedded in how we work; supported with a programme of training and proactive resourcing to the group.
Creation of Positive Action Steering Group (PASG)
Achievements and progress
The PASG held its first meeting in November 2020; led by the COO and with a diverse membership, the group have been allocated responsibility for supporting key projects within this Race Action Plan. PASG meet monthly to discuss progress and provide key support and challenge for each project. Please see the ‘Positive Action Steering Group (PASG)’ section for more details.
Forward look to 2024
We will ensure good governance arrangements to track the progress of our diversity and inclusion work.
Improving our knowledge and understanding
Achievements and progress
In the last quarter of 2021 to 2022 (January 2022 to March 2022) we created project teams comprising volunteers passionate about making a difference to how we support colleagues with disabilities. Volunteers came from across a number of Directorates and also from the Visability Network.
We scoped projects to ensure we could learn from our disabled workforce and we made progress in the following areas:
- our recruitment and application processes for disabled applicants
- reasonable adjustments that can help support candidates through the recruitment process
- training for hiring managers and line managers using these processes
- Understanding the next level of the Disability Confident accreditation
Forward look to 2024
We will ensure the output from our projects is embedded across the CMA and how we work.
We will ensure that disabled colleagues remain a key focus and we continue to learn about what they need to support them in the workplace.
We will continue the work to challenge our applicant and recruitment processes, the training and support we provide to managers and disabled colleagues and learn from their feedback.
We will consider the best time to pursue the next level of Disability Confident accreditation.
Visible Support
Achievements and progress
In the last quarter of 2021 to 2022 (January 2022 to March 2022) we created a project team to identify key actions that could help us to identify where support was needed along with the type of support that would be most effective.
A key consideration was mapping the accessibility of our personal development programmes
We began to shape plans to run staff engagement and focus groups to fully understand our starting position and help us to identify solutions to the following issues:
- Improving our self-declaration rates
- Promoting wider understanding and use of Workplace Adjustment Passports
- Ensuring our coaching and mentoring models are accessible and inclusive and used by disabled colleagues
From April 2022 through to September 2022 project teams within the PASG have been progressing these key areas and the wok is ongoing.
Forward look to 2024
We will continue to focus on this theme and learn from our disabled colleagues to ensure the right combination of support is put in place over the next 2 years of the Diversity and Inclusion Plan.
3) Empowering and enabling all colleagues to thrive and prosper
Continue to support our diverse talent through career conversations, 1 to 1 coaching, promotion of development programmes
Progress review
Career Development Framework – this tool to support career conversations across the CMA, was made available to all levels across the CMA and is now embedded as part of our core performance management approach.
A detailed impact evaluation report of our talent programmes was compiled and captured the diversity profile of delegates, tracked their progress and evaluation of the programmes from their personal perspective.
Following the evaluation of our pilot programme for G6 to G7 in 2020 to 2021, a revised model was created which broadened the scope to include the full range of grades and also introduced a formal support structure, comprising an SD Champion to ensure messages are heard at senior leadership level; the creation of a network structure with a network lead and a HR lead who focus on ‘wrap around’ support for delegates and a series of monthly sessions on key topics to enhance skills and understanding of mentoring and how to maximise the relationship.
Forward look to 2024
Over the next 2 years we will ensure that our focus in diverse talent, career conversations, coaching and diverse development programmes is maintained.
Over the next 2 years, we will ensure that those from underrepresented groups are given at least an annual opportunity to participate in a mutual mentoring pairing.
Promote a culture of wellbeing in our work and workplaces to create an environment where everyone can thrive
Progress review
Following an assessment from Mind in which we achieved a Silver rating, a report was compiled identifying more that could be achieved and a Wellbeing and Mental Health Action Plan was established.
The wellbeing calendar of national days was followed, and the Wellbeing and Mental Health group meet monthly to discuss the next range of activities. These are focused discussions and a proactive approach to sharing information is taken.
Our EAP provider was engaged in running Managing Change sessions for all staff and also sessions on bereavement and supporting colleagues.
We have introduced CMA wide bereavement clinics. We have also introduced a focus on assessing stress across a range of indicators, establishing a toolkit for managers and staff to use.
Forward look to 2024
Delivery of the Wellbeing and Mental Health Action Plan will be the key focus and measuring the impact of the work delivered.
We want to measure our progress and have independent challenge from Mind against their workforce wellbeing index framework. We plan to hold this assessment in 2024.
Understand and embrace different ways of contributing, working and thinking styles
Progress review
Following a tea and talk in Q2 2020 to 2021 a number of workshops were held in Q3 to understand the issues and barriers for those who have a different style of working and different ways of contributing. The output has been compiled and work is underway to feed in the lessons learnt to other key projects and initiatives already underway.
Forward look to 2024
More work will be done to ensure the learning from this project is embedded across key projects during 2021 to 2022.
Sign up to the Mental Health at Work Commitment
Progress review
Commitment signed May 2020 and opportunity taken to enter the Mind mental health assessment in February 2021, fulfilling our commitment to undertake external assessment of our work to improve.
Action plan developed and implemented across 2022.
Forward look to 2024
Embedding of action plan across 2023 with further Mind reassessment in 2024.
Sponsorship and development programmes
Progress review
Accelerate sponsorship programme for aspiring Grade 6 and Grade 7 established, providing an assigned sponsor for 12 months with a structured programme offering opportunities for personal development, coaching and exposure to stretch projects, shadowing and participated in enlightening conversations to help build skills, enhance experience and challenge thinking of our underrepresented group
Aspire development programme created, providing a range of skills and personal development courses for all grades; providing practical tools and support to enhance skills and build confidence. This group also benefitted from coaching support across the programme.
Forward look to 2024
These programmes will be used to support underrepresented as we progress over the next 2 years.
We will monitor and track career progress and evaluate the success of these initiatives, amending the programmes as necessary to ensure a good use of resources.