Corporate report

Equality in 2021: how DHSC met the public sector equality duty

Published 23 June 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

About this report

The Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017 requires relevant public bodies, including the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), to publish information at least annually to show how they comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty, and to set and publish equality objectives at least every 4 years.

This report is split into 2 sections. Section 1 lists the department’s equality objectives and gives an overview of the work that the department has done to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty for our public policies.

Section 2 outlines our compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty in relation to our workforce and our shared commitment for the Civil Service to become the UK’s most inclusive employer. The section also sets out our current workforce data and how we are using data and evidence to inform our activities.

Both sections cover the reporting period from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. This is the first combined report where timescales for reporting are fully aligned.

Introduction

The department enables everyone to live more independent, healthier lives, for longer:

• supporting healthy behaviours
• improving our health and care system
• creating healthy environments

We deliver this vision through 4 core roles of:

• supporting and advising our ministers, providing world-class advice that is supported by expert research and analysis, being accountable to Parliament and to the public and striving to achieve the highest standards of good governance in everything we do
• driving transformation of the health and care system by setting strategy, shaping policy, securing the funding and developing the legislation that supports it
• playing a major role in people’s day-to-day lives by working with our agencies and partners to deliver health and care services to improve and protect everyone’s health and wellbeing, while thinking ahead to ensure that services can respond to changing needs and being there in the last resort to take the action necessary to safeguard the nation’s health
• working with other government departments, our agencies and partners locally, regionally, nationally and internationally to contribute to the government’s wider health, economic and social goals

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made our objectives crucial, as we serve a nation that is more passionate than ever about effective health and care systems. The department’s number one priority has been to tackle the virus and, as England moves towards living with the virus and recovering from its impact, the department’s focus will shift to recovering services and reform to improve health and care in the future.

Our key departmental priorities for 2022 to 2023 are summarised as follows:

• improve healthcare outcomes by providing high-quality, integrated and sustainable care at the right time in the right place, by tackling the electives backlog and by improving infrastructure and transforming technology
• protect the public’s health through the health and social care system’s response to COVID-19
• improve healthcare outcomes through a well-supported workforce
• improve, protect and level up the nation’s health, including reducing health disparities
• improve social care outcomes through an affordable, high-quality and sustainable adult social care system

The department’s objectives are delivered in conjunction with our arm’s length bodies (ALBs) and wider health and care partners.

World-class policy making and delivery depend on having people in the department with different backgrounds and life experiences, who see the world in different ways. Teams that are able to look at problems from a range of perspectives are more likely to identify policy solutions and think about implementation in ways that are innovative and practical and contribute to decisions that reflect the views and needs of all those who use health and care services.

The Equality Act 2010

The Public Sector Equality Duty in section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 is an important means to ensure that public bodies, like DHSC, take account of equality when shaping policy and delivering services. Policy and decision makers, including ministers, must have due regard to the following 3 equality aims in the duty when developing or changing any policies or services that impact people:

• eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the act
• advancing equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it
• fostering good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not share it

Advancing equality of opportunity involves considering how our decisions:

• can remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected characteristics
• can meet the needs of people who share a protected characteristic, where those needs are different from the needs of those who do not share that protected characteristic
• encourage people with protected characteristics to participate in public life or in other activities where their participation is disproportionately low

Public bodies need to have evidence of how they have complied with the duty in the decisions they make. This includes having a record of how the aspects of the duty were considered for a policy.

The protected characteristics covered by the Equality Act are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• pregnancy and maternity status
• race
• religion or belief (including lack of belief)
• sex
• sexual orientation
• marriage and civil partnership status (only in respect of eliminating unlawful discrimination)

We know that a person’s protected characteristics can interact with, and impact on, their experiences. As such, taking an intersectional approach – that is, looking at a combination of protected characteristics – can give an organisation a better understanding of people’s experiences and outcomes. Where such evidence is available, this can inform better policy making and delivery, as well as improve the understanding of diversity in an organisation and inform diversity and inclusion action plans.

DHSC also extends its equal opportunities policies and practices for its employees to other characteristics not covered by the Equality Act, namely working patterns, caring responsibilities, geographical location and socio-economic background. The department is required to have regard to issues such as geography and socio-economic status in its public policies through the Secretary of State’s duty regarding health inequalities.

The equality duty aims to get public bodies to consider equality as part of their day-to-day business. It requires organisations to consider how they can contribute to advancing equality in the design of their policies and the delivery of services. Decisions taken without considering their impact on different groups are unlikely to have the intended effect and may lead to greater disparities and poorer outcomes. However, properly considering equality issues also makes good business sense as organisations that meet the diverse needs of their users and employees are likely to achieve their objectives more effectively.

The department is the guardian of the health and care system and therefore, as well as listing the equality objectives, Section 1 gives a sample of evidence to illustrate our compliance with the equality duty in the development and implementation of health and care policies. Our partner organisations are responsible for delivering many of these policies and they may publish information on how they meet the equality duty.

Section 2 contains equality information about DHSC’s workforce and demonstrates how the department collects and monitors data on workforce diversity. This allows us to examine how our employment policies and processes are working so we can identify areas where these appear to have a disproportionate impact on certain groups of employees. The data collection along with analysis informs and shapes appropriate action.

Both sections of the report cover the reporting period 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021. Section 1 in last year’s report exceptionally included information on public policies up to 31 March 2021 given public interest in COVID-19 and equality. There is therefore a partial overlap with Section 1 in this year’s report.

This report includes information about NHS Test and Trace’s workforce and its work during the reporting period. NHS Test and Trace, the Joint Biosecurity Centre and parts of Public Health England merged and became a new organisation, the UK Health Security Agency, in October 2021.

The department has also published information on its gender pay gap.

This is our third annual report outlining our progress on the DHSC equality objectives for 2019 to 2023.

We use the term ‘ethnic minority’ in this document to refer to ethnic minorities, not including white minorities.

1. Equality in our policies: equality objectives from 2019 to 2023

The department developed a high-level set of equality objectives in 2019. It is vital that advancing equality of opportunity and eliminating discrimination remain central to the department’s work to ensure equitable policy making and improved health outcomes for people in England. This has continued to be important during the pandemic which has seen different impacts on different groups and communities.

This section lists the objectives and provides evidence to demonstrate compliance with the equality duty in the period from 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021.

This section covers a broad selection of the department’s work and policies on COVID-19 and other areas. This aims to give a sense of what the department has done and is not intended to cover all areas of work. Information on COVID-19 work and policies may also be included in reports by our ALBs or by other government departments where they lead on particular issues.

The department has also carried out work and made announcements since 1 October 2021, such as the review launched into the health impact of potential bias in medical devices. Where relevant these may be covered in next year’s report.

Objective 1

We aim to build an inclusive culture within the department which values and respects diversity, and where everyone can achieve their potential. As an employer we are also committed to the Civil Service ambition to become the UK’s most inclusive employer.

The department has continued to progress its internal diversity and inclusion priorities, as outlined in section 2 of this report.

Objective 2

We will continue to build and develop our relationships with stakeholders and the public, including those that represent groups with protected characteristics, to improve our functions and services.

COVID-19 response

The department has carried out a considerable amount of work to develop and deliver COVID-19 policies, informed by the impacts on different groups and communities. Building on evidence from Public Health England’s report on disparities in COVID-19 risks and outcomes, further work was taken forward by the Minister for Equalities and the Government Equalities Office, who published quarterly reports on progress to address COVID-19 health inequalities. The government recognises that disproportionately affected groups have particular needs that were accommodated where possible throughout the pandemic and must be accommodated on the road to recovery.

The coronavirus pandemic has had an unprecedented global impact that has severely affected public health, the economy and society. The government’s aim throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been to protect the lives and livelihoods of citizens across the UK. The public health legislative response to COVID-19 has relied on 2 pieces of primary legislation: the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and the Coronavirus Act 2020.

In combination, these 2 acts have proven essential to mitigate the risk of transmission in our communities, to protect and support the National Health Service (NHS), and to save lives.

Notwithstanding the challenges of responding to the pandemic, the government remains absolutely committed to ensuring that consideration of equality impacts is integral to all key policy decisions, and that all equality and discrimination laws and obligations continue to apply during the COVID-19 pandemic. When these regulations were reviewed, amended or revoked the government considered the Public Sector Equality Duty.

Young people, individuals from ethnically diverse backgrounds, people with disabilities and women are amongst those who have been hit disproportionately by the health and economic consequences of COVID-19. It is for this reason that the government ensured that restrictions were in place for no longer than was necessary – achieving a careful balance between protecting the public’s health from COVID-19, but without disproportionately affecting the wider determinants of people’s health – and took steps to mitigate potential negative impacts. For example, we included exemptions from gathering restrictions for support and childcare bubbles to support people at higher risk of being isolated.

COVID-19 vaccination

The department published a COVID-19 vaccine uptake plan in February 2021. This set out action at local and national levels to increase vaccine uptake across different communities, supported by collecting and monitoring data on vaccine uptake. As part of this, a Vaccination Equalities Committee, led by NHS England and Improvement, brought together government departments with national representatives from the Association of Directors of Public Health, local authorities, fire and police services, and voluntary sector organisations to advise and guide the vaccine deployment programme on addressing disparities. The plan includes action on equality issues such as:

• the NHS and local authorities engaging with their local communities – for example, to establish vaccination centres in places of worship and to support the message that the vaccine is safe and religiously permitted
• funding for the Community Champions scheme, which is supporting local engagement with and boosting vaccine uptake among older people, people with disabilities, people from areas of deprivation and ethnic minorities
• communications that include targeted information and advice via TV, radio and social media, which has been translated into 19 languages including Bengali, Chinese, Filipino, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu
• print and online material, including interviews and practical advice in hundreds of national, regional, local and specialist titles including media for Asian, Bangladeshi, Bengali, Gujarati and Pakistani communities
• the department working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to tackle misinformation about the vaccine, which has targeted some ethnic minorities and underserved groups (we use ‘underserved’ in this report to broadly refer to groups that have been less engaged by services or that were less likely to access services compared to the wider population)
• providing guidance to the NHS on ensuring vaccination sites are accessible and have appropriate support, such as disabled accessibility and British Sign Language interpreters
• all NHS staff including those located at vaccination centres are required to undergo equality, diversity and inclusion training that equips healthcare workers with the basic skills

The department has co-created content with different faith groups and communities about vaccines, supporting them to host their own question and answer sessions, and act as ambassadors or media spokespeople including the Sikh Council, NHS Muslim Network and Oxford Polish Association. We have liaised directly with ethnic media outlets such as the BBC Asian Network to create videos on vaccination topics, tailoring them appropriately, including infographics covering key concerns from ethnic minority communities and quotes from ethnic minority staff.

Positive messaging about vaccine uptake has been shared through targeted adult social care and NHS channels. This has used influencers, leaders and stories from social care workers who have already been vaccinated to boost confidence and tackle misinformation among ethnic minority communities and staff in adult social care.

The Office for National Statistics reported that vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority groups has more than halved, down from 22% in February 2021 to 9% in July 2021. This includes hesitancy in black and black British adults which fell from 44% in February 2021 to 21% in July 2021.

The Office for National Statistics also reported that vaccine hesitancy appeared to have decreased slightly among the youngest age groups. Vaccine hesitancy was 11% among those aged 16 to 17 years in July 2021 (compared with 14% in February 2021), 5% among those aged 18 to 21 years (9% in the previous period), and 9% among those aged 22 to 25 years (10% in the previous period).

We worked to make vaccinations more accessible to people with learning disabilities. There is a suite of guidance for people with learning disabilities, who may benefit from information being accessible in easy read formats alongside visual cues. These materials include a film produced by Skills for People and Learning Disability England, leaflets about what to expect from your vaccination and easy read consent forms. Some people with reduced capacity, including people with autism, learning disabilities or dementia, depend on easy read versions of official documents and support from their carers to make decisions for themselves.

Flexible delivery models such walk-in and mobile vaccination clinics have been used to improve access and increase the convenience of the vaccination offer, particularly for those in deprived communities of which some ethnic minority groups tend to be overrepresented. The government worked closely with the NHS to make it as easy as possible to get a vaccine, including through ‘grab a jab’ pop-up vaccine sites such as London-based nightclub Heaven, as well as football stadiums and festivals up and down the country.

We ensured that people who have HIV can access the vaccine at specialist clinics alongside any ongoing treatment, without having to notify their GP. Ongoing stigma around being HIV positive means some people do not feel comfortable disclosing their status to their GP, so being able to access the vaccination through alternative routes has been a positive step in making the vaccine more accessible.

Personal protective equipment

The department is committed to understanding user needs and taking appropriate action to incorporate user feedback in personal protective equipment (PPE) provision. In March 2021, we commissioned the COVID-19 Taskforce Field Team, based in the Cabinet Office, to undertake engagement directly with health and social care frontline workers, including those from different ethnic minority backgrounds, to better understand their experiences of PPE throughout the pandemic. The outcomes of this formal engagement have broadly confirmed that the actions that the department was already taking to address the PPE needs of frontline workers from different ethnic backgrounds were the right ones. This was particularly in relation to access to appropriate fit of PPE, in ensuring we have a resilient supply of PPE and can be more responsive in future emergencies.

A key part of the PPE supply chain that we established during the pandemic was our customer engagement programme. This included customer engagement panels with a range of staff groups, such as staff with different protected characteristics, and stakeholder groups.

Feedback from engagement suggested that there was poor staff experience with fit testing procedures amongst ethnic minority staff groups during the initial surge of COVID-19 cases in NHS hospitals. DHSC and NHS England and NHS Improvement launched a programme of work on fit testing for FFP3 masks, investigating if characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, facial profile and other features, such as head coverings, have an impact on FFP3 mask fit among NHS staff.

This work demonstrated that a greater range of FFP3s in different shapes and sizes was required. A further 8 types of FFP3 mask are now available and over 16 different models are supplied. This provides a portfolio of different shapes and sizes of mask to cater to a diverse range of users of PPE.

DHSC recognises the challenges posed by masks to communication between individuals and the impact this has on access to healthcare. A transparent face mask working group was set up, which comprised of Public Health England, the Health and Safety Executive, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the NHS and Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory. The group produced a new technical specification, which was approved by the Infection Prevention and Control Cell comprised of representatives from all 4 nations. The specification gives testing, design and performance requirements for single-use transparent face masks that are intended to provide comparable protection to that of a Type IIR medical mask. A number of products have now completed assurance against this standard and are available for purchase directly for use by NHS trusts.

In ‘Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) strategy: stabilise and build resilience’ we committed to centrally procuring and supplying COVID-19 related PPE for free to health and care providers until 31 March 2021. In anticipation of infection prevention and control guidance continuing to recommend high COVID-19 PPE use as a consequence of high case rates remaining, we initially extended the provision of free PPE until the end of June 2021 and then again until the end of March 2022. Following a consultation, in January 2022 we announced the decision to extend free COVID-19 PPE to the health and care sectors by up to one year to March 2023 or until the infection prevention and control guidance on PPE usage for COVID-19 is either withdrawn or significantly amended (whichever is sooner).

Continuing to support our frontline health and care workers is our priority. Asking providers to absorb PPE costs would have significant financial impacts on them, which could have negative impacts on their services, their staff and the people they care for. Maintaining free provision while we are still responding to the pandemic will help to ensure a stable and equitable supply of PPE to the health and care sectors. Data taken from the PPE portal shows that the highest volume of PPE was sent out to the most health deprived areas in England based on the health disparity index from the Indices of Deprivation 2019.

As we look beyond the current pandemic, we will continue to build an integrated supply chain for PPE that embeds lessons learned from COVID-19 and where our approach is informed by the needs of those on the frontline.

NHS Test and Trace

NHS Test and Trace continued to act on external stakeholder views and increase transparency with the public on its policy design. For example, in addition to regular engagement with representative and advocacy groups to gather feedback, we ensured that members of the public most at risk from the virus had the chance to feed into the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We partnered with Ipsos MORI, Imperial College Health Partners and Involve to run a public advisory group bringing together 100 people from different backgrounds across England for a series of sessions. This forum provided suggestions on how the government might deliver support measures in an equitable way and use data to reduce public health risks whilst alleviating public concerns about privacy.

We commissioned a programme of qualitative behavioural science research, to support our commitments to better understand reasons behind low levels of trust and engagement in COVID-19 services. This led to us:

• disaggregating ethnic minority data and individually assessing black African, black Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Indian ethnic groups to more accurately understand different behaviours with lateral flow device testing
• delivering on preferred routes of communication with each underserved group
• addressing data and privacy concerns and providing reassurance to these groups by exploring an option to share less personal data when requesting a test, to reduce barriers and increase uptake of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing

NHS Test and Trace considered the impact of self-isolation guidance on groups with protected characteristics who are disproportionately impacted by high exposure occupations, overrepresented in financially deprived areas, and so impacted by the inability to work if infected.

By the end of September 2021, we had made £280 million available to local authorities to run the Test and Trace Self-Isolation Support Payment scheme, supporting approximately 300,000 people on low incomes who would have experienced financial hardship if they had to self-isolate without monetary assistance.

Beyond financial support, NHS Test and Trace recognised the need for other forms of assistance to isolate. We commissioned a number of pilots with local authorities in 2021 on key issues such as accommodation for migrant workers given the higher risk of transmission in overcrowded housing. The pilots drew on local intelligence and feedback from citizens to inform practice and build the evidence base for future policy.

We internally audited our NHS COVID-19 contact tracing app, using feedback from users with accessibility requirements to make it more accessible – for example, making the app available on larger tablets, introducing the ability to turn off animations for the motion-sensitive and ensuring all app updates on Android or iOS are accessibility approved. We improved engagement by promoting information about the app in multiple languages and multiple mediums (posters, leaflets, videos, how-to-guides and social media) to grassroots organisations and national advocacy groups, to ensure as many individuals as possible from diverse communities were able to access it.

We commissioned social and behavioural research to identify how we could support the public to test and to follow self-isolation guidance. We found a series of barriers experienced by some communities including digital exclusion, a lack of understanding of the benefits to testing and spread of misinformation regarding COVID-19 transmission, and cultural nuances that present different preferred methods for engagement.

NHS Test and Trace delivered a programme of targeted communication initiatives via our Branding and Marketing Team to combat mistrust and disengagement in a targeted manner and improve engagement with testing, tracing and vaccination. We worked with community leaders, local authorities and specialist marketing agencies to develop tailored messaging, shared through strategically chosen channels and trusted voices to reach ethnic minority audiences. We used a multi-channel communication strategy to address language, cultural and exclusion barriers, with a particular emphasis on targeting those at greatest risk.

Some examples of campaigns were:

• working with Public Health England to set up a second round of COVID-19 information grants in January 2021 totalling £214,000 to disseminate information to communities and combat misinformation
• translating guidance into multiple languages, such as Bengali, Chinese, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Somali
• delivering messaging via TV broadcasters with ethnic minority audiences across Asian, Afro-Caribbean, African, Bangladeshi, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Russian, Pakistani, Turkish, Jewish and Chinese communities
• holding roundtables regularly with community leaders to co-create guidance to enable safe worshipping ahead of festivals, including Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Shavuot, Ramadan, Eid, Vaisakh, Diwali, Easter and Christmas

NHS Test and Trace established a dedicated inclusive design team comprised of researchers, service designers, content designers and accessibility specialists. The team worked with people with access needs, and others who are more likely to be excluded, to improve the accessibility of our services. Through this we have identified and addressed exclusion issues and made service changes to improve experiences for our users. Examples of changes include:

• reviewing Test and Trace services to ensure they pass the web content accessibility guidelines and work with assistive technology
• putting in place alternative formats such as easy read for key parts of our services and signposting these more prominently
• content to help set expectations on what will happen further along in the process, to help with preparation and reduce anxiety

NHS Test and Trace partnered with Be My Eyes, a mobile support app for the blind and visually impaired, to trial supporting a PCR test from the comfort of their own home with the help of our professional agents via video. We provided support on how to order and take a test, as well as packaging and sending in samples. Following further engagement with this community, we implemented the Be My Eyes service enhancement in our 119 service from April 2021.

NHS Test and Trace prioritised assessing the impact of our targeted interventions. We know it is important to have a collaborative approach and have gathered evaluation evidence in partnership with our stakeholders, partners and members of the public. This includes:

• over 97% of pharmacies across England – a trusted and convenient location for targeted communities – have handed out over 159 million tests so far
• over 60,000 accessibility adjustments for testing (including language downloads, easy read, live video support, British Sign Language support, non-digital take-up) have been accessed per month
• our public perceptions tracker indicates that trust in our services by ethnic minorities has improved with raised awareness of regular rapid testing from 42% to 60%, trust in lateral flow tests increased from 27% to 43%, and trust in PCR tests increased from 52% to 54%
• our user rating on experience and ease of use of our NHS COVID-19 App also improved over time amongst ethnic minorities

Adult social care

Adult social care staff have a higher representation of women (82%), low-income workers and people from ethnic minority backgrounds (excluding white minorities) (21%) than the national workforce. Furthermore, older people or those with disabilities are disproportionately represented amongst care home residents.

Decisions about testing, PPE and vaccines in adult social care settings have a large impact on these groups. Our policies are designed to protect staff, residents and care recipients to help to prevent outbreaks in these settings, reducing the risks that these groups face in the high-risk setting of care homes and wider settings.

Across all 3 areas, we have regular engagement with sector stakeholders including Directors of Public Health and Directors of Adult Social Services, the National Care Forum, National Care Association, the Local Government Association and the Social Care Institute for Excellence.

We have ensured we have communicated our policies in an inclusive manner such as by translating guidance into various languages and ensuring guidance is clear with diagrams, to help those who are unable to speak English, or who cannot speak English very well, to access and understand the guidance correctly.

The Office of the Chief Social Worker continues to lead on the implementation of the social care workforce race equality standard, which seeks to establish a standard (or measuring tool) to support and strengthen the efforts of local authorities in creating and maintaining processes to embed fairness and equality. The social care workforce race equality standard has been in its 12-month test phase working with 18 local authority sites to implement the standard. The test phase ends in March 2022. Key outcomes of the test phase will include data reports for all local authority sites involved, analysed against the social care workforce race equality standard metrics, and draft action plans detailing how each local authority aims to address disparities and strengthen good practice.

The Chief Social Worker continues to work with sector partners to share learning and bring together best practice for providing culturally competent care during COVID-19 and beyond, learning from its impact.

Culturally appropriate care can be described as care that is alert, considerate and responsive to the attitudes, feelings and/or circumstances of the individual that has a distinctive ethnic, national, religious, linguistic or cultural heritage. Cultural heritage covers a wide range of factors. For example, some lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) people have a particular culture, or deaf people who use British Sign Language have a particular culture.

Skills for Care have resources and training available to the sector covering inclusivity and diversity. This is for individuals working in the sector as well as those receiving care. The aim is to increase awareness and ensure equal opportunity to access high-quality care and provide support to meet individual needs, so that people are not disadvantaged due to their background, culture or community.

In advance of publishing ‘Build Back Better: Our Plan for Health and Social Care’ on 7 September 2021, ministers received equality impact assessments for both the charging and system reform measures set out in the publication. A public sector equality duty impact assessment for charging reform was published and provides a demographic breakdown of people who draw on care and support and outlines the data and evidence available to assess the equalities impact of the reforms.

In summary, there may be areas in which system reform policies advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. People who interact with the adult social care system with particular protected characteristics – for example, older people, women, those with a disability and those from certain ethnic minority groups – could experience a disproportionately positive impact.

Mental health

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing mental health disparities has become more important than ever. We are monitoring and tracking emerging evidence that indicates the impact of the pandemic on the mental health and wellbeing of the general population. We know that some groups have been affected more than others including children and young people, women and girls, people with a serious mental illness and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

A range of work is ongoing across the department and our ALBs at both national and local levels to tackle both pre-pandemic mental health disparities and current trends demonstrated by the emerging evidence.

We have launched several bursts of marketing activity to promote the Every Mind Matters campaign weighted towards those communities who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, such as those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and those from ethnic minority backgrounds, with key messages being translated into other languages for wider outreach. The campaign has seen over 2.7 million personalised Mind Plans created since its launch.

We have given more than £10 million in funding to voluntary sector mental health organisations well placed to target their support to those most in need of help, including those in underserved groups. This includes £5 million to community projects and £1 million for helplines offering support for specific groups and communities. A further £5 million of funding is being provided to voluntary, community and social enterprises to support the delivery of suicide prevention services throughout 2021 to 2022.

We are also investing £15 million in a prevention and early intervention stimulus package in 2021 to 2022, which will help level up mental health and wellbeing across the country by investing in activity to promote positive mental health in the most deprived local authority areas in England.

In January 2021, we published the ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’ White Paper, which set out proposals to address mental health disparities, in particular the disproportionate detention of people from ethnic minority communities under the Mental Health Act. Proposals included pilots of culturally appropriate advocacy for people from all ethnic backgrounds, and the introduction of a new Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework to embed structural and cultural change in healthcare delivery and improve how patients from diverse ethnic backgrounds access and experience mental health care.

Proposals included measures aimed at promoting alternatives to detention as well as voluntary rather than compulsory admission, which seek to promote and normalise treatment of severe mental illness in the community and closer to home. Policies such as strengthening the requirement for therapeutically beneficial treatment and reducing the period of time someone is detained under the Mental Health Act are similarly aimed at combatting the stigma around mental health, tackling prejudice towards and promoting an understanding of people who suffer from mental illness.

We consulted publicly on these proposals and published our response in July 2021. Legislation will be brought forward when Parliamentary time allows.

The department has commissioned culturally appropriate advocacy pilots to improve outcomes for people from ethnic minority groups in response to one of the key recommendations from the 2018 Independent Review of the Mental Health Act and is a policy commitment in the ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’ White Paper. The aim of these pilots is to test the concept and feasibility of different models of culturally appropriate advocacy in order to identify enablers and barriers to implementation.
We are committed to tackling the disproportionate use of force in mental health services against some groups who share a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 such as black and other ethnic minority groups. We have worked closely with stakeholders to develop the statutory guidance that will underpin the Mental Health Units (Use of Force) Act (also known as Seni’s Law), which received Royal Assent in November 2018. The purpose of the act is to increase the oversight and management of the use of force in mental health units so that force is only ever used proportionately and as a last resort. The statutory guidance sets out how we expect mental health services to implement the requirements of the act. Between May and August 2021, the government consulted on its draft statutory guidance and the final guidance was published alongside the government response to this consultation on 7 December 2021.

Disabilities

Improving health and care outcomes for disabled people and tackling the disparities they face is a priority for the department. This cuts across all the work that we do, from ensuring appropriate GP provision to delivering high-quality hospital care and reforming the social care system.

We are taking action to improve health and care outcomes for disabled people. This includes developing and trialing mandatory training for all health and social care staff on learning disability and autism, a public autism awareness campaign and establishing a disability data working group to ensure we fully understand the needs of disabled people.

In addition, during 2020 to 2021, the department provided £3.6 million in grant funding to voluntary and community sector organisations offering practical support for disabled people, autistic people and people with a learning disability and their families and carers in response to COVID-19. This funding has helped to facilitate specialist helplines, combat loneliness and provide practical support to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of disabled people and their families, to mitigate the impacts that COVID-19 has on them.

We published our refreshed national autism strategy on 21 July 2021. The strategy is backed by over £74 million in the first year to improve understanding in society, reduce diagnosis waiting times and improve access to high-quality health and social care for autistic people, including funding to reduce the number of autistic people inappropriately admitted to mental health hospitals.

As well as covering adults, the new strategy has been extended to children and young people for the first time. This is in recognition of the importance of ensuring that autistic people receive the right support from early years and throughout their lives. We are putting in place a new national governance structure to ensure there is accountability for delivery of the actions in the autism strategy.

We want children, young people and adults with a learning disability and autistic children, young people and adults to be able to live full and rewarding lives. ‘Building the Right Support’ is our national plan to improve quality of care and reduce reliance on specialist mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people by building the right support in the community.

On 22 October 2020, we published our response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ reports on the detention of young people with a learning disability and/or autism. We welcomed these reports and accepted in full or in principle the vast majority of the recommendations. In our response we committed to a range of actions. A number of these have been taken forward as part of Mental Health Act reforms.

We committed to consult on new duties to ensure the adequate supply of community services for people with a learning disability and autistic people, and on creating a duty to introduce dynamic ‘risk’ or ‘support’ registers. This includes an ‘at risk of admission’ component that would ensure that every local area understands and monitors the risk of crisis at an individual level for people with a learning disability and autistic people in the local population. This should increase the likelihood of effective, joint action being taken locally and enable better planning for provision and avoid unnecessary admissions to inpatient settings.

The ‘Reforming the Mental Health Act’ White Paper included our proposals to limit the scope to detain people with a learning disability and autistic people under the act and place Care (Education) and Treatment Review recommendations on a statutory footing. This will mean that they must be taken into account as part of somebody’s care and treatment plan. We consulted on these proposals and published our consultation response. We will continue to engage with stakeholders on the proposed reforms.

In December 2020, we established the cross-system, cross-government Building the Right Support Delivery Board. The board, chaired by the Minister of State for Care and Mental Health, brings together representatives from across government, the health and care sector and experts by experience, to accelerate progress. The board is also overseeing the development of a Building the Right Support Action Plan, which we committed to in our response to the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The plan will bring together, in one place, actions across systems to drive further, faster progress. The action plan will be published as soon as possible in 2022.

Where inpatient care is necessary, it must have a therapeutic benefit, be for as short a time as possible, as close to home and the least restrictive possible. In October 2020, the Care Quality Commission published its ‘Out of Sight – who cares?’ report following a review into the use of restraint, seclusion and segregation. The report highlighted that there is overuse of restrictive practice in many mental health hospitals across the country. On 21 July 2021, we published our response to the recommendations made by the Care Quality Commission, confirming agreement in full or in principle to the recommendations made to DHSC. Work is underway to implement these.

In July 2021, we published Baroness Hollins and the Oversight Panel’s report on the independent case reviews carried out for individuals in long term segregation. This included recommendations to drive change for people with a learning disability and autistic people, which DHSC expressed support for. In our response to Baroness Hollins and the Oversight Panel’s report, we agreed with the recommendations made and are taking forward work to implement them.

The ‘Learning from lives and deaths – people with a learning disability and autistic people programme’ (LeDeR) provides the largest body of evidence of deaths of people with a learning disability at an individual level anywhere in the world. The fifth annual LeDeR report was published in June 2021. The programme enables us to build up a detailed picture of key improvements needed, both locally and at a national level, to reduce the disparity in life expectancy between people with a learning disability and/or autistic people, and those without.

To address persistent health disparities, we are providing funding of £1.4 million to develop and trial the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training to improve awareness and understanding of learning disability and autism for health and social care staff. This training is intended to ensure that health and social care staff have the skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate, and informed care. The training was trialed in England during 2021. An evaluation is underway and a final evaluation report is due in spring 2022. The outcomes of the evaluation will inform the next steps for the wider roll out to health and social care staff.

Sexual orientation and gender identity

As part of the LGBT Action Plan, the department is responsible for several commitments aiming to improve access to and the quality of health and social care for LGBT+ communities.

In 2020, the government announced that HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) would be routinely available across England in 2020 to 2021 as part of the commitment to achieve zero new HIV transmissions by 2030. This recognised the significant impact that PrEP plays, as part of combination prevention interventions, in reducing HIV transmission. The government provided local authorities with just over £11 million of ringfenced funding to cover the costs of routine commissioning in 2020 to 2021.

Routine commissioning of PrEP will benefit tens of thousands of people at highest risk of HIV infection, including men who have sex with men and other groups in which there is a higher or emerging burden of infection.

In September 2021, the government published an evidence-based resource promoting the sexual health and wellbeing of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men. The report was produced to support commissioners, providers, and voluntary and community organisations in their work to develop interventions for improved sexual health and wellbeing amongst these communities.

At the request of the department, the ‘For Assessment of Individualised Risk’ (FAIR) steering group was established in 2019. The steering group reviewed whether the UK Blood Services could move to a more individualised blood donor selection policy, whilst ensuring the safe supply of blood to patients. The FAIR steering group conducted extensive research, which included 2 national surveys, convening focus groups and conducting interviews with key stakeholders. Stakeholders included representatives from the 4 UK blood services, LGBT+ groups, medical and scientific experts, and recipient and donor representatives.

The FAIR steering group’s work concluded with a report on individualised risk assessment for donor selection policy. The report proposed a change from the 3-month deferral period for men who have had sex with men. It instead recommended an approach focused on identifying a wider range of ‘highest risk behaviours’ that applies to all donors regardless of their sexuality, gender, or the gender of their partner. The steering group’s report was presented to the Advisory Committee for the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs, which agreed that the proposed changes would not negatively impact on the safety of blood.

On 14 December 2020, the department announced changes to the blood donor selection criteria that would enable some in higher risk groups, who had previously been subject to deferral periods, to donate blood. This policy change, which was implemented on 14 June 2021, enables men who have sex with men in a long-term relationship to donate blood in England. The policy was also implemented in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The change means that the UK has become one of the first countries in the world to adopt a more individualised risk-based approach to donor selection criteria.

We are continuing work to reduce suicide risk amongst the LGBT+ community. Local areas continue to work with local NHS, public health and voluntary services to develop their multi-agency suicide prevention plans, ensuring they are tailored to the needs of the demographics of their local area, including the LGBT+ community. DHSC is providing over £550,000 in 2021 to 2022 to support local authorities to further strengthen their suicide prevention plans.

As part of the national cross-government suicide prevention workplan, there is a focus on tailoring approaches to improve mental health in specific groups, including LGBT+ communities. The department published a National Suicide Prevention Strategy progress report in March 2021. This includes a commitment to address the lack of LGBT+ self-harm and suicide data to help us understand how best to address risk factors for this group. This work remains ongoing.

NHS England and Improvement and the department have established new gender identity pilot clinics in London, Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside, and the East of England with plans to establish a further service in Sussex in 2022. Based on a new delivery model set in primary care, these clinics have been received well by the patients using them and are due to undergo evaluation soon. To further increase the professional workforce, NHS England established in 2020 the UK’s first accredited post-graduate training credential in gender medicine. The course is delivered by the Royal College of Physicians and the University of London.

Women’s health

In the UK, women have a longer life expectancy than men, with life expectancy at birth being 83.1 years for women and 79.4 years for men in 2017 to 2019. However, women in the UK spend a greater proportion of their lives in ill health and disability. Women spend around over a quarter of their lives in ill health or disability, compared with around one fifth for men. Moreover, in recent years, healthy life expectancy has fallen for women but has remained stable for men.

On 8 March 2021, the department launched a call for evidence to inform the development of the first Women’s Health Strategy for England. The call for evidence was open for 14 weeks and its purpose was to gather evidence and insight into women’s experiences of health and of the health and care system in England. It had 3 components. The first was a public survey open to everyone aged 16 and over in England. The survey was available in easy read and non-easy read formats and could be completed online or offline via a paper version that could be returned by post or email. The public survey collected data on a number of protected characteristics and other demographic characteristics to support work to better understand where there are disparities in access to health services, experience of services and outcomes between different groups. This included collecting data on sex, gender identity, age, ethnicity and region. The second component of the call for evidence was written evidence submissions, which organisations and individuals with expertise in women’s health were invited to submit. The third component was focus groups, which were undertaken by the University of York in collaboration with the King’s Fund.

The department funds a range of research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) into conditions that impact women, including gynaecological conditions, reproductive health and cervical cancers. For the last 10 years, UK Research and Innovation through the Medical Research Council has funded the Centre for Reproductive Health. The research centre addresses the fundamental causes of reproductive health disorders, particularly those affecting women. ‘Our Vision for the Women’s Health Strategy for England’ recognises the need for more research into women’s health. ‘Research, evidence and data’ will be a key theme in the forthcoming Women’s Health Strategy.

The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review, which was chaired by Baroness Cumberlege, examined how the healthcare system in England responded to reports about harmful side effects from 3 medical interventions – hormone pregnancy tests (particularly the brand Primodos), sodium valproate and vaginal mesh. Over a period of 2 years, Baroness Cumberlege consulted widely with clinical experts, patient groups, patients and their families to look at how the healthcare system reacted as a whole and suggested ways in which that response can be made more robust, faster and appropriate going forward.

The IMMDS Review was published in July 2020. The overarching conclusion of the review was that the system failed to listen to patients (particularly women), or to put patients at the centre of their care. The review concluded that, first, the healthcare system is disjointed, siloed, unresponsive and defensive, and that it does not adequately recognise that patients are its raison d’etre. Second, the healthcare system had failed to listen to patient concerns and when it acted on those concerns it did not do so quickly. Lastly, the healthcare system is not good enough at spotting trends in practice and outcomes that give rise to safety concerns.

The government published its response to the IMMDS Review on 21 July 2021, where we accepted the vast majority of the 9 strategic recommendations and 50 actions for improvement. A substantial and wide-reaching programme of reform is now underway across the healthcare system, with a strong focus on improving patient safety. These interventions will not only benefit all patients, irrespective of their gender, but also will feed into the government’s wider programme of work (including the Women’s Health Strategy) to improve women’s health.

Early in 2021, following reports that women and girls were having their virginity tested and hymen repaired, the department led a review into virginity testing and hymenoplasty. During the review process over 25 key stakeholders were interviewed from across government, ALBs, police and voluntary sector organisations that work within communities where virginity testing and hymenoplasty are most prevalent. The review found that virginity testing is a harmful practice, with no clinical or scientific merit, and is a breach of a woman or girl’s human rights.

On 21 July 2021, the government announced, in the Tackling violence against women and girls strategy, its intention to ban virginity testing. The purpose of this is to protect all women and girls, irrespective of their protected characteristics.

We recognise that legislation alone will not dispel the myths around virginity testing and hymenoplasty, which is why we will put into place guidance and a programme of education to protect women and girls and reach underserved groups who may be susceptible to the practice.

We also committed to convening an independent Expert Panel on Hymenoplasty, to explore the clinical, legal and ethical aspects of the procedure, and determine whether it should be banned.

Research

The department invests significantly in health and social care research to support the delivery of its objectives. This is primarily through the NIHR, which is the government’s research funding body for translational, clinical and applied health and care research.

The NIHR is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion in everything it does. Diverse people and communities shape NIHR research, and the NIHR works across the health and care system to make opportunities to participate in research an integral part of everyone’s experience of health and social care services. In line with this commitment, the NIHR published its first formal diversity data report and will continue to publish data annually to understand any impediments in systems or biases in processes that have led to some communities, particularly ethnic minorities and people with disabilities, being underrepresented in research. The NIHR is introducing programmes of change – testing plans with relevant communities to ensure that resources are deployed to the areas of greatest need. Other key activities have been:

• improving inclusivity and equality in NIHR application processes
• changing the award nomination process for NIHR Research Professorships to increase the number of nominations from ethnic minority groups
• improving the accessibility of research funding calls and their promotion, extending NIHR’s reach to underrepresented groups
• setting diversity targets for research funding selection committees

Other activities

For Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month in June 2021, we worked with the Friends, Families and Travellers organisation to issue internal communications to our employees. This helped to raise awareness of these communities and the importance of addressing the health challenges they face in the policies that the department develops.

The Moral and Ethical Advisory Group provides independent advice on moral, ethical and faith considerations on health and social care related issues. It has representatives from UK faith and secular communities, ethical experts (academic, legal or clinical), and social and behavioural science. The group advised, for example, on the use of foetal cell lines and porcine in immunisation.

Objective 3

We will improve the capability and understanding of the Public Sector Equality Duty in the department to make better policy decisions and improve the health and lives of the nation.

The DHSC Policy Assurance and ALB Oversight (PAAO) team, which carries out oversight of the Public Sector Equality Duty, continued to deliver regular training sessions for colleagues across the department. This provides an introduction to the Public Sector Equality Duty and how to build this into the department’s work, to improve outcomes for groups and communities. We delivered these sessions jointly with the DHSC Health Inequalities and Vulnerable Groups team to offer a comprehensive picture on the Public Sector Equality Duty and health disparities, to raise awareness and ensure colleagues understood why these issues were important and what to do about them.

DHSC delivered an increased number of training sessions. Eleven sessions were held between 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021 involving over 600 employees, particularly reaching the large number of new starters in the department as well as some colleagues from our ALBs. We had positive feedback from attendees that the sessions were useful and informative.

The PAAO team worked with the DHSC Policy Improvement team to improve the guidance available to colleagues on the department’s intranet. This focused on providing concise advice about the Public Sector Equality Duty and clear, practical tips for policy teams on what they need to do for their work and how. The team, alongside the Health Inequalities and Vulnerable Groups team, also developed a short video. This was part of wider work led by the Policy Improvement team to reach and provide information in engaging formats to new employees.

The PAAO team also provides one-to-one support on request from policy teams. This includes providing information on how to effectively consider equality issues and reviewing draft equality impact assessments. This offer is alongside advice available from the department’s lawyers and from Deputy Director champions across the department.

NHS Test and Trace delivered a programme of training sessions to upskill its teams on how to conduct equality impact assessments, and through the creation of a community of practice working group, which facilitates workshops, drop-in-sessions and guidance. Accessibility, Equity and Inclusion policy leads have advised and provided guidance to teams on developing policy by gathering insights into health disparity barriers experienced by people accessing our services and supporting policy formation to consider and mitigate against these issues.

The NHS Test and Trace User Design Team ran a programme to increase the capability of service teams to identify and address digital exclusion. This ensured reasonable adjustments were made across a range of COVID-19 services ensuring accessibility to otherwise excluded people so that they can safely and willingly interact with Test and Trace services.

NHS Test and Trace set up a dedicated Equity and Inclusion Research, Insights and Monitoring and Evaluation team, to gather data and evidence to inform equitable decision making. The team worked with the Office for National Statistics and Public Health England to improve our stakeholder network for research on underserved groups, and supported with behavioural insights on our target communities to inform guidance and encourage positive health behaviours.

The Joint Biosecurity Centre’s analytical capability underpinned much of NHS Test and Trace’s work. It enabled us to focus on early identification of community transmission and connected national and local response to prevalence and outbreaks. The lessons learned from this localised approach are being fed into our future strategy for the UK Health Security Agency.

Objective 4

We aim to improve the department’s assurance processes to the Public Sector Equality Duty to ensure it is clear throughout the policy development process, how we have paid due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The department has a template for submissions when providing advice to ministers. The checklist on this template highlights the Public Sector Equality Duty as something that teams must consider as they develop their policy. One of the sections in the template is on legal duties. This reminds teams that they need to provide advice on legal duties including under the Equality Act 2010. Teams also have access to an equality impact assessment template and other guidance on the department’s intranet to help them record equality considerations for their policy.

The PAAO team leads on assurance and oversight of compliance with the equality duty across the department. The team convenes a Deputy Director Equalities Network, which consists of Deputy Director champions from across the department. DHSC reviewed the network in late 2020 to clarify and strengthen its functions and the role of members. The network helps efforts to improve awareness and capability on the duty in the department, and to provide support and assurance to the department’s senior leadership on equality issues.

The PAAO team and the Health Inequalities and Vulnerable Groups team have strengthened assurance by gathering clearer information on equality and health disparities through the department’s performance and assurance reporting processes. The responses were used to provide information to the department’s senior leadership, including a summary of progress on equality and health disparity issues during an executive committee meeting in October 2020. This included discussion on good examples of engaging communities and promoting good practice on the Public Sector Equality Duty. This was followed by a further discussion on health disparities during an executive committee meeting in March 2021. This covered related work across government on levelling up and ensuring that priorities are delivered in the health and care system.

The department has senior governance boards that oversee COVID-19 policies in relation to the pandemic and supporting the recovery and reform of health and care services. These boards have provided a senior forum to discuss how equality considerations are built into the department’s work. They have helped strengthen assurance on equality for the different COVID-19 workstreams across the department.

The assurance information gathered for the executive committee and the other senior governance boards have shown that teams across the department have been considering equality issues carefully for their areas, building on the evidence of disparities in outcomes from the COVID-19 pandemic.

NHS Test and Trace set up a dedicated Equality and Inclusion Assurance function that supported teams to develop equality impact assessments and scrutinised advice to ensure due regard was paid to the Public Sector Equality Duty. This has supported NHS Test and Trace teams to embed equality and inclusion considerations into policies, services and organisational decision making. The impact of equality impact assessments has been critical in identifying where our multiple service offers left gaps and additional accessibility was required for underserved communities such as Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, migrant workers and people experiencing homelessness.

NHS Test and Trace established equality and inclusion standards to guide policy makers and governance structures to provide assurance. This included new COVID-19 testing accessibility standards, supporting teams to evaluate the potential impact of policies on underserved groups, and assuring all ministerial submissions include Public Sector Equality Duty considerations. We have begun designing ways to centrally monitor and evaluate our performance against standards across NHS Test and Trace, which we will continue to investigate as we transition to the UK Health Security Agency.

The NHS Test and Trace Public Sector Equality Duty reporting function continues to report transparently to senior leaders and external bodies such as Parliament, the National Audit Office, the Public Accounts Committee, the Government Equalities Office, and the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Objective 5

We will build senior engagement in the department and stakeholders to highlight and promote the importance of equalities and encourage senior staff to tackle equality issues.

We are raising awareness of the importance of equality issues for policies we develop and decisions about service provision. The PAAO team and the Health Inequalities and Vulnerable Groups team supported a presentation to a forum of senior civil servants in DHSC in December 2020 to highlight evidence on equalities and health disparities, and the importance of their teams continuing to focus on these in their work.

Following the review of our Deputy Director Equalities Network, we expanded the membership of the group to get representatives from areas across the department and so the network has champions who colleagues can approach in the various work areas.

Objective 4 set out some other examples of senior engagement on equality in policy-making. This included discussions involving the executive committee and other senior governance boards overseeing COVID-19 policies.

NHS Test and Trace has strengthened its equity and inclusion agenda, and associated accountability, through leadership development initiatives and sponsorship. The UK Health Security Agency executive leadership continues to support equity and inclusion, with executive committee level chairing of a Health Equity board, which includes senior representation from across the organisation. The board promotes the importance of equalities and provides the accountability, strategic prioritisation and culture change required to ensure that the wider organisation is empowered to deliver on our equity ambitions.

We ran an equity and inclusion roadshow to engage senior leaders across the organisation. Senior leadership level equity and inclusion champions were appointed across NHS Test and Trace to improve accountability and ensure all employees understood the need to focus on equalities.

2. Equality in our workforce

Scope of this section

This section sets out the department’s approach to using equality data and information to inform and develop policy and initiatives in relation to our workforce. The scope of this section:

• relates to DHSC as an employer and does not include any of its agencies
• covers the period 1 October 2020 to 30 September 2021
• covers a snapshot of data as of 30 September 2021 with 4,213 employees, 1,051 of who were deployed to NHS Test and Trace
• provides an overview with data tables, of how equality information is used to inform employee policy and initiatives, rather than the details for every policy

NHS Test and Trace has its own Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy but was part of DHSC for the purposes of this report. The strategy focused on short term impactful actions and initiatives to assist NHS Test and Trace’s smooth transition into UK Health Security Agency, an executive agency formed on 1 October 2021.

This section focuses on progress and activities that took place during the reporting period and does not include recommendations or actions to be taken after 1 October 2021.

Diversity and inclusion at DHSC – our strategy

At DHSC we want diversity and inclusion to be a natural part of what we do, embedded in our culture and values. We celebrate difference and the value it brings and aim to create an environment where everyone can achieve their potential.

We strive to embed evidence-based and outcomes-focused approaches in all that we do to progress equality and inclusion in DHSC. We closely monitor diversity data which enables us to identify areas for improvement and measure our progress in making DHSC a more inclusive workplace.

Our commitment is outlined in our diversity and inclusion strategy, delivered in collaboration with our leaders, staff networks and employees across the department. Through extensive consultation with our employees and using the evidence gathered, we have identified 3 overarching themes to focus on:

• attract – recruiting a workforce which reflects the society we serve
• develop – breaking down barriers to progression and ensuring all employees are provided with support and opportunities to develop
• engage – ensuring all employees feel truly included

Diversity and inclusion at DHSC – our progress

We have made substantive progress in advancing our equality and inclusion agenda in the department and in 2020 to 2021 and have adapted our action plans to support our diverse workforce through the changing landscape of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The key achievements are outlined below under the themes of attract, develop and engage.

Attract

Through our diversity and inclusion strategy we are committed to being an inclusive employer. We continuously seek to improve our processes and policies to ensure we draw from a wider talent pool and demonstrate to prospective candidates that we value diversity of thought and background.

Under the ‘attract’ theme of our diversity and inclusion action plan, DHSC aims to:

• build our external brand as a diverse and inclusive employer
• improve workforce diversity data within DHSC to better understand the organisation and to identify barriers
• enhance recruitment processes and the capability of recruiting managers

Recruitment process

We constantly review our processes and practices to attract diverse candidates from within and outside the department. To support our hiring managers in delivering our ambition to recruit a workforce that reflects the communities we serve, we developed a diversity and inclusion toolkit to highlight best practice coupled with the delivery of bespoke sessions on how to run a fair recruitment process and the importance of having diverse interview panels. For our internal candidates we have delivered a range of workshops on how to complete a successful application, interview technique skills and making a personal impact and have made a commitment to deliver these sessions every 3 months. We have introduced a sharper focus on how we recruit our senior civil servants with candidate packs that include a stronger message on the importance of diversity and inclusion in leadership and the skills we are seeking to achieve this ambition.

DHSC continues to operate as a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader under the Disability Confident Scheme, guaranteeing an interview for all disabled candidates who demonstrate the minimum requirement at sift. This recognises the department’s commitment to providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process and working environment. As part of this, the department developed a disability at work conversation toolkit to aid conversations to ensure employees receive the support they need. We’ve worked with the Business Disability Forum to ensure our recruitment process implements the recommendations made through the Disability Confident Leadership process.

Apprenticeships

At DHSC we want to enable all employees to develop their skills and knowledge, regardless of their background and personal circumstances. Using apprenticeship schemes helps to attract and develop diverse talent, particularly those from lower socio-economic background, who might otherwise not have access to formal education or training.

We use apprenticeship schemes to recruit employees to new roles with an identified career path supported by a structured learning programme, as well as offer opportunities to internal employees to support their continued learning and development. Through both these routes we are able to support the development and achievement of formal qualifications for individuals in the work environment, as well as grow and develop skills for our wider organisation. To raise awareness about our apprenticeship offer, we ran an apprenticeships information session for all employees to find out more about the programme.

DHSC Health Policy Fast Track Scheme

We strive to attract diverse talent and enable people at various stages in their careers to join DHSC and develop their careers within the department and Civil Service. We run and take part in a few schemes dedicated for people early in their careers.

The Health Policy Fast Track Scheme is DHSC’s flagship graduate programme. It is a 3-year accelerated development programme for individuals who wish to specialise in careers in health and social care policy and as such represent the future leadership of the health and social care sector.

In 2020 to 2021 we have taken steps to attract and appoint as diverse a talent pool as possible. Based on feedback from the previous year, we curated a refreshed advertising campaign and candidate pack to emphasise the focus on diversity and inclusion. The campaign included sponsorship from the senior departmental diversity and inclusion champion, inclusion of diverse scheme participant testimonials and showcasing the department’s diversity accreditations and memberships such as the MIND Gold Award. We used stronger, more direct messages to highlight our commitment to being an inclusive employer and used inclusive language checkers to ensure gender-neutral text. We considered a range of job websites that were used to increase the visibility of the scheme to diverse audiences, such as Evenbreak and Bright Network. These efforts attracted our most diverse applicant pool to date, with 32.54% of the 3,789 applicants coming from an ethnic minority background and 11.43% declaring a disability (compared to 32.3% and 10% the previous year).

Throughout the selection process we worked with occupational psychologists at the Government Recruitment Service (GRS) to develop more inclusive assessments, and GRS conducted statistical adverse impact analysis at each stage of the recruitment process to support improved outcomes. For candidates attending the final assessment stage we piloted an ‘Inclusion event’ in March 2021 aimed to engage those from underrepresented groups in our networks and wider employment offer. Over a third of the candidates invited to the assessment centres attended the event (75% of attendees identifying as belonging to an underrepresented group), with 100% of respondents confirming they were more likely to recommend DHSC as a potential employer or apply for other DHSC roles following attending the event.

The activity undertaken for the 2021 campaign resulted in the department recruiting the most diverse cohort to date (in terms of ethnic minority and disabled candidates) and seeing no adverse impact for these groups regarding applicants invited to next stages of recruitment.

DHSC also renewed its Youth Friendly Employer Status, strengthening our commitment to providing great support and opportunities to young people.

Schemes for candidates from underrepresented and disadvantaged groups – Life chances

The department participates in several schemes which are designed to provide meaningful work experience and internships to develop external individuals from underrepresented or disadvantaged groups to ‘level the playing field’.

In February 2021, we recruited 16 interns on the Care Leaver Internship Scheme managed by the Department for Education. Interns were offered 12-month contracts in line with the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Exceptions. The scheme supports care leavers aged 18 to 30 in gaining work experience in the Civil Service with the opportunity for these roles to be extended or ultimately made permanent. The department has participated in the scheme since 2018 and has made 7 interns permanent since the beginning of the scheme.

DHSC participates annually in the Autism Exchange Internship Programme, coordinated centrally by the Cabinet Office. Participation in the scheme gives young people with autism the chance to experience the workplace and gain valuable skills. The scheme also supports potential employers with advice and insight about autism to encourage them to recruit and support people on the spectrum. In summer 2021 we supported 4 interns in 3-week long placements in the department, enabling opportunities to experience work and develop employability skills.

Civil Service schemes – Fast Stream and Summer Diversity Internship Programme

The department is a regular participant in the Civil Service Fast Stream and participates in the associated Summer Diversity Internship Programme (SDIP). The SDIP scheme is focused on giving talented undergraduates and graduates from diverse backgrounds (ethnic minority, socially or economically disadvantaged or with a disability) a work placement in a government department, as well as an invitation to undertake Fast Pass, which fast tracks their application to the assessment centre of the Fast Stream process. In summer 2021 DHSC took on 15 interns for 2-month internships, and a number of these have had their fixed-term contracts extended.

Develop

Career development gives employees access to opportunities that help build the skills and knowledge required to enhance their career in the Civil Service and deliver DHSC objectives as a department.

Under the ‘develop’ theme of our diversity and inclusion action plan we aim to:

• have an inclusive recruitment and onboarding process
• remove barriers to progression with a focus on women, ethnic minorities and disabled employees
• promote development opportunities for all

Performance management at DHSC

Our performance management approach for employees below the senior civil servant grade is a continuous process, with no formal start or end-year reviews. The process is designed to support employees and managers in getting the best out of their regular, high-quality conversations about performance, development and wellbeing. To ensure that employees feel confident in managing performance, we offer a range of supporting guides, including ones on personal development, effective conversations, setting agile objectives and talking about disability at work.

Cross-government leadership schemes

In DHSC employees are encouraged to participate in various talent and development schemes and initiatives available both in-house and across the wider Civil Service. We are committed to providing development opportunities for people from all underrepresented groups and supporting social mobility.

We enable our employees to take part in The Future Leaders Scheme (FLS) and Senior Leaders Scheme (SLS). These are cross-government 2 year Accelerated Development Schemes – FLS is dedicated to high-potential employees at grade 6 and grade 7 and SLS is dedicated to high-potential Deputy Directors/SCS1. The schemes contribute to creating a diverse and robust pipeline for the most senior and critical roles in government, through a structured leadership development curriculum.

META (Minority Ethnic Talent Association) and DELTA (Disability Empowers Leadership Talent Association) are our 2 programmes for participants with an ethnic minority background, and participants recording a disability. Both META and DELTA are integrated into the FLS programme. The objective is to ensure we improve the collective visibility of these individuals, maximising opportunities, and ensuring participants are being effectively challenged to support their progression.

Fourteen DHSC candidates were successful for the 2021 intake of FLS, with 2 of them qualifying for META and 2 qualifying for DELTA. The success rate for FLS was lower than in 2021, despite a higher application rate (up to 131 from 72 in 2020). Five DHSC candidates were successful for SLS, which is a higher SLS success rate than in 2021. Our applications increased due to significant engagement activity across all relevant networks and stakeholder groups, supported by our META, DELTA and other scheme alumni.

Cross-government development scheme – Beyond Boundaries

In summer 2021 we launched applications for the Beyond Boundaries programme which is a new 12-month cross-government programme for Grade AO to SEO who want to develop an effective career within the Civil Service. DHSC agreed to fund 40 places on the programme, 50% of which were ringfenced for employees who have a disability, are from an ethnic minority group, or from a lower socio-economic background, in line with the department’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Race Equality Action Plan (REAP).

DHSC received a total of 58 applications across all grades. Thirty-six candidates were successful in securing a place in the scheme, including 26 candidates that declared a disability, were from an ethnic minority group or lower socio-economic background.

Cross-government sponsorship scheme for people from lower socio-economic backgrounds – Catapult

In support of DHSC’s programme of work on social mobility, in February 2021 we participated in the cross-government sponsorship scheme Catapult, organised by the Ministry of Justice. The programme aims to support employees from less privileged backgrounds to realise their full potential to help build confidence, aspiration, and aid progression through a mix of mentoring and sponsorship. The scheme matches mentees (Grade AA-SEO from lower socio-economic backgrounds) with a senior leader (Grade 7/6/SCS) mentor who also acts as a sponsor, offering support, guidance, advice and direction.

Endorsed by Director General and Director level champions, the recruitment campaign attracted 182 senior leaders from DHSC to participate as mentors and 89 junior employees as mentees.

The mid-point evaluation confirmed that mentees (87%) and mentors (79%) would recommend the programme and 35% of mentees reported that they have progressed in their careers in the first 6 months.

DHSC sponsorship scheme for underrepresented groups

The DHSC sponsorship scheme pilot was developed in collaboration with diversity and inclusion colleagues in the department and across other government departments. The scheme works to match talented individuals from underrepresented groups, who have the potential to progress to the next grade in the near future, with senior sponsors, and create the conditions in which those relationships can grow and flourish. The scheme was open to employees from underrepresented, black and ethnic minority groups and those with disabilities and long-term conditions to support them in their career and help them progress in work.

Piloting of the 12-month scheme was launched in August 2021 with 2 Director Groups at DHSC and META and DELTA programmes’ alumni as part of our wider Talent and Diversity and Inclusion strategies. There were 56 sponsees and 51 sponsors taking part in the program.

DHSC reverse-mentoring scheme

In June 2021 the department relaunched the reverse mentoring scheme where SCS can apply to be mentored by an employee from an underrepresented group. Reverse mentoring offers an opportunity for junior employees from a range of underrepresented backgrounds and life experiences to mentor senior leaders. This helps the senior leader to understand the workplace experiences of those from different groups, helping them to identify strategies to improve workplace practices for all employees. For the mentor, it provides increased exposure to senior leaders and an opportunity to learn from their experiences and insight. The scheme aims to provide an open and honest environment for employees in junior grades to use their lived experiences to explore greater inclusion at work in discussions with SCS.

The programme had a total of 51 mentors and 58 mentees participating in the scheme in 2021, and we committed to running the next cohort in 2022.

The final evaluation showed that 87% of mentees found reverse mentoring to be very useful in understanding the experiences of employees from diverse backgrounds, with 94% believing the programme had improved their capabilities as a senior leader. All 51 mentors felt more confident in approaching and engaging with SCS on issues such as those in relation to diversity and inclusion.

Engage

At DHSC we want to ensure that everyone feels included. We embed the values, raise awareness of diverse needs and issues, learn together and foster an inclusive culture, where people feel that they belong.

Under the ‘engage’ theme of our diversity and inclusion action plan we aim to:

• build a culture of inclusive behaviour
• harness the power of staff networks, working with visible champions and drive employee engagement
• create a safe to challenge culture

Learning events

Throughout the year, DHSC held events for all employees, aimed at raising awareness and progressing our diversity and inclusion strategy. In January 2021 we hosted a dedicated Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing Day. Throughout the day, employees engaged with a variety of events including radio shows, a wellbeing focus group and a headline event with keynote speakers discussing the importance of diversity, inclusion and wellbeing in the workplace.

We also held several learning sessions which included a deep dive session to gather insight of the lived experiences of employees with disabilities and long-term conditions, including an event to discuss race disparities in health, a session on LGBT+ and health policy, radio shows on raising awareness of eating disorders and autism awareness and a session on LGBT+ inclusive language. These sessions were held alongside our annual campaigns for Black History Month in October 2020 which included events with speakers who were featured in Health Service Journal top 50 most influential BAME people in health, and National Inclusion Week in September 2021, which saw sessions focusing on social mobility, race, disability and caring, women’s health, neurodiversity and mental health conversations in the workplace.

Culture and engagement

In 2021, a dedicated Culture and Engagement Team was created to meet the department’s ambition to develop our culture to be the best it can be, to achieve our vision and have a great place to work. The team undertook extensive engagement with employees and leaders to understand the existing culture of the organisation and what people would like the department to feel like in the future. People spoke highly of the work DHSC does on diversity and inclusion, but we acknowledged that the department can be even more ambitious. As a result, inclusivity became a key part of our planned work on culture in DHSC. New values will be launched in 2022 and a strategy developed to ensure we continue to develop a positive culture that enables us to succeed.

Diversity and inclusion champions

We believe that the behaviours should be modelled from the top and every year DHSC selects diversity and inclusion champions from the leadership team. Diversity and inclusion champions are committed to supporting this by helping to create an environment which is inclusive and where everyone has equal opportunity to achieve their potential and flourish. Diversity and inclusion champions play an important part in ensuring that the department can do this by helping to embed diversity and inclusion elements into all aspects of working.

To ensure different diversity groups have a voice and are being represented at the senior level, we have champions for the following areas:

• age
• disability
• domestic abuse
• faith and belief
• gender identity/trans identity
• health and wellbeing
• parents, carers and flexible working
• race
• sexual orientation
• social mobility
• speak out and safe to challenge

Race and ethnicity

DHSC continues to engage with employees from ethnic minority groups to inform its Race Equality Action Plan. The Race Equality Action Plan is a living document which has been jointly created by HR and the Race Equality Matters Network in 2020. This document focuses on shaping the strategy and framework for race equality action in DHSC. The department is committed to creating a fair, safe and inclusive culture for all employees, with no tolerance for racism. The strategy includes different suggested workstreams based on the main themes from the feedback we’ve received from across the department.

In September 2021, as part of National Inclusion Week, we delivered a range of dedicated events exploring topics of race and ethnicity, included hosting our own senior champions panel and the bringing in of external perspectives and hearing from speakers from the NHS and the Private Sector to talk about their race journey.

In September 2021 we published a ‘Let’s Talk About Race’ pack for all employees. The learning pack has been developed to help guide them in approaching and structuring inclusive conversations around race and ethnicity within the workplace, and to help identify things that individuals and teams can do to help make DHSC an inclusive and diverse place to work.

The same month we also delivered interactive masterclass sessions on how to have inclusive conversations and assess how to challenge inappropriate language by putting learning into practice. The session attracted over 100 participants and 85% employees rated the session as excellent.

Disability

As part of our commitment to creating an inclusive culture where employees with disabilities and long-term health conditions feel supported and can flourish at work, we began work on a dedicated Enabling Staff Action Plan, due to be launched in late 2021. The Enabling Staff Action Plan is set out to address the unique health and wellbeing concerns of employees with disabilities and long-term conditions by attracting the right people to the department, ensuring there are no barriers to them bringing their whole selves to work and promoting a culture of equity. To ensure that the plan is relevant for the organisation, between February and July 2021 we engaged with over 300 employees and line managers and consulted with a disability network.

To support employees with disabilities and long-term conditions and their managers, we provide extensive information on workplace adjustments and encourage use of the workplace adjustments passport developed by the Civil Service.

We also share with our employees a dedicated disability at work conversations toolkit. The toolkit is designed for both employees and managers to aid conversations to ensure that employees receive the support they need at work. It includes information on physical, mental and other kinds of disabilities, as well as guidance on how to discuss disabilities, workplace adjustments, and extra support and resources. It also includes the department’s guidance on accessibility.

Social mobility

DHSC considers social mobility as a key diversity characteristic and it features in the diversity and inclusion action plan. DHSC has Director General and Director level champions for social mobility and a growing staff network with over 130 members. Throughout 2020 to 2021 we delivered several events to increase awareness including how we measure social mobility and why data is important, demystifying the policy profession and brought in keynote speakers from industry, including researchers from Accent Bias Britain to inform the programme of work.

Health and wellbeing

Health and wellbeing of employees is a key priority for DHSC. We have committed to promoting a healthy working environment through a programme of resources, events and activities for all employees. Our activities included mental health awareness week with a series of themed activities for all employees to develop awareness of mental health in the workplace and upskilling sessions on approaching conversations about mental health.

We analyse our wellbeing data by protected characteristic which means that we can tailor wellbeing offers to support underrepresented employees and/or help us to identify if employees that share a protected characteristic require specific wellbeing resources.

Safe to challenge

DHSC is committed to creating an inclusive culture where it is safe to challenge and speak up about issues that affect our staff. To support this, the department has a network of Speak Out advisers of varying grades, positions and business areas, who have been given training on handling concerns, including whistleblowing. The network provides an easily accessible resource for employees to use if they have a concern and are uncertain how to address it. Employees are encouraged to speak up about issues early on so they can be addressed in a timely and effective manner. A senior civil servant has the role of DHSC’s Speak Up champion to support the overarching agenda and provide senior sponsorship.

Over the course of 2020 to 2021, we have delivered work to encourage, enable and empower people to speak up and challenge, both if they experience or witness inappropriate behaviour. We have also appointed additional Speak Out Advisers who are on hand to support people who want to speak up.

We also initiated work to understand the wider culture across the department. Extensive employee engagement was conducted, which is being used to inform the development of new organisation values and a culture and engagement strategy.

Pay equality

DHSC’s latest gender pay gap report was published on 27 January 2022, reporting on the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

The gender pay gap shows the difference in the average pay between all men and all women in a workforce. If a workforce has a particularly high gender pay gap, this can indicate that there may be a number of issues to deal with.

The gender pay gap is different to equal pay. Equal pay deals with the pay differences between men and women who carry out the same jobs, similar jobs or work of equal value. It is unlawful to pay people unequally because they are a man or a woman.

The department and its agencies are addressing the gender pay gap through a range of actions within workstreams including:

• ensuring the fairness and equality of recruitment; including name blind recruitment and targeted advertising target underrepresented groups such as parents
• talent, progression and career paths; working towards a more balanced gender representation across the grades through promoting developmental and talent opportunities and mentoring schemes, providing visibility to SCS leaders while also supporting career development
• use of effective pay strategies; targeting increases at the lower end of pay scales to drive progression, and committing to shorten the pay ranges to reduce equal pay risks
• policies focused on supporting equality in the workplace; membership of Working Family / Employer for Carers and Disability Confident Leaders; and fair, consistent and inclusive working models supported by flexible working policies including the development of new hybrid working models
• building an inclusive culture; ensuring that diversity and inclusion is a central part of everything we do

Specific actions to help address the gender pay gap are part of the department’s overarching Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. We are focusing specifically on SCS recruitment process, piloting masterclasses to inform, encourage and remove any potential barriers stopping individuals (including women and members of underrepresented groups) from applying to the SCS and progressing within it; as well as our management information on recognition and bonuses, developing new reporting processes to provide regular reporting through a diversity lens.

Staff networks

DHSC has almost 30 staff networks which provide support to employees, increase knowledge and awareness, provide insight to aid the development of HR policy and initiatives and contribute to creating an inclusive environment in which individuals can thrive.

Over the course of the past year, staff networks activity has significantly increased and has seen the creation of networks that focus on autism, social mobility, eating disorder support and the Jewish network, and has also seen the relaunch of the Flexible Working Network.

Some of the activities the networks have undertaken over the year are outlined below.

The Race Equality Matters Network

The Race Equality Matters Network supported the wellbeing and progression of ethnic minority employees with safe space sessions, a mentoring scheme, advice on accessing development programmes, one-to-one support with job applications and interview preparation, and a variety of speakers discussing their career journeys and sharing insights.

The Carers’ Network

The Carers’ Network led on the development of the Carers Conversation toolkit aimed at supporting line managers and carers in having more effective, open and honest conversations about workplace support. They have continued to engage with its members by providing support and advice as they navigated through the pandemic.

The Prism Network

The Prism Network, a network for LGBT+ employees and allies, shared a number of personal blogs and organised activities throughout LGBT+ History Month 2021, including LGBT+ Allies training session and conversations with LGBT+ networks, mental health advocates. For Pride month, Prism hosted an inclusive language masterclass and film club, recorded a ‘What Pride means to me’ video and published a range of learning materials about inclusion. The network also organised a talk on trans experiences of social care.

The Domestic Abuse Support Group

The Domestic Abuse Support Group has continued to support colleagues across the department who have disclosed abuse or asked for advice, including colleagues of various ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations. The network worked closely with the Women’s Network and Prism network for LGBT+ colleagues to raise awareness and discuss the intersections with abuse and violence. They also provided input into the department’s new HR Domestic Abuse Support Guides and Employee Charter.

The Autism Network

The new Autism Network provided a space for discussion, networking and advocacy for both those affected by and those interested in autism. The network also focused on raising awareness and improving understanding of autism across DHSC though activities such as giving a voice to the lived experiences of autistic civil servants and promoting learning events, including regular presentations and panel sessions on ‘Understanding Autism’ at directorate and team level.

Workforce summary

We are committed to achieving a diversity of workforce that is representative of the society we serve, and work on identifying barriers and ensuring we provide equality of opportunity. In order to accomplish this, we actively monitor the representation of protected characteristics across the department and use insights to inform our action plans. We also produce equality analysis reports for new HR policies and initiatives to monitor and consider its impact on our diverse workforce, and to minimise any potential negative impact on people with protected characteristics.

The data presented in the report shows information relating to DHSC’s employees by protected characteristic. Information is presented on age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, ethnicity, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. The number of employees in DHSC who have the protected characteristic of pregnancy and maternity is too small to carry out analysis. We have also provided information on working pattern, socio-economic background, single parent status and caring responsibilities of our employees, as we extend protection from discrimination and disadvantage to these groups, amongst others. Age and gender data is collected and recorded during the recruitment process by the Human Resources team, while the remainder of information are self-declared by employees through our HR management system. The data presented in this report shows also includes data on performance management, leavers and grievances.

We assumed the following principles during analysis and data presentation:

• percentages have been rounded to the nearest 1 percentage point; this means percentages may not sum to exactly 100%
• headcount includes permanent and fixed term appointees employed by the department (including employees out on secondment or loan and all types of absence or special leave)
• for compliance with data protection laws, values are rounded to the nearest 10, and cells containing between 1 and 5 employees are represented by ‘1-5’ to prevent the identification of any individual’s diversity characteristics
• for some of our analysis, senior civil servant (SCS) grades may be grouped together. SCS refers to employees at the following grades: Permanent Secretary, Director General, Director and Deputy Director – all other grades are represented separately

Responsibility level

Table 1 below shows our employees divided by grade with Civil Service comparison. The largest group is HEO / SEO (41.1% of all DHSC employees), and the smallest is AA / AO (0.7%).

Table 1: DHSC and Civil Service employment: count and proportion by responsibility level

	AA / AO	EO	HEO / SEO	G7 / G6	SCS
DHSC	30 (0.7%)	550 (13.1%)	1,720 (41.1%)	1,590 (37.9%)	300 (7.2%)
Civil Service	140,660 (30.0%)	128,890 (27.5%)	129,040 (27.6%)	62,430 (13.3%)	7,290 (1.6%)

Regional distribution

Table 2 below shows distribution of DHSC employees across the country, the majority of whom are contracted to work in London (71.3%). This table covers a total of 9 office locations: 5 in London and one in each of Leeds, Burnley, Runcorn and Reading. Just under one third (28.0%) of employees are contracted to work in Leeds within the Yorkshire and the Humber region and a small proportion (0.7%) is contracted to work elsewhere. It is important to note that the DHSC policy means all employees must be linked to one of the offices.

Table 2: DHSC and Civil Service employment: count and proportion by regional distribution

	London	North West	South East	Yorkshire and the Humber	Others
DHSC	3,000 (71.3%)	30 (0.7%)	1-5	1,180 (28.0%)	0
Civil Service	101,910 (21.0%)	59,350 (12.2%)	41,760 (8.6%)	36,61 (7.6%)	245,190 (50.6%)

Working Pattern

Table 3 shows the proportion of employees who work full-time compared to those who work part-time. 87.6% of DHSC employees work full-time, while 12.4% work part-time.

Table 3: DHSC and Civil Service employment: count and proportion by working pattern

	Full-time	Part-time
DHSC	3,690 (87.6%)	520 (12.4%)
Civil Service	382,890 (79.0%)	101,930 (21.0%)

Declaration rates

Table 4 below shows the overall declaration rates for each reported characteristic. We have a 100% response rate for age and a 96.9% response rate for gender as these are collected during the recruitment process by HR and recorded for employees that join DHSC. In contrast, data on other characteristics is voluntarily input by employees into the HR management system. The declaration rates improved from 2020 to 2021 across most of the characteristics. However, the declaration rates for disability and caring responsibilities decreased from 2020, possibly linked to them being included in a different section in the system than the rest of the diversity questions, which could lead to lower completion rates. We produced guidance and manuals to support and encourage employees to share their diversity data to enable us to monitor barriers, progress and take the necessary action.

The 2021 declaration rates in table 4 are compared to the 2020 rates and the Civil Service rates. Data about socio-economic background, caring responsibilities single parent and gender identity is collected at DHSC, however cannot be compared to the Civil Service as that data in not reported.

Table 4: DHSC employment: declaration proportion by diversity characteristics, by year and with Civil Service comparison

	DHSC 2021	DHSC 2020	Civil Service
Sex	100.0%	100.0%	100.0%
Age	96.9%	100.0%	100.0%
Ethnicity	54.4%	43.1%	86.2%
Religion or belief	52.4%	40.2%	77.5%
Sexual orientation	52.1%	40.3%	78.3%
Socio-economic background	37.0%	Not available	Not available
Single parent	29.7%	Not available	Not available
Disability	27.7%	42.2%	82.5%
Caring responsibilities	27.6%	39.2%	Not available
Gender identity	25.5%	Not available	Not available

Age

Table 5 shows the age distribution of DHSC employees with comparison to Civil Service. There are fewer than 5 employees falling into the 16-19 age bracket. Employee numbers increase significantly for the 20-29 age group, equalling 33.4% of all workers. The proportion of employees decreases gradually with higher age bands. Proportions are lower for employees in the final 2 age categories, with only 3.3% of employees being over 60.

Table 5: DHSC and Civil Service employment: count and proportion by age band

	16-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-64	65 & Over	Not reported
DHSC	1-5	1,410 (33.4%)	1,030 (24.4%)	840 (19.9%)	670 (15.9%)	110 (2.6%)	30 (0.7%)	130 (3.1%)
Civil Service	1,330 (0.3%)	77,420 (16.0%)	103,410 (21.3%)	112,290 (23.2%)	141,030 (29.1%)	37,710 (7.8%)	11,640 (2.4%)	50

The median age for different responsibility levels can be found in table 6. Except for AA / AO, in DHSC, as the level of seniority increases, the median age also increases. In addition, there is a greater increase in median age from HEO / SEO to G7/G6 (8 years) and G7 / G6 to SCS (7 years), compared to only a 2-year increase from EO to HEO / SEO. On average, the median ages in DHSC are much lower than the Civil Service median ages.

Table 6: DHSC and Civil Service employment: median age by responsibility level

	AA / AO	EO	HEO / SEO	G7 / G6	SCS
DHSC	44	28	30	38	45
Civil Service	46	46	43	45	48

Table 7 shows the number and proportion of employees by age band and responsibility level.

Table 7: DHSC employment: count and proportion by age band and responsibility level

	16-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-64	65 & Over	Not reported
SCS	0	1-5	70 (22.6%)	120 (38.7%)	90 (29.0%)	10 (3.2%)	10 (3.2%)	10 (3.2%)
G7 / G6	0	320 (20.0%)	530 (33.1%)	390 (24.4%)	270 (16.9%)	40 (2.5%)	10 (0.6%)	40 (2.5%)
HEO / SEO	1-5	780 (45.3%)	360 (20.9%)	240 (14.0%)	230 (13.4%)	40 (2.3%)	10 (0.6%)	60 (3.5%)
EO	1-5	290 (51.8%)	70 (12.5%)	80 (14.3%)	80 (14.3%)	20 (3.6%)	1-5	20 (3.6%)
AA / AO	1-5	10 (50.0%)	0	1-5	10 (50.0%)	0	1-5	1-5

Table 8 shows the number and proportion of employees by age band and regional distribution. The largest age group within London is 20-29 (37.5%), in comparison to 40-49 (26.4%) for areas outside London. Proportions are also more evenly distributed for areas outside London for age groups 20-29, 30-39, 40-49 and 50-59.

Table 8: DHSC employment: count and proportion by age band and regional distribution

	16-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-64	65 & Over	Not reported
London	1-5	1,130 (37.5%)	760 (25.2%)	520 (17.3%)	410 (13.6%)	70 (2.3%)	20 (0.7%)	100 (3.3%)
National	1-5	280 (23.1%)	270 (22.3%)	320 (26.4%)	260 (21.5%)	40 (3.3%)	10 (0.8%)	30 (2.5%)

Table 9 shows the number and proportion of employees by age band and working pattern. The largest part-time age group is 40-49 (38.5%).

Table 9: DHSC employment: count and proportion by age band and working pattern

	16-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-64	65 & Over	Not reported
Full-time	1-5	1,380 (37.4%)	880 (23.8%)	640 (17.3%)	580 (15.7%)	80 (2.2%)	10 (0.3%)	120 (3.3%)
Part-time	0	30 (5.8%)	150 (28.8%)	200 (38.5%)	90 (17.3%)	30 (5.8%)	10 (1.9%)	10 (1.9%)

Sex

Table 10 shows the percentage of DHSC employees that are male and female, with comparison to the Civil Service percentages. We can see that DHSC has a larger proportion of females compared to the wider Civil Service (60.6% at DHSC, compared to 54.2% at Civil Service).

Table 10: DHSC and Civil Service employment: count and proportion by sex

	Female	Male
DHSC	2,550 (60.6%)	1,660 (39.4%)
Civil Service	262,670 (54.2%)	222,150 (45.8%)

Table 11 shows the number and proportion of employees by sex and grade. We see that most grades, except SCS, have a higher proportion of female employees. There is an even proportion of females and males at SCS grade.

Table 11: DHSC employment: count and proportion by sex and responsibility level

	Female	Male
SCS	150 (50.0%)	150 (50.0%)
G7 / G6	940 (59.1%)	650 (40.9%)
HEO / SEO	1,070 (62.2%)	650 (37.8%)
EO	360 (65.5%)	190 (34.5%)
AA / AO	20 (66.7%)	10 (33.3%)

Table 12 shows the number and proportion of employees by sex and regional distribution.

Table 12: DHSC employment: count and proportion by sex and regional distribution

	Female	Male
London	1,820 (60.9%)	1,170 (39.1%)
National	730 (59.8%)	490 (40.2%)

Table 13 shows the number and proportion of employees by sex and working pattern. A higher proportion of part-time employees are female (73.1%) compared with full-time employees.

Table 13: DHSC employment: count and proportion by sex and working pattern

	Female	Male
Full-time	2,170 (58.8%)	1,520 (41.2%)
Part-time	380 (73.1%)	140 (26.9%)

Gender identity

DHSC has a declaration rate of 25.5% for gender identity. 0.2% of employees declared to have a gender identity that is different from sex registered at birth, compared to 24.6% who reported they have a gender identity that is the same as sex registered at birth. 0.7% preferred not to say and 74.5% have made no declaration (table 14 below).

Table 14: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by gender identity

	Different from Sex Registered at Birth	Same as Sex Registered at Birth	Not declared	Not reported
DHSC	10 (0.2%)	1,040 (24.6%)	30 (0.7%)	3,150 (74.5%)

Ethnicity

DHSC has a declaration rate of 54.4% for ethnicity. Ethnic minority groups (excluding white minorities) represent 11.6% of the total DHSC workforce (or 21.4% of those who declared their ethnicity). Comparing against Civil Service, DHSC has similar proportions of black, Chinese, Mixed and ‘Other’ ethnicities and a larger proportion of Chinese employees. Within the ethnic minority grouping, the Asian ethnic group is the largest representing 42.3% of all ethnic minority employees, followed by black (25.0%), mixed (17.3%), Chinese (5.8%) and ‘other’ (3.8%) ethnic groups.

Table 15: DHSC and Civil Service employment: declaration and proportion by ethnicity

	Asian	Black	Chinese	Mixed	White	Other	Not declared	Not reported
DHSC	220 (5.2%)	130 (3.1%)	30 (0.7%)	90 (2.1%)	1,770 (42.0%)	20 (0.5%)	30 (0.7%)	1,920 (45.6%)
Civil Service	29,160 (6.0%)	15,600 (3.2%)	1,250 (0.3%)	8,260 (1.7%)	340,400 (70.2%)	2,590 (0.5%)	20,550 (4.2%)	67,080 (13.8%)

Table 16 shows that the rate of people who have declared their ethnicity increases as seniority increases, except for AA/AO. EO grade has the highest proportions of people being ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities).

Table 16: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by ethnicity groups and responsibility level

	Minority Ethnic (excluding white minorities)	White	Not declared	Not reported
SCS	10 (3.3%)	180 (60.0%)	1-5	110 (36.7%)
G7 / G6	160 (10.0%)	750 (46.9%)	10 (0.6%)	680 (42.5%)
HEO / SEO	240 (13.8%)	680 (39.1%)	20 (1.1%)	800 (46.0%)
EO	90 (16.1%)	150 (26.8%)	10 (1.8%)	310 (55.4%)
AA / AO	0	10 (50.0%)	0	10 (50.0%)

Table 17 shows that nationally based employees have higher declaration rate and a lower proportion of people declaring as ethnic minorities.

Table 17: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by ethnicity groups and regional distribution

	Minority Ethnic (excluding white minorities)	White	Not declared	Not reported
London	380 (12.7%)	1,140 (38.0%)	20 (0.7%)	1,460 (48.7%)
National	110 (9.0%)	640 (52.5%)	10 (0.8%)	460 (37.7%)

Table 18 shows that part-time employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as ethnic minorities.

Table 18: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by ethnicity groups and working pattern

	Minority Ethnic (excluding white minorities)	White	Not declared	Not reported
Full-time	420 (11.4%)	1,460 (39.6%)	30 (0.8%)	1,780 (48.2%)
Part-time	70 (13.5%)	310 (59.6%)	1-5	140 (26.9%)

Religion or belief

DHSC has a declaration rate of 52.4% for religion or belief. 22.0% of employees reported a religion, compared to 26.8% who reported they do not have a religion. 3.6% of employees reported they would prefer not to say and 47.6% have made no declaration (table 19 below). In DHSC, of those who declared a religion, the majority were Christians (16.1%), followed by Muslims (2.6%) and Hindus (1.2%). Other religions, including Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism, constitute the remaining 2.1% of employees declaring a religion.

Comparing against Civil Service, DHSC has a lower proportion of employees declaring as Christian but with similar proportions declared as other religions.

Table 19: DHSC and Civil Service employment: declaration and proportion by religion or belief

	Buddhist	Christian	Hindu	Jewish	Muslim	Sikh	Other	No religion	Not declared	Not reported
DHSC	10 (0.2%)	680 (16.1%)	50 (1.2%)	20 (0.5%)	110 (2.6%)	30 (0.7%)	30 (0.7%)	1,130 (26.8%)	150 (3.6%)	2,010 (47.6%)
Civil Service	1,410 (0.3%)	156,270 (32.2%)	6,030 (1.2%)	1,080 (0.2%)	14,380 (3.0%)	4,000 (0.8%)	16,500 (3.4%)	131,150 (27.0%)	44,850 (9.2%)	109,200 (22.5%)

Table 20 shows that the declaration rate increases as seniority increases, except for AA/AO which has the highest declaration rate. AA / AO grades also have the highest proportions of religious people.

Table 20: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by religion or belief and responsibility level

	Religious	No Religion	Not declared	Not reported
SCS	60 (20.7%)	100 (34.5%)	10 (3.4%)	120 (41.4%)
G7 / G6	340 (21.4%)	480 (30.2%)	60 (3.8%)	710 (44.7%)
HEO / SEO	390 (22.5%)	440 (25.4%)	60 (3.5%)	840 (48.6%)
EO	110 (20.0%)	100 (18.2%)	20 (3.6%)	320 (58.2%)
AA / AO	10 (33.3%)	10 (33.3%)	0	10 (33.3%)

Table 21 shows that nationally based employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as religious.

Table 21: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by religion or belief and regional distribution

	Religious	No Religion	Not declared	Not reported
London	600 (20.1%)	770 (25.8%)	100 (3.3%)	1,520 (50.8%)
National	330 (27.0%)	360 (29.5%)	40 (3.3%)	490 (40.2%)

Table 22 shows that part-time employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as religious than full-time employees.

Table 22: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by religion or belief and working pattern

	Religious	No Religion	Not declared	Not reported
Full-time	770 (20.7%)	960 (25.8%)	130 (3.5%)	1,860 (50.0%)
Part-time	180 (34.0%)	180 (34.0%)	20 (3.8%)	150 (28.3%)

Disability status

DHSC has a declaration rate of 27.7% for disability status. 4.5% of employees reported a disability, compared to 23.0% who reported they do not have a disability. 0.2% of employees reported they would prefer not to say and 72.3% have made no declaration (table 23 below).

Table 23: DHSC and Civil Service employment: declaration and proportion by disability status

	Disabled	Non-disabled	Not declared	Not reported
DHSC	190 (4.5%)	970 (23.0%)	10 (0.2%)	3,050 (72.3%)
Civil Service	50,560 (10.4%)	320,900 (66.2%)	28,740 (5.9%)	84,680 (17.5%)

Out of those who declared they are disabled, 31.6% reported a physical disability. This is followed by mental health conditions (21.1%) and learning disabilities (15.8%). A small proportion (5.3%) of individuals who declared they are disabled chose not to disclose their disability type. (table 24)

Table 24: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by disability type

Physical Disability	Mental Health Condition	Learning disability	Sensory	Social/ Communication impairment	Multiple conditions	Other	Not declared
60 (31.6%)	40 (21.1%)	30 (15.8%)	10 (5.3%)	10 (5.3%)	10 (5.3%)	20 (10.5%)	10 (5.3%)

Table 25 shows that the rate of people who have declared their disability status increases as seniority increases, except for AA/AO. EO grade has the highest proportions of people declaring as disabled.

Table 25: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by disability status and responsibility level

	Disabled	Non-disabled	Not declared	Not reported
SCS	10 (3.2%)	120 (38.7%)	0	180 (58.1%)
G7 / G6	80 (5.0%)	420 (26.3%)	10 (0.6%)	1,090 (68.1%)
HEO / SEO	80 (4.6%)	330 (19.1%)	1-5	1,320 (76.3%)
EO	30 (5.4%)	90 (16.1%)	1-5	440 (78.6%)
AA / AO	1-5	10 (33.3%)	0	20 (66.7%)

Table 26 shows that nationally based employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as disabled.

Table 26: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by disability status and regional distribution

	Disabled	Non-disabled	Not declared	Not reported
London	120 (4.0%)	610 (20.3%)	10 (0.3%)	2,260 (75.3%)
National	60 (5.0%)	360 (29.8%)	1-5	790 (65.3%)

Table 27 shows that part-time employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as non-disabled than full-time employees.

Table 27: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by disability status and working pattern

	Disabled	Non-disabled	Not declared	Not reported
Full-time	160 (4.3%)	720 (19.5%)	10 (0.3%)	2,810 (75.9%)
Part-time	30 (5.8%)	250 (48.1%)	1-5	240 (46.2%)

Sexual Orientation

DHSC has a declaration rate of 52.1% for sexual orientation. 5.5% of employees declared as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Other (LGBO), compared to 43.1% who reported they are heterosexual. 3.6% of employees reported they would prefer not to say and 47.9% have made no declaration (table 28 below). In DHSC, of those who declared as LGBO, the majority were Gay/Lesbian (2.6%) and Bisexual (2.4%), with 0.5% declaring as Other.

Comparing against Civil Service, DHSC has a higher proportion of employees declaring as Bisexual, lower proportion declaring as Heterosexual, and similar proportions declared as Gay/Lesbian and Other.

Table 28: DHSC and Civil Service employment: declaration and proportion by sexual orientation

	Bisexual	Gay/ Lesbian	Heterosexual/ Straight	Other	Not declared	Not reported
DHSC	100 (2.4%)	110 (2.6%)	1,820 (43.1%)	20 (0.5%)	150 (3.6%)	2,020 (47.9%)
Civil Service	5,670 (1.2%)	11,160 (2.3%)	316,980 (65.4%)	2,000 (0.4%)	43,670 (9.0%)	105,410 (21.7%)

Table 29 shows that the rate of people who have declared their sexual orientation increases as seniority increases, except for AA/AO. HEO / SEO grades have the highest proportion of people declaring as LGBO.

Table 29: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by sexual orientation and responsibility level

	LGBO	Heterosexual	Not declared	Not reported
SCS	10 (3.3%)	160 (53.3%)	10 (3.3%)	120 (40.0%)
G7 / G6	70 (4.4%)	750 (47.2%)	50 (3.1%)	720 (45.3%)
HEO / SEO	110 (6.4%)	700 (40.7%)	70 (4.1%)	840 (48.8%)
EO	20 (3.7%)	190 (35.2%)	20 (3.7%)	310 (57.4%)
AA / AO	0	10 (50.0%)	0	10 (50.0%)

Table 30 shows that nationally based employees have higher declaration rate and a lower proportion of people declaring as LGBO.

Table 30: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by sexual orientation and regional distribution

	LGBO	Heterosexual	Not declared	Not reported
London	170 (5.7%)	1,200 (40.0%)	100 (3.3%)	1,530 (51.0%)
National	60 (4.9%)	620 (50.8%)	50 (4.1%)	490 (40.2%)

Table 31 shows that part-time employees have higher declaration rate and a lower proportion of people declaring as LGBO.

Table 31: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by sexual orientation and working pattern

	LGBO	Heterosexual	Not declared	Not reported
Full-time	220 (5.9%)	1,490 (40.2%)	130 (3.5%)	1,870 (50.4%)
Part-time	20 (3.8%)	330 (63.5%)	20 (3.8%)	150 (28.8%)

Caring responsibilities

DHSC has a declaration rate of 27.6% for Caring Responsibilities. 13.5% of employees declared to have caring responsibilities, compared to 14.0% who reported they do not have caring responsibilities. 72.4% have made no declaration (table 32 below).

Table 32: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by caring responsibilities

	With caring responsibilities	Without caring responsibilities	Not reported
DHSC	570 (13.5%)	590 (14.0%)	3,050 (72.4%)

Out of those who declared they have caring responsibilities, 75.4% reported to care for children (under 18). This is followed by caring for older people (over 65) (19.3%) and disabled people (all ages) (12.3%). A small proportion (3.5%) of individuals declared as having other caring responsibilities. These proportions add up to greater than 100% as employees can declare to have more than one type of caring responsibilities. (table 33)

Table 33: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by caring responsibilities type

	Children (under 18)	Older people (over 65)	Disabled people (all ages)	Other
DHSC	430 (75.4%)	110 (19.3%)	70 (12.3%)	20 (3.5%)

Table 34 shows that the rate of people who have declared their caring responsibilities increases as seniority increases. SCS grade has the highest proportions of people having caring responsibilities.

Table 34: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by caring responsibilities and responsibility level

	With caring responsibilities	Without caring responsibilities	Not reported
SCS	80 (25.8%)	60 (19.4%)	170 (54.8%)
G7 / G6	240 (15.1%)	270 (17.0%)	1,080 (67.9%)
HEO / SEO	190 (11.0%)	200 (11.6%)	1,330 (77.3%)
EO	60 (10.7%)	60 (10.7%)	440 (78.6%)
AA / AO	1-5	1-5	20 (100.0%)

Table 35 shows that nationally based employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declared as having caring responsibilities.

Table 35: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by caring responsibilities and regional distribution

	With caring responsibilities	Without caring responsibilities	Not reported
London	330 (11.0%)	380 (12.7%)	2,290 (76.3%)
National	240 (19.7%)	220 (18.0%)	760 (62.3%)

Table 36 shows that part-time employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declared as having caring responsibilities.

Table 36: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by caring responsibilities and working pattern

	With caring responsibilities	Without caring responsibilities	Not reported
Full-time	380 (10.3%)	470 (12.7%)	2,840 (77.0%)
Part-time	190 (36.5%)	120 (23.1%)	210 (40.4%)

Single parent

DHSC has a declaration rate of 29.7% for Single Parent. 1.7% of employees declared to be a single parent, compared to 28.0% who reported they are not. 70.3% have made no declaration (table 37 below).

Table 37: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by single parent

	Yes	No	Not reported
DHSC	70 (1.7%)	1,180 (28.0%)	2,960 (70.3%)

Table 38 shows that HEO / SEO grade has the highest declaration rate and the highest proportion of employees declaring as being a single parent.

Table 38: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by single parent and responsibility level

	Yes	No	Not reported
SCS	1-5	90 (30.0%)	210 (70.0%)
G7 / G6	20 (1.3%)	460 (29.1%)	1,100 (69.6%)
HEO / SEO	40 (2.3%)	510 (29.5%)	1,180 (68.2%)
EO	10 (1.8%)	120 (21.4%)	430 (76.8%)
AA / AO	0	1-5	20 (100.0%)

Table 39 shows that nationally based employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as a single parent.

Table 39: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by single parent and regional distribution

	Yes	No	Not reported
London	40 (1.3%)	820 (27.3%)	2,140 (71.3%)
National	30 (2.5%)	370 (30.3%)	820 (67.2%)

Table 40 shows that part-time employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as a single parent than full-time employees.

Table 40: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by single parent and working pattern

	Yes	No	Not reported
Full-time	60 (1.6%)	1,020 (27.6%)	2,610 (70.7%)
Part-time	20 (3.8%)	160 (30.8%)	340 (65.4%)

Socio-economic background

DHSC has a declaration rate of 37.0% for socio-economic background. 10.9% of employees declared to have come from a lower socio-economic background, compared to 21.6% who reported they have come from a higher socio-economic background. 4.5% preferred not to say and 63.0% have made no declaration (table 41 below).

Table 41: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by socio-economic background

	Low socio-economic background	High socio-economic background	Not declared	Not reported
DHSC	460 (10.9%)	910 (21.6%)	190 (4.5%)	2,660 (63.0%)

Table 42 shows that the rate of people who have declared their socio-economic background increases as seniority increases, except for AA/AO. SCS grade has the highest proportions of people coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Table 42: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by socio-economic background and responsibility level

	Low socio-economic background	High socio-economic background	Not declared	Not reported
SCS	40 (12.9%)	80 (25.8%)	10 (3.2%)	180 (58.1%)
G7 / G6	180 (11.3%)	390 (24.4%)	70 (4.4%)	960 (60.0%)
HEO / SEO	190 (11.0%)	360 (20.9%)	80 (4.7%)	1,090 (63.4%)
EO	50 (9.1%)	70 (12.7%)	30 (5.5%)	400 (72.7%)
AA / AO	1-5	10 (33.3%)	1-5	20 (66.7%)

Table 43 shows that nationally based employees have higher declaration rate and a higher proportion of people declaring as coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Table 43: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by socio-economic background and regional distribution

	Low socio-economic background	High socio-economic background	Not declared	Not reported
London	290 (9.7%)	620 (20.7%)	130 (4.3%)	1,950 (65.2%)
National	170 (13.8%)	290 (23.6%)	60 (4.9%)	710 (57.7%)

Table 44 shows that part-time employees have higher declaration rate and a lower proportion of people declaring as coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Table 44: DHSC employment: declaration and proportion by socio-economic background and working pattern

	Low socio-economic background	High socio-economic background	Not declared	Not reported
Full-time	410 (11.1%)	760 (20.5%)	170 (4.6%)	2,360 (63.8%)
Part-time	50 (9.6%)	150 (28.8%)	20 (3.8%)	300 (57.7%)

Disciplinary and grievances

As seen in table 45, between the 1 October 2020 and 30 September 2021, there were 24 disciplinary cases and 22 grievance cases reported involving DHSC employees.

Table 45: DHSC count of disciplinary and grievance cases

Disciplinary	Grievances	Total Cases
24	22	46

Leavers

Table 46 shows turnover in 2021 in comparison to years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Turnover	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Leavers	830	231	255	301	618
Average employee levels	1,713	1,559	1,693	2,099	2,582
Turnover	48.50%	14.80%	15.10%	14.30%	23.93%

The most common reason for employees leaving DHSC was ‘Loan/Transfer to Other Government Department’ (25.8%) (table 47 below). This was followed by ‘Resignation’ (17.7%) and ‘End of fixed-term contract’ (12.9%). ‘End of Loan/Secondment’ and ‘Retirement’ were the next 2 (4.8% and 1.6% respectively). 37.1% did not report a leaving reason.

Table 47: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by leaving reasons

Loan/Transfer to other government department	Resignation	End of fixed-term contract	End of Loan/Secondment	Retirement	Not reported
160 (25.8%)	110 (17.7%)	80 (12.9%)	30 (4.8%)	10 (1.6%)	230 (37.1%)

Tables 48 to 59 shows leavers by respective characteristics. The leavers distribution tends to be in alignment with the characteristics distributions, showing no particular characteristic is impacting employees to leave DHSC.

Table 48: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by responsibility level

	AA / AO	EO	HEO / SEO	G7 / G6	SCS	Not reported
Count	10 (1.6%)	130 (21.0%)	210 (33.9%)	170 (27.4%)	60 (9.7%)	40 (6.5%)

Table 49: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by location

	London	North West	Yorkshire and the Humber
Count	470 (77.0%)	1-5	140 (23.0%)

Table 50: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by working pattern

	Full-time	Part-time
Count	600 (96.8%)	20 (3.2%)

Table 51: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by age band

	20-29	30-39	40-49	50-59	60-64	65 & Over
Count	260 (41.9%)	150 (24.2%)	90 (14.5%)	90 (14.5%)	20 (3.2%)	10 (1.6%)

Table 52: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by sex

	Female	Male
Count	370 (59.7%)	250 (40.3%)

Table 53: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by gender identity

	Different from Sex Registered at Birth	Same as Sex Registered at Birth	Not reported
Count	1-5	50 (8.1%)	570 (91.9%)

Table 54: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by ethnicity

	Minority Ethnic (excluding white minorities)	White	Not declared	Not reported
Count	40 (6.5%)	140 (22.6%)	1-5	440 (71.0%)

Table 55: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by religion or belief

	Religious	No Religion	Not declared	Not reported
Count	60 (9.8%)	90 (14.8%)	10 (1.6%)	450 (73.8%)

Table 56: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by disability status

	Disabled	Non-disabled	Not reported
Count	20 (3.2%)	70 (11.3%)	530 (85.5%)

Table 57: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by sexual orientation

	LGBO	Heterosexual	Not declared	Not reported
Count	10 (1.6%)	150 (24.2%)	10 (1.6%)	450 (72.6%)

Table 58: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by caring responsibilities

	With caring responsibilities	Without caring responsibilities	Not reported
Count	30 (4.8%)	50 (8.1%)	540 (87.1%)

Table 59: DHSC leavers: count and proportion by single parent

	Yes	No	Not reported
Count	1-5	90 (14.5%)	530 (85.5%)

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