Corporate report

SLC EDI Annual Report 2024-2025

Published 27 March 2025

1. Introduction from SLC’s CEO

This year has seen SLC undertake activity as part of our 2023-2026 Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy with a focus on developing effective tools for data reporting to aid decision making. The development and go live of our EDI Demographic and Recruitment Dashboards means we now have instant access to data for better decision making and future action planning. The introduction of more inclusive equality data reporting options resulted in increases in reported data for ethnicity, gender identity, carers and neurodiversity. These efforts enhance SLC’s ability to make data-driven decisions that reflect the diversity of our workforce and support the development of our inclusive recruitment processes. 

With seven new colleague networks launched this year (giving us ten in total), we are making changes to our organisation that are led by our colleague voice, including a review of our Workplace Adjustments and Equality Impact Assessments process. Our networks have undertaken fantastic work to support an inclusive culture and thanks to the work of our CARE network we are now ‘Carer Positive’ accredited.

We know that our leaders role model EDI from the top and we have a continued focus on leadership accountability with objectives for inclusive leadership incorporated into performance reviews for the Executive Leadership and Senior Management teams.

We have seen some challenges, namely with the implementation of unexpected Equality Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance which halted progress at the start of the year particularly in relation to our external development initiatives. However, we have still managed to make progress with internal development and an Inclusive Leadership Programme is now scheduled for our leaders.

We know that cultural change takes time, and we still have much work to do to increase diverse representation in the organisation particularly in relation to Disability and Ethnicity representation which we are monitoring closely through the development of our EDI metrics.

Our recent colleague engagement survey shows a positive increase in our colleagues feeling we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace; and this is something we aim to continue to build on for future years.

Chris Larmer, SLC CEO

2. Our Aim

At SLC, we want to promote an inclusive culture that is fostered through creating an environment where everyone feels they belong. We are committed to creating and sustaining a positive, supportive and inclusive workplace embedding equality, respect and fairness in everything we do.

We published our 3-year EDI Strategy in August 2023, and through this strategy we aim to move beyond compliance and support our people to thrive. For us, EDI means attracting the best talent for diverse representation and supporting a productive workplace culture where our people can thrive, which in turn, provides the best service for our customers.

2.1 Understanding Our Legal Responsibilities 

As a public sector organisation SLC has specific legal responsibilities we are required to meet to ensure compliance. The Equality Act 2010 tackles discrimination and inequality based on the nine protected characteristics. These are:  

• Race
• Religion and Belief
• Pregnancy and Maternity
• Sex
• Age
• Sexual Orientation
• Gender Reassignment
• Disability
• Marriage and Civil Partnership

Under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) there is a requirement to have due regard for eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment, and victimisation, advancing equality of opportunity and advancing good relations between those who have a protected characteristic and those who don’t.  

2.2 Governance 

A governance reporting structure is in place whereby we report our progress on the EDI Strategy 6 monthly via both our Executive People Forum and our Remuneration Committee. In addition, we produce Gender Pay Gap reports and EDI Reporting annually. 

2.3 Equality Impact Assessments (EIA)  

As part of our obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) we are required to consider how policy and procedural changes may impact colleagues with protected characteristics. We currently carry out Equality Impact Assessments (EIA’s) within SLC and we have continued efforts to fulfil this obligation by providing key stakeholders in SLC with EIA training in January this year. Work is ongoing to embed a consistent Equality Analysis process that enables an effective approach to mitigate barriers for both colleagues and customers. 

2.4 Accreditations and Partnerships

SLC is proud to hold multiple accreditations which reinforce our commitment to EDI. We have achieved the highest level of recognition under the Governments Disability Confident Scheme meaning we are a Disability Confident Leader.

We are members of Business Disability Forum (BDF), a leading organisation who specialise in disability inclusion.

As part of our commitment to supporting the Carers within SLC we hold a membership for Employers for Carers, this provides us with advice and best practice to ensure those who are caring for others have the flexibility they need to fulfil both roles.  

We have been accredited as a Carer Positive Engaged organisation showcasing that the organisation is committed to fostering an environment where every colleague with caring responsibilities feels supported and valued.

We partner with Henpicked to support menopause in the workplace.

We are also members of Inclusive Employers who support our EDI activity through providing resources and best practice.

2.5 Engagement and Listening 

We have a range of customer panels that allow us to listen to our diverse customers and ensure their views are reflected in the decisions we make about the service we provide. These are:

• SLC Customer Panel, with members from across Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, and Wales.
• SLC Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) Customer Panel.

We also have multiple groups who we engage with to ensure we put the colleague voice at the heart of all key decisions. This includes:

• Our union, Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), with whom we have a recognition agreement and a positive working relationship.
• Our Colleague Representative Group (CRG) a colleague led network which provides key feedback on policies and procedures.
• Our senior manager-led People Group who provide a business view of people issues.
• Finally, we utilise our new Employee Engagement platform to understand what is working well, and what opportunities there are within SLC to improve colleague experience.

2.6 Colleague Networks 

Our 10 Colleague Networks who act as a critical friend and provide solutions for organisational barriers.

• RISE – Women’s Development Network
• ARCUS -LGBTQ Network
• ENABLE – Disability Network
• INCLUDE – Neurodiversity Network
• EMBRACE – Ethnicity Network
• CARE – Carers Network
• ATOM – Menopause Network
• GREEN MATTERS – Sustainability Network
• THE WELLBEING NETWORK – Wellbeing Network
• MHFA Network – Mental Health First Aid Network

The women’s development network have run a clothing drive alongside Eviden, one of our Technology Group (TG) delivery partners to enable women to return to and/or enter employment; and initiated the creation of SLC’s first colleague-to-colleague mentoring pilot.

Embrace published its first Connect article celebrating Black History Month which focused on the less well-known and untold stories about black historical figures and the contributions they have made to society and positive impact on communities.  

Our Ethnicity Network launched its Cultural Directory of Events and Activities featuring local cultural events to help give others insight to learn about a specific culture, ethnicity, and nationality. The network also collaborated with the Hillington Social Club on a Christmas appeal fundraising activity for toiletries and non-perishable food items in support of a community led charity that support refugees.  The recruitment team re-assessed language used in job averts to be more inclusive following member feedback.

The Carers Network has worked to gain Carer Positive engaged status, they have launched ‘Carers Cafes’, a safe space for carers to connect, share and support each other, ran various activities for Carers Week and Carer’s rights day as well as supporting consultation for Carers Leave and Workplace adjustments review. They continue to work closely with other networks across the public sector such as DfE Carers Network and the Civil Service Carers Network. In January the ‘Carer Positive – Engaged Level’ award was presented to SLC evidencing that the organisation is committed to fostering an environment where every colleague with caring responsibilities feels supported and valued.

The Menopause Network has set up monthly drop-in sessions for colleagues and managers. They have created training information using Henpecked resources for access to all colleagues and created menopause toolkit to contribute to the expansion of menopause information within company Wellbeing Policy and facilitated Coffee Break sessions in Glasgow & Darlington for World Menopause Day.

The Neurodiversity Network have created a regular newsletter updating members and colleagues on activity. They have engaged with Durham Enable, to pilot neurodiversity training for colleagues and managers in the organisation to build cultural awareness and implemented ‘Social Battery’ pin badges for members to wear to aid effective communication for neurodiverse colleagues.

Our LGBTQ+ network has celebrated Lesbian Visibility Week, international pronouns day and represented SLC at the Glasgow and Darlington Pride events.

Our Disability Network have supported in the review of our reasonable adjustments process and facilitated drop ins for Disability History Month.

The Wellbeing Network supported wellbeing at Christmas and some top tips to avoid burnout, looking for opportunities for quiet spaces in our estates and exploring future challenges across the organisation.

Our Mental Health First Aid Network continue to support colleagues, we now have 40 Mental Health First Aid trained colleagues across all four SLC locations.  

3. Progress towards SLC’s EDI Objectives  

This year we have continued to drive activity as part of our 3-year EDI strategy which works to embed EDI across the whole organisation and move beyond compliance towards maturity. The EDI strategy sets out the following objectives within five pillars. Please find progress against these objectives outlined below: 

3.1 Data - We will understand the needs of our workforce and customers through transparent data, reporting, insight, and analysis to support evidence based and data led decision-making. 

Objectives: 

• We will develop intuitive data collection processes of our workforce and customers to understand how we can be more representative of our localities and customer demographics.
• We aim to understand the diverse needs of our workforce, increasing knowledge and building confidence in equality reporting.
• We will implement reporting mechanisms to encourage transparency, and support proactive, data led decision making.

In order to improve the workforce demographic data we hold, we have updated equality monitoring questions to capture caring responsibilities, neurodiversity and increased the options we provide for reporting disability to be more inclusive.

The organisation has now implemented more effective reporting functionalities with new EDI and Recruitment Dashboards launched in July to aid effective decision making. The EDI dashboard provides instant access to equality reporting figures, workforce demographics for all protected groups and carers for whole organisation and broken down by department and grade, as well as flexible working requests and outcomes that can be filtered by whole organisation, department, grade as well as outcome by Disability, Ethnicity and Gender status.

The Recruitment Dashboard now provides the functionality to report and analyse candidate drop off rates throughout the recruitment process, as well as hires and attrition data broken down by each protected group. This will enable us to further develop our recruitment process through enhanced insights, aiding us to increasing representation in areas where we currently have underrepresentation: ethnicity other than white; those with a disability; and women in leadership grades.

3.2 Recruitment, retention, and progression - We will support our ambition to be a diverse and inclusive workforce that attracts individuals from a range of backgrounds and is representative of our local demographics and the customers we serve. 

• We will attract diverse talent and promote SLC as an employer of choice.
• We will ensure fair, inclusive and transparent recruitment and selection processes.
• We will promote the retention and progression of talent within SLC, ensuring equity of opportunity to enable diversity at all levels. 

SLC has undertaken an equality impact assessment review on recruitment processes and as a result implemented more inclusive recruitment practices, to attract diverse talent and mitigate impacts against every protected characteristic group.

SLC uses targeted recruitment methods, promoting job adverts which focus on our targeted focus areas (ethnicity, disability and gender), make candidates aware of our commitment to working flexibly by clearly detailing our hybrid working policy and highlighting our flexible working opportunities.

We have reviewed our Recruitment and Selection policy, implementing changes to ensure a fairer process. Our hiring managers receive unconscious bias training and we have now introduced diverse interview panels to assist us in finding the right person for the role, assist in breaking down barriers for candidates, and ensuring diverse decision making.

We have updated job advertisements following the use of a ‘gender decoder’ and the creation of the new recruitment dashboard has enhanced transparency and will allow for a better insight into recruitment and progression themes within the organisation. We have included a new reasonable adjustments statement in our job adverts which allows us to proactively highlight our commitment to providing reasonable adjustments to candidates who may require them and updated the diversity and inclusion information on our external careers website to reflect the aims of our current strategy and detail associated accreditations including ‘Disability Confident Leadership’ and ‘Employers for Carers- Engaged’ Awards.

We now run more direct sourcing campaigns, enabling us to reach candidates from diverse backgrounds and we attend more recruitment events with a focus on specific target demographics, this year we have attended a Careers Fair in Glasgow’s Mosque, National Older Worker Week fair and “I am Black” conference enabling us to target and attract more diverse candidates.

We continue to utilise SLC’s newly formed Women’s’ Development Network to support uptake and promotion of our emerging talent programmes and inform any potential barriers within our recruitment processes. We have also worked with the network to obtain insight on potential barriers women face to promotion and effectively supporting women’s career development in SLC through Career Pathways, leap of faith, and leadership development programmes.

3.3 Leadership - We will support our leaders to effectively role model Equality Diversity and Inclusion from the top down and create an environment where everyone can thrive. 

• We will ensure our leaders are accountable, make data led decisions, and actively lead Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives throughout the organisation.
• We will build the capability and confidence of our leaders to be culturally aware and effectively promote EDI initiatives.

An EDI objective has been set for the 2024-25 performance year for the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and Senior Management Team (SMT). This sets out their responsibilities in being accountable for driving the EDI agenda as leaders of the organisation.

Our leaders approved our new Colleague Network Framework providing our network chairs with protected time and a centrally controlled budget to assist in network related activity, alongside clear guidance on the roles and responsibilities of chairs and senior sponsors. Approving this framework allowed us to launch 7 new colleague networks.

Each of our Colleague Networks have a senior sponsor assigned from our SMT/ELT, our leaders volunteered to occupy these positions and provide invaluable support to our Network Chairs and Members.

ELT/SMT supported our objective to role model equality, diversity, and inclusion from the top down by attending Pride events in both Darlington and Glasgow and have encouraged colleagues to complete their equality monitoring data.

An Inclusive Leadership development programme has now been scheduled for leaders to drive EDI maturity in SLC. This process was delayed due to the unexpected implementation of Civil Service EDI Expenditure Guidance. Following confirmation SLC is out of scope of this guidance, we have recommenced activity with the programme scheduled for March 2025.

3.4 Organisational development -We will support the effective development of our people to promote inclusion, develop cultural awareness, build cultural confidence and better understand the needs of our customers. 

• We will equip our workforce with tools and knowledge to better understand legal implications and responsibilities of equality related issues.
• We will develop colleagues’ cultural awareness and knowledge of inclusive behaviours to better understand the needs of our diverse colleagues and customers.
• We will support the development of our managers to build cultural confidence, promote an inclusive culture and better understand the diverse needs of their teams and customers.

As highlighted above the unexpected implementation of EDI expenditure guidance has impacted progress in this pillar in that we were not able to progress any external learning or development activity for a period; however, we have still progressed internal development initiatives.

We have reviewed the mandatory EDI e-Learning module to ensure greater levels of accessibility for our colleagues and have seen good levels of engagement with 93% of colleagues having completed the module within the year. 

Our Leadership Essentials programme’s ‘wellbeing’ and ‘inclusivity’ modules have been delivered to 106 new managers over 11 training sessions. We have also developed additional modules as part of the Leadership Development programme on ‘fostering wellbeing’ and ‘inclusivity’ to established managers grade 14-15 and ‘role modelling wellbeing’ and ‘inclusivity’ for established managers at grade 16.

3.5 Inclusive culture - We will support equity in SLC, embedding processes that identify and remove disproportionate impacts for underrepresented groups and create an inclusive culture.

• We will prioritise the retention of colleagues within SLC, ensuring our people are treated with fairness, dignity and respect.
• We will effectively engage with our workforce and customers, enabling them to contribute to an inclusive culture and improve our services.
• We will continually monitor our policies, procedures, and services to promote inclusivity and reduce potential discrimination or barriers to access.

Inclusive Workforce 

We have implemented a new Colleague Network Framework and formally launched our newly formed Colleague Networks in May, with launch events facilitated across all four SLC sites which resulted in increased membership across all networks. In addition to our already established networks, we have created 7 new networks with SLC now having 10 networks in total. This year our network chairs have been busy promoting their networks to increase awareness and membership and have also undertaken Network Chairs Training to enhance development in their role.

SLC has developed an inclusive communications calendar to ensure we are able to celebrate a variety of events over the calendar year. This is further supported by our Networks who assist in the rollout of any communications/events which directly relate to their Network vision. Our colleague networks have celebrated multiple events.#

This year we have celebrated: World Mental Health Day, Transgender Awareness Week, LBGTQ History Month, Pride in Glasgow and Darlington, International Care Day, Neurodiversity Celebration Week, World Menopause Day, National Inclusion Week, Black History Month Disability History Month and International Day for persons with a Disability. We have also communicated advice and resources on Financial Wellbeing and Wellbeing over the Christmas period. 

National Inclusion Week 2024 saw us promote multiple initiatives including a data drive informing colleagues of the benefits of updating their personal data, webinars on inclusive voices, quizzes, blogs and colleague network promotion.   

We have been working collaboratively with our networks and other stakeholders in the business to update our Reasonable Adjustments process. A review of the process has resulted in updates to our recruitment process, an updated technical solution in workday a standalone Workplace Adjustments Policy widening the scope beyond the legal definition of disability and moving beyond compliance.

Our commitment to flexible working continues, we introduced trials for our requests so we can see how they may work in practice, this has assisted us in achieving an over 97% approval rate, increased from over 94% last year. Our Flexible Working Policy continues to support work life balance, allowing the use of flexitime as a day one privilege for all colleagues, promoting conversations around flexible working ‘from day 1’ and allowing up to 3 requests annually and because of these initiatives we have seen over a 200% increase in flexible working requests.

In response to the new duty under the Equality Act 2010, which requires employers to take “reasonable steps” to prevent sexual harassment of their employees, we developed and published our new Dignity at Work Policy, which sets out SLC’s approach to preventing sexual harassment and other forms of inappropriate and unwanted behaviour such as bullying, harassment, discrimination and victimisation.

We are also redeveloping the EIA process to ensure it is embedded within projects across the organisation. This will mean all relevant projects, policies and processes are impact assessed and consulted upon by the groups mentioned above ensuring a better overall experience for our colleagues and ensuring SLC’s position as a great place to work.

Inclusive Customer Experience 

In March 2024, the Customer Experience team introduced a customer Reasonable Adjustment policy to guide our organisation in managing requests from customers, sponsors, and third parties.

The team have provided customer-facing colleagues with an interactive desk guide, based on the cross government ‘Vulnerability Toolkit’. The desk guide has several different customer scenarios and supports colleagues to effectively engage with our vulnerable customers. This toolkit is regularly reviewed by the ‘Fairness Group’ (a cross-government customer experience focused forum) to ensure its fit for purpose. 

In January 2024 we published an external adaptation of our customer charter which encourages customers being open and honest with us about their circumstances and advising them that we can apply indicators to their account in specific scenarios and we can offer additional support where possible. We also refreshed the membership of our Customer Panel in 2024.

In September 2024, the Customer Evidence Requirements Framework was introduced, designating the Director of Customer Experience as the owner of all evidence requirements across the organisation. The Framework, along with the Evidence Reduction Working Group, is reviewing evidence requirements across
Apply, DSA, and Repay to ensure our requests are fair, proportionate, and aligned with policy intent. Several evidence reduction initiatives are currently underway to support customers who need help the most. Examples include customers applying for childcare grants, distance learning courses due to a disability, and those in repayment living overseas.

The first phase of a Fair Customer Treatment Policy has been developed which focuses on eradicating ‘Unfair Customer Outcomes.’  The new policy will provide guidelines and principles for fair customer treatment. Although SLC is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, we aim to operate in the spirit of its principles. The policy outlines expectations for the Customer Experience Department, controls, governance, and will serve as a playbook for guiding the organisation.

The Customer Experience Team have been working collaboratively redeveloping the Equality Impact Assessment process initiated through EDI Strategy activity, with a specific focus on mitigating potential impacts on protected groups in relation to service delivery. 

4. Gender Pay Gap

Figures show that this year’s average (mean) gender pay gap has slightly decreased from 2023. Our 2024 mean (average) gender pay gap is 10.5%, a decrease of 2.2 percentage points from the 2023 position of 12.7%. The median (mid-point of hourly earnings) gap however has increased to 7.9%, an increase of 3.8 percentage points from 4.1% in 2023. Further information on our Gender Pay Gap can be found in the following report published at: Student Loans Company (SLC) Gender Pay Gap Report for 2024 - GOV.UK

5. Equality Monitoring Data 

Our aim is to have a more representative workforce with our focus being on Disability, Ethnicity and women in leadership following initial analysis as part of our EDI strategy development. Positively our data shows we have increased representation in the organisation of both disability (from 5.3% to 6.2%) and ethnic minority colleagues (from 5.1% to 5.2%); however, we acknowledge we are still not representative in comparison to the wider Civil Service and the private sector. 

Our gender split is similar to that of the wider Civil Service; and while we have more women in leadership than the private sector, we fall slightly below the wider Civil Service and other public sector organisations. For LGBT representation we are higher than private sector representation (of which data is limited) but are lower than the wider Civil Service and other public sector organisations. This information is caveated with the fact we still have low reporting and therefore do not have full visibility of the demographics of our workforce, highlighting the importance of continued focus on equality monitoring reporting.

5.1 Reporting rates

Protected Characteristic	Known Data 2023	Known data 2024	Percentage points change	Prefer not to say 2023	Prefer not to say 2024	Percentage points change	Blank/Unknown 2023	Blank / Unknown 2024	Percentage points change
Ethnicity	72.83%	74.56%	+1.73	20.86%	19.29%	-1.57	6.31%	6.14%	-0.17
Religion	74.45%	75.78%	+ 1.33	3.40%	3.48%	+0.08	22.15%	20.74%	-1.41
Disability	70.23%	68.66%	-1.57	0.35%	0.46%	+0.11	29.42%	30.88%	+1.46
Sexual Orientation	69.64%	69.46	-0.18	3.34%	3.51%	+0.17	27.02%	27.03%	+0.01
Gender Identity	36.32 %	40.25%	+ 3.93	0.44%	0.62%	+0.18	63.24%	59.14%	- 4.1
Neurodiversity	0%	4.19%	+4.19	0%	0.34%	+0.34	100%	95.47%	- 4.53
Carer status	0%	4.87%	+4.87	0%	0.18%	+0.18	100%	94.95%	-5.05

(Data as of February 2025)

5.2 Reporting rate - key trends to note:

• An increase of 1.73 percentage points in colleagues reporting their ethnicity and a 1.57 percentage point reduction in colleagues selecting ‘prefer not to say’. However, ‘prefer not to say’ data for ethnicity remains high and we will continue to prioritise decreasing this.

• A 1.33 percentage point increase in colleagues reporting their religion with a 1.41 percentage points reduction of unknown data for colleagues reporting their religion.

• Unfortunately, the amount of known data for colleagues reporting their disability status has reduced and ‘prefer not to say data’ has slightly increased by 0.1 percentage points to 0.46%. We will look for insights from our newly develop Disability Colleague Network to inform the reasons for this behaviour.

• Our newly created carer and neurodiversity personal data options have both seen an increased uptake in reporting, and positively new gender identity fields have allowed for a 3.93 percentage point increase in known data.

The following data compares the equality monitoring data of our colleagues from December 2022 to December 2023 and cross references this with external data sources from The Office of National Statistics (ONS) data. The purpose of this is to measure any progress made in relation to our internal workforce data in comparison with the communities we operate within, as this is a good indication of how representative SLC is as an employer.

5.3 Age 

Comparison figures show that SLC workforce has reduced from 3,409 colleagues to 3,255. The average age within SLC has remained the same. The median age of colleagues is 39, which is lower than that of other Civil Service departments, where median age currently sits at 44. 

Year	2023-24	2024-25
No of employees	3,409	3,255
Average age	40	40
Median age	38	39

5.4 Sex  

SLC figures show we have slightly increased the number of men in the organisation overall.  When compared to the wider Civil Service, we have a slightly smaller proportion of women (53.03%) compared to the Civil Service which is 54.5% women. 

This year’s figures show that 24% of women work part time, a 1.02 percentage point increase on last year’s figure of 23.31%. The number of men working part time has remained stable at 6%. Within SLC 16% of colleagues work part time, which is up from 15.5% the previous year, but this is still lower than the Civil Service at 19.1%.

	2023-24	2024-25	Percentage Points Change
Men	46.52%	46.97%	+0.45
Women	53.48%	53.03%	-0.45

5.5 Gender Identity  

In addition to our mandatory reporting for sex, we have an optional reporting category to record gender identity. Historically, we only captured data for those who identify as transgender, we have recently updated this to encompass more inclusive identity options including trans-men and trans-women for inclusivity and to also encourage accurate identity reporting for our gender pay gap. It is a positive sign that our gender identity reporting continues to increase. 

We do still have fairly high levels of unknown data in this category, this currently sits at 59.2%. This is an improvement on last year’s figure of 63.24%. We have continued to increase our known data by 3.93 percentage points this year. This is an optional field, and we feel it is important for this to remain optional due to the sensitivity of the data. We will continue to provide education on the reasons we collate this data and to work with our LGBT Colleague Network ARCUS to support us in increasing the data we hold. 

	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Percentage Points Change
Female	14.49%	19.07%	21.4%	+2.36
Male	13.76%	16.75%	18.2%	+1.45
Other	0.21%	0.23%	0.62%	+0.39
Transgender	0.18%	0.23%	0.22%	+0.01
Agender	-	0.00%	0.03%	+0.03
Trans Woman	-	0.03%	0.06%	+0.03
Trans Man	-	0.00%	0.03%	+0.03
I Prefer not to Say	0.33%	0.44%	0.62%	+0.18
Blank/Unknown	71.02%	63.24%	59.2%	-4.04

5.6 Ethnicity 

We have continued to make progress with those who chose not to share their data with us through developing knowledge around data monitoring as part of our equality monitoring campaigns. Our Ethnicity data shows we have reduced our ‘prefer not to say’ data from 24.86% down to 19.29% in 2024-25.

	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Percentage points Change
Asian	2.83%	3.81%	3.53%	-0.28
Black	0.58%	0.82%	0.86%	+0.04
Mixed ethnicity	0.58%	0.56%	0.58%	+0.02
White	65.83%	67.94%	69.40%	+1.46
Other ethnic group	0.21%	0.18%	0.18%	0
Prefer not to say	24.36%	20.86%	19.29%	-1.57
Blank/Unknown	5.62%	6.31%	6.14%	-0.17

5.7 Religion  

SLC holds religion data for 75.78% of our colleagues, increasing again from 2023. This is ahead of the Civil Service which holds religion data for 69.9% of colleagues. Unknown data has reduced by 1.41 percentage points, ‘prefer not to say’ has slightly increased by 0.10 percentage points. Positively, we have seen an increase in colleagues reporting being Muslim. The Civil service report 41.4% of their colleagues have no religion or belief, SLC has a similar position with 43.16% of colleagues reporting having no religion or belief. 

	20222-3	2023-24	2024-25	Percentage Points Change
Christian	27.22%	27.28%	26.67%	-0.61
Buddhist	0.09%	0.12%	0.12%	0
Muslim	1.43%	1.85%	1.97%	+0.12
Hindu	0.88%	0.97%	0.95%	-0.02
Sikh	0.33%	0.35%	0.34%	-0.01
Jewish	0.03%	0.03%	0.03%	0
Other religion	2.43%	2.49%	2.52%	+0.03
No Religion	41.19%	41.36%	43.16%	+1.8
Prefer not to say	3.01%	3.40%	3.50%	+0.10
Blank/unknown	23.39%	22.15%	20.74%	-1.41

5.8 Disability 

SLC data shows that 6.24% of colleagues currently report having a disability, this falls well below the Civil Service figures of 16%. Although we have increased representation overall, a 0.99 percentage points increase of 6.24% of colleagues reporting having a disability, we still have a large amount of unknown data, up 1.67 percentage points to over 31%. We will continue to work with SLC’s Disability Network ‘ENABLE’ to help gain insight into how we can actively encourage colleagues to report on their disability status. 

Also, in 2024 we improved data collection processes for disability by providing additional terminology for reporting disabilities and reclassifying some conditions which colleagues may not consider a disability, this should help us decrease our unknown data in the future and give a true reflection of disability within SLC. We have also moved away from the clinical Equality Act definition of a disability, providing our colleagues with the ability to inform us of any long-term conditions which they are impacted by. This provides a more in-depth picture of the health of our colleagues and will better assist us in providing the right support.   

	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Percentage Points Change
Yes	3.58%	5.25%	6.24%	+0.99
No	72.30%	64.98%	62.21%	-2.77
Prefer not to say	0.33%	0.35%	0.46%	+0.11
Blank/unknown	23.78%	29.42%	31.09%	+1.67

5.9 Sexual Orientation 

Data shows that 6.08% of our colleague’s report being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or ‘other’ in SLC, an increase from 5.63% in 2023. This falls slightly behind the wider Civil Service who report 6.9% of their colleagues reporting as LGBT, however, we are likely to be representative of our communities since the Office of National Statistics shows 3.16% of the population fell into the same categories in England and Wales, and 4.0% in the Scotland Census.

	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25	Percentage Points Change
Bisexual	1.55%	2.05%	2.33%	+0.28
Gay	2.34%	2.26%	2.27%	+0.01
Heterosexual	64.31%	64.01%	63.29%	-0.72
Lesbian	0.76%	0.67%	0.71%	+0.04
Other	0.43%	0.65%	0.77%	+1.42
Prefer not to say	3.31%	3.34%	3.50%	+0.16
Blank/unknown	27.31%	27.02%	27.13%	+0.11

5.10 Marriage 

Figures from 2023-24 to 2024-25 show very little change in colleagues’ relationship status across SLC. We have slightly more people cohabiting and a slight rise in colleagues reporting they are single, widowed and divorced compared with 2023-24. 

	2022/23	2023/24	2024/25	Percentage Points Change
Cohabiting	9.26%	9.74%	9.68%	-0.06
Divorced/dissolved civil partnership	3.80%	3.84%	3.87%	+0.03
Marriage/civil partnership	35.48%	35.11%	34.99%	-0.12
Separated	1.79%	1.79%	1.47%	-0.32
Single	40.86%	40.22%	40.80%	+0.58
Widowed	0.46%	0.41%	0.52%	+0.11
Prefer not to say	1.48%	0.41%	1.44%	+1.03
Blank/unknown	6.87%	7.16%	6.76%	-0.4

5.11 Pregnancy and Maternity 

This is new data that is being collected for the first time in December 2023 following updates to SLC Protected Characteristic Report.  The figures below show leave status taken on a set date. You can see that 1.44% of the organisation are on Maternity leave, 0.03% are on Paternity leave and 0.03% are taking Shared Parental Leave.  For 2024 we now also report on adoption leave.

Type of Leave	2023-24	2024-25	Percentage Point Change
Maternity	1.35%	1.44%	+0.09
Paternity	0.09%	0.03%	-0.03
Shared Parental	0.03%	0.03%	0
Adoption	-	0.03%	+0.03