Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy 2023 to 2026

We can only achieve equality for disabled people by including everyone.

The disabled community is diverse. Being a disabled person is one of many layers of identities and experiences.

The disabled community includes people of different:

• races
• ethnicities
• genders
• sexualities
• economic backgrounds
• education
• faiths
• values and experiences

And some of us encounter more barriers because of this.

Our new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy sets out:

• our ambition for Scope to build a culture that’s accessible and inclusive
• our goals for equality, diversity and inclusion
• the actions we will take over the next 3 years to achieve our goals

This strategy helps us hold ourselves accountable. We take responsibility for driving this change in everything we do. Read our 2023 to 2024 EDI progress update.

Our ambition

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) is at the heart of everything we do at Scope.

We want everyone to feel like they belong.

We value each person as an individual. We will treat everyone with dignity and respect. And we want to recognise all parts of a person's identity.

We are a disability equality charity. So, we'll build a culture that’s accessible and inclusive first. And we’ll aim for the same high standards in all our EDI work.

And we will listen, learn and keep improving.

We can only achieve equality for disabled people by including everyone.

Goals

To deliver on our ambition, we will be working towards the following 4 goals:

Our people

We will have a more diverse team of colleagues and volunteers. We will also have more marginalised people in leadership roles. This includes our Board of Trustees, Executive leadership, and leadership teams.

Everyone's responsibility

Equality, diversity and inclusion will be everyone’s responsibility. Trustees and leadership teams will take responsibility for inclusive decision-making.

A culture of inclusion

We will have a culture where inclusive ways of working are the default.

Our work

Our work will better meet the needs of people facing multiple marginalisation.

Read our Chief Executives statement.

Achieving our goals

Our people

We will have a more diverse team of colleagues and volunteers. We will also have more marginalised people in leadership roles. This includes our Board of Trustees, Executive leadership, and Leadership team

The decisions we make as a charity need to better meet the needs of all groups in society.

We will:

• track the diversity of colleagues at every stage of their career. And at all levels of the organisation.
• improve our approach to recruitment so that everyone feels welcome to join Scope.
• offer targeted mentoring opportunities to support marginalised colleagues’ development.
• work with our women’s network on steps to further reduce our gender pay gap.
• continue to report on our disability and ethnicity pay gap data.

Everyone’s responsibility

Equality, diversity and inclusion will be everyone’s responsibility. Trustees, leadership teams will take responsibility for inclusive decision-making.

Everyone will have the knowledge and confidence to apply EDI in their work.

We will:

• introduce mandatory EDI, disability equality and accessibility training.
• train managers on inclusive recruitment and management practices.
• offer race equality training and LGBTQ+ inclusion training to all colleagues.
• not tolerate any form of discrimination. We’ll develop clearer processes to report behaviour not in line with our EDI policy and values.
• develop clearer processes to report behaviour not in line with our EDI policy and values.
• embed EDI as a central part of our new organisational strategy.

A culture of inclusion

We will have a culture where inclusive ways of working are the default.

All colleagues will have an equally good experience at Scope.

In our anonymous colleague survey (December 2022). 28% of Scope colleagues identified as disabled. We will work towards a high level of accessibility as part of our culture. And proactively promote adjustments to all colleagues. We call this “Accessible First”.

Read about diversity at Scope.

We will give our colleague networks more time and a dedicated budget.

At Scope, we have 5 colleague networks

• disabled colleagues
• LGBTQ+ colleagues
• race equality
• gender equality
• young colleagues

They provide marginalised colleagues with a space to network and socialise. They provide a voice to marginalised colleagues to give feedback on ways of working at Scope. Our networks are an important part of creating an inclusive environment.

We will introduce equality impact assessments for new projects. These will help us make more inclusive and open decisions.

Our work

Our work will better meet the needs of people facing multiple marginalisation. Whether that is our services or shops. We want everyone to feel welcome.

We will improve our understanding of the intersectional inequality that disabled people face. We'll work with organisations and individuals to achieve this.

This means our work will reflect more diverse communities. Positively impacting more disabled people 

We will:

• carry out research into the way that disability inequality affects marginalised groups.
• focus more on intersectional inequalities across all our work. We want to be more representative of the diverse communities we serve. All disabled people should feel represented.
• track the diversity of people using our services. We will improve our services to better meet the needs of customers. Including those from multiple marginalised groups.
• celebrate and champion EDI in our shops. We will run bespoke EDI training for our shop colleagues and volunteers.
• work with Disabled People's Organisations and charities led by marginalised groups. For example black led charities, helping to amplify their work. We will give up power and opportunities to these groups. For example, giving space on our social media platforms to share their campaigns
• increase the diversity of our research panel, charity members and storytellers.

Tracking progress

Here are some examples of the ways we will track our progress:  

Colleague engagement survey

We will examine the responses to our anonymous colleague engagement survey. We aim to shift the percentage of colleagues who tell us the following:

• “leaders show EDI is important through their actions”
• “I feel comfortable being myself at Scope”.

We will analyse the responses based on different characteristics. Such as, gender or race.

Track colleague diversity

We will track the diversity of our colleagues during their career with us. Comparing this on a yearly basis.

Service customer diversity

We will measure the percentage of customers from multiple marginalised groups using our services.

Monitor experiences through campaigns and research

We will track the number of Scope campaigns and pieces of research that reference intersectional inequalities. For example, the experience of Black, Asian and ethnic minority disabled people.

Progress updates

Read our 2023 to 2024 EDI progress update.

Measuring success

• We will have a more diverse team of colleagues and volunteers. All trustees and leadership teams will take responsibility for inclusive decision-making.
• Everyone will have the knowledge and confidence to apply EDI in their work.  
• Our data will show us that colleagues are having an equally good experience at Scope.
• Our work will benefit more disabled people. Including those who face multiple marginalisation.  

Our EDI journey

We have already taken some steps towards building an inclusive culture.

These include:

• establishing our first EDI team. Appointing a Head of Inclusion and an EDI Co-ordinator.
• hosting employee and volunteer roundtables to better understand the experiences of our colleagues
• setting up colleague networks
• providing EDI induction training for all new colleagues starting at Scope
• diversifying the membership of our Board of Trustees, with broader lived experience

This is just the start. We know that we can do so much more. This strategy gives our work drive and purpose. And it holds us accountable for making real change.

EDI Strategy: why now?

Events in recent years have shown the deep inequalities in society. For example, the murder of George Floyd, and the Coronavirus Pandemic.

These events remind us that if we want equal rights for disabled people, this must mean equal rights for all.

Addressing inequality has been important to Scope throughout our history. But we know that to date we have not done enough.

We need a more urgent and bold approach to putting EDI at the centre of our work.

Our colleagues have a commitment to embedding EDI in the organisation.

We have more work to do to ensure we champion the diversity of Britain’s 16 million disabled people. We are open to challenge and collaboration as we deliver this strategy.

Developing our EDI strategy

We began working on this strategy in February 2022. We established a co-production group made up of people with various experiences, including:

• Disabled people and people with an impairment or condition. This was most of the co-production group.
• a carer for a disabled or older person
• from a Black, Asian or ethnic minority background
• part of the LGBTQ+ community
• a woman
• under 30 or over 50
• having a belief or faith which is important to them

We invited all Scope colleagues to contribute to the development of the strategy. Colleagues gave their input in various ways

Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues shared their experiences through a survey. Around a quarter of our Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues responded.

A survey and focus group to capture the experiences and opinions of carers.

6 roundtable events allowed attendees to share their thoughts on EDI at Scope. These included panel discussions focused on:

• disabled people
• menopause in the workplace
• race and mental health
• transgender inclusion

Attendees also completed surveys after each roundtable event.

Our EDI steering group "Leading the Field" also contributed to the strategy's development. This group included colleagues from different Scope departments.

Our Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and People Committee fed into this strategy. The committee includes Trustees and independent members.

Our Executive Leadership team also fed into the development of this strategy.

We want to hear from you

We will continue to connect and collaborate with people to create this change. Both internally and externally.

We want you to feel informed and involved in the delivery of our EDI Strategy. We will share regular updates so that you can see the progress we’re making. Read our 2023 to 2024 EDI progress update.

We know we won't always get things right. We are open to challenge and suggestions of things we could be doing to improve EDI at Scope.

If you have any feedback or comments, please contact inclusion@scope.org.uk

Glossary

Words can mean different things to different people. It’s important that we’re clear about what we mean and the words that we use.

Diversity

Diversity refers to groups of people with different identities, experiences and backgrounds.

Equality

Equality means giving everyone fair access to opportunities. This might mean treating people differently to give them the same opportunities. For example, by providing adjustments. People sometimes refer to this as equity. In this strategy we will use the word equality.

Inclusion

Inclusion means that everyone feels welcome and valued. It means everyone has a sense of belonging and the freedom to be themselves. This happens when the organisation has taken active steps to achieve it.

Intersectionality

intersectionality describes the ways different identities overlap to create unique experiences and inequalities. For example, a Black woman’s race and gender overlap. This can create a type of inequality that we cannot explain through race or gender alone. This strategy has the principle of intersectionality at its core. When multiple marginalised identities overlap, we call this “multiple marginalisation”.

Marginalised people

This means people who get less fair treatment in society. This can be because of attitudes, policies or systems. For example, disabled people, women and Black, Asian and minority ethnic people.