We are committed to ensuring that all our employment policies and practices for staff are fair, advance equality of outcome, eliminate discrimination and foster good relations.

To inform our priority areas for improvement we gather evidence from our equality monitoring data, equality impact assessments and consultations with our staff, staff groups and Trade Unions.

We use this information to:

• identify any potential disparities in the diversity profile of our workforce
• develop actions to address any perceived inequalities and barriers to equality of opportunity
• understand whether our employment policies, practices and procedures are equitable and are being implemented fairly, by examining under- or over-representation of staff
• identify differences in the outcomes or experience of staff and, where required, develop training and guidance to support our managers in managing a diverse workforce
• inform the development of all our people policies to ensure that they advance the three aims of the general duty

Each year we publish a summary of the employment monitoring data we have collated and considered in our equality and diversity workforce reports. This includes information on:

• the equality profile of our workforce (including representation at different levels and pay bands)
• recruitment and promotion
• working patterns: numbers of part-time and full-time staff 
• pay gap information
• access to learning and development
• grievances (including about harassment)
• disciplinary action (including for harassment)
• dismissals and other reasons for leaving (including exits under severance schemes, retirements and resignations)
• sickness absence
• flexible working patterns
• pregnancy and maternity leave

The equality information helps us identify and understand potential key equality issues in our workforce including evidence of potential pay gaps. To assess our performance, we also benchmark ourselves against national statistics released by the Office for National Statistics including the Public Sector Employment Statistics which can be viewed on the Office for National Statistics website. 

Read our latest workforce diversity report.

Equal pay and pay gap reporting

Equal pay means that men and women working for the same employer, performing equal work, must receive equal pay. Read our latest equal pay audit.

Pay gaps are the difference in average pay between people with certain protected characteristics in a workforce. 

We have published our gender pay gap data and wider pay gap data, covering disability and race. 

As we have less than 250 employees, we are not required to publish this information. However, we believe that transparency, reporting and monitoring is an important step to tackle the inequalities that are revealed through examining pay gaps. 

Read our latest pay gap report.

Find out more about gender pay gap reporting requirements.

Operating model

This document provides a summary of the equality considerations around the development and implementation of the Commission’s new operating model.

Target operating model equality considerations (Word)