Introduction

As we enter the second year of our 2022-25 Strategic Plan, we will build on the work that we delivered in 2022/23. We have built our 2023/24 business plan with continued attention on our seven strategic areas of focus. We have also kept our vision and purpose in mind. Workstreams and activities are presented by strategic priority.

1. Equality in a changing workplace

We will continue to deliver against the ambitions in our strategic plan and the three workstreams in our 2022/23 business plan.

1A - Tackle discrimination, harassment, victimisation and breaches of human rights in the workplace

Our long-term goal:

Ensuring that workers and prospective workers can work free from discrimination, victimisation and harassment because employers know how to prevent and tackle it.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• supporting research about workplace pregnancy and maternity discrimination

We will influence standard setting by:

• working with employers and regulators to further understand discrimination and breaches of rights in uniformed services
• providing advice to parliament and government on longstanding commitments to address sexual harassment in the workplace
• providing advice during the passage of the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Bill. This will increase protections against unfair redundancy decisions for pregnant women and new parents
• producing material to improve understanding of, and responses to, menopause in the workplace

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• continuing to disseminate our sexual harassment prevention checklist and evaluating its impact

We will enforce the law by:

• taking legal action where appropriate to protect workers and prospective workers from discrimination, victimisation and harassment

1B - Act on gaps in employment rates and pay for different protected characteristic groups

Our long-term goal:

Reducing pay and employment gaps for women, ethnic minority, and disabled workers.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• evaluating the effectiveness of pay gap reporting in reducing pay gaps. We will further develop our methodology to identify and tackle suspect data

We will influence standard setting by:

• advising governments across Britain about opportunities to address pay and employment gaps
• supporting the Government Equalities Hub on the pay transparency pilot in England. This encourages employers to include, where possible, salary information on all job adverts
• advising about the passage of the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill through Parliament. This will increase access to flexible working for employees. We will advise about measures to promote flexible working

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• working with employers to ensure they meet gender pay gap reporting requirements and that they identify ways to reduce their gender pay gap

We will enforce the law by:

• using our levers and powers to ensure that employers comply with gender pay gap reporting

1C - Advise on measures to rebuild economies after the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to improve equality of opportunity for disadvantaged groups 

Our long-term goal:

Enabling future workplaces that are fair and inclusive and ensuring that all workers are treated fairly.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• advising the Welsh Government about the development and implementation of the Social Partnerships and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill
• advising the Welsh Government about human rights and equalities as they deliver against recommendations from the Fair Work Wales report

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• monitoring the recommendations from our inquiry into low paid ethnic minority staff in health and social care across England, Scotland and Wales

2. Equality for children and young people

We will continue to deliver against the ambitions identified in our strategic plan. We will focus beyond education to other institutions that work with children and young people.

2A - Work with regulators and governments to tackle any disproportionate impact of external events on educational outcomes for children and young people from all backgrounds.

Our long-term goal:

Reducing the disproportionate impact of wider events on educational outcomes for children and young people.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• publishing and promoting guidance on meeting the costs for the provision of reasonable adjustments for disabled private exam candidates
• working with the Welsh Government to advise on its work to address educational inequalities, including by ensuring that equality and human rights are embedded into the implementation of the new curriculum in Wales

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• using the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) to encourage equality of opportunity in the development and delivery of educational policies and programmes
• promoting PSED guidance for schools to increase compliance with the duty

2B - Take legal action to address breaches of children’s rights in institutional settings

Our long-term goal:

Protecting and upholding the rights of children and young people in institutional settings with a reduction in their rights being breached.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• influencing the UK and Welsh Governments and others on implementing the recommendations made by the UN Committee on the rights of the child
• promoting and protecting children’s rights in institutional settings
• advising UK, Scottish and Welsh governments on policies in education and institutional settings covering admissions, exclusions, behaviour and restraint
• engaging with the Department for Education to promote the recommendations of our 2021 Restraint Inquiry in England

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• engaging with local authorities in Scotland to ensure PSED compliance with updated restraint guidance

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to promote and protect children’s rights in institutional settings

2C - Tackle discrimination in exclusions, behaviour policies and failures to make reasonable adjustments to improve educational outcomes for people with protected characteristics

Our long-term goal:

Improving educational outcomes for at risk groups with an increase in educational participation in those groups.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• advising the UK Government about growing numbers of persistent absences in schools and influencing them to ensure PSED compliant policies

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• completing training for the Enquire adviser helpline in Scotland. This will increase knowledge of equality and human rights

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to promote children’s rights and tackle discrimination in education settings

2D - Tackle barriers to equal training and work opportunities for young people

Our long-term goal:

Increasing the proportion of young people with certain protected characteristics who are in employment. Also training increases and occupational segregation is reduced.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• advising governments and engaging with stakeholders to improve access to apprenticeships and employability support, and reduce occupational segregation, for young people in under-represented groups
• providing advice about the establishment of the Commission on Tertiary Education and Research in Wales

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to tackle barriers to equal training and work opportunities for young people

3. Upholding rights and equality in health and social care

We will focus on access to healthcare for those with protected characteristics and the development of health and social care settings in England, Scotland and Wales.

3A - Promote rights regarding the treatment of people in health and social care institutions

Our long-term goal:

Ensuring that people with learning disabilities, autism and mental health conditions can access the support they need in a way that does not discriminate against them or breach their rights.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• responding to the UK and Scotland COVID-19 inquiries where requested

We will influence standard setting by:

• challenging the inappropriate use of detention in institutions
• advise about the development of the Mental Health Reform Bill through advice to the UK Government and influencing Scottish Government proposals in response to recommendations from the Scottish Mental Health Law Review
• developing proposals to respond to human rights issues in private care settings in England and Wales

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• developing a memorandum of understanding with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to facilitate the sharing of intelligence and referral of strategic cases

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to promote rights regarding the treatment of people in health and social care institutions

3B - Promote the rights of people using adult social care services to support independent living

Our long-term goal:

Improving individuals’ ability to access the social care they need in a way that does not discriminate against them or breach their rights by advising those developing health and social care systems.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• advising the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments about the equality and human rights implications of the design of social care systems

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• advising about the improvement of Integration Joint Boards in Scotland, and by working with the Care Inspectorate to embed equality issues in their inspection frameworks, including through the use of the PSED

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to promote the rights of people using adult social care services to support independent living

3C - Tackle inequalities in access to health services

Our long-term goal:

Identifying, and reducing, barriers for people with certain protected characteristics receiving the healthcare they need in ways that do not breach their rights or discriminate against them.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by designing and planning work to:

• tackle barriers in access to healthcare for LGBT people with a focus on addressing data gaps
• understand the issues and identify opportunities to improve access to healthcare for disabled people

We will influence standard setting by:

• working with the NHS and health regulators to identify potential interventions to address the disproportionate number of deaths of people with certain protected characteristics in maternity services

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• providing training and advice to strengthen the use of the PSED in integrated health and social care systems across England

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to tackle inequalities in access to health and services, and challenge breaches of rights in health and social care institutions, in both acute and community settings

4. Addressing the equality and human rights impact of digital services and artificial intelligence

We will continue to deliver against the ambitions identified in our strategic plan and build on our work to understand the issues and shape our role as a regulator.

4A - Tackle online harms, including bullying, discrimination, and abuse experienced by people with protected characteristics, while safeguarding the right to freedom of expression

Our long-term goal:

Ensuring that the right to freedom of expression online is protected while also ensuring harassment and discrimination of protected characteristic groups is tackled.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• providing advice during the passage of the Online Safety Bill through Parliament, and by working with regulators and others to advise governments on regulating social media and search engines

We will enforce the law by:

• taking legal action to promote and protect the rights of those experiencing online harms

4B - Ensure that digital service providers maximise inclusion and tackle discrimination resulting from digital exclusion so essential services are available to all

Our long-term goal:

Engaging with providers to ensure that essential services are available to all, particularly older and disabled people, as digital provision is increased.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• improving evidence about the impact of activity to enforce public sector compliance with Web Accessibility Regulations

We will influence standard setting by:

• advising the UK and Scottish governments and service providers to protect and promote the rights of older and disabled people in a ‘digital by default’ environment

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• developing resources for small and medium-sized businesses to improve their understanding of the duty to make reasonable adjustments in hybrid work settings, and by increasing employee awareness of those rights
• working with the Central Digital and Data Office to enforce public sector compliance with Website Accessibility Regulations
• supporting the implementation of, and compliance with, the Wales Digital Public Service Standards

4C - Take legal action so that the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment and other employment practices does not bias decision-making or breach human rights

Our long-term goal:

Ensuring that employees and prospective employees do not experience discrimination or breaches of their human rights because of application of AI in the workplace.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• researching the use of AI in recruitment practices to shape options for further activity

We will enforce the law by:

• taking legal action, where appropriate, to protect the rights of those who are subject to the unfair use of AI in recruitment and other employment practices

4D - Influence regulatory frameworks to ensure equality and human rights are embedded in the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital technology

Our long-term goal:

Ensuring that service providers and other regulators ensure that innovations in AI do not lead to people experiencing discrimination or breaches of their human rights. This is because of strong regulations and service providers and duty bearers being aware of the risks.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• analysing the risks of the police use of facial recognition technology
• working with the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation to develop a tool to test for algorithmic bias

We will influence standard setting by:

• working with governments, other regulators and stakeholders to ensure the regulation of AI has equality and human rights at its core, including by influencing the White Paper on the Regulation of AI and the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• establishing joint standards and memorandums of understanding with regulators and partners to reduce the risk of discrimination due to the use of AI, identify joint working opportunities and better define our regulatory role
• Following up our PSED work on how local authorities are using AI to promote our findings, consider enforcement work and identify opportunities to develop resources to inform councils and others

5. Fostering good relations and promoting respect between groups

We will deliver against the ambitions identified in our strategic plan, building on our work in 2022/23, working with organisations to focus on our ability to convene, communicate and educate the public on matters of equality and human rights.

5A - Encourage schools and educational bodies to promote the value of equality and human rights and respect for others

Our long-term goal:

Bullying, abuse and harassment are reduced, and young people discuss issues of identity and equality respectfully.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• working with the Government and regulators to inform equality and human rights standards in educational settings
• updating our guidance following legislative changes from the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Bill, working with partners including the Office for Students
• advising the Welsh Government on the development of transgender and LGB guidance for schools

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• responding to the anticipated Department for Education transgender guidance for schools

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to promote the value of equality and human rights, and respect for others, in schools and educational settings

5B - Work with sporting organisations and specific service providers to promote respect for others and prevent prejudice

Our long-term goal:

Supporting people of different backgrounds to interact positively and reducing prejudice through improved practices in sports organisations.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• identifying opportunities to follow up on the Women and Equalities Committee work about equality on the basis of sex in football

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• working with the government and regulators in England, Scotland and Wales to develop a plan to identify and tackle discrimination in sport
• continuing work with the England and Wales Cricket Board to implement planned activity to reduce discrimination

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to promote respect for others and prevent prejudice within sporting organisations and specific service providers

5C - Play a leading role in public debates about equality and human rights issues, including by balancing rights

Our long-term goal:

Supporting people of different backgrounds to interact positively and reducing prejudice because of improved practices by service providers.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• working with public bodies to advise on issues relating to the protected characteristic of sex

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• following up with service providers and stakeholders on our guidance for service providers on single-sex spaces
• continuing to tackle alleged discrimination by holiday parks against some individuals with protected characteristics, communicating our action to other service providers

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to promote the balancing of rights

6. Ensuring an effective framework to protect equality and human rights

We have updated how we plan to conduct our work in this area to strengthen the use our regulatory levers, better promote knowledge and understanding of equalities and human rights law, clarify points of law, challenge serious and systemic breaches of the law, and develop evidence to provide the best advice to governments and others.

6A – Promoting the understanding of, and compliance with, human rights and equalities law. Including responding to serious and / or systemic breaches, where it does not fall within the remit of one of our other areas of focus.

Our long-term goal:

Ensuring that individuals do not experience discrimination or breaches of their rights.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• working with the Equality and Advisory Support Service and other agencies to source intelligence and legal referrals
• submitting reports to UN treaty reviews required in 2023/24
• identifying cases that we can respond to and support through our Race Support Fund

We will influence standard setting by:

• collaborating on projects that enhance civil society capacity to engage with international human rights work

We will enforce the law by:

• identifying opportunities to take legal action to advance and protect human rights by clarifying or establishing important legal tests, strengthening the interpretation of international human rights law in UK case law and promoting public authorities’ compliance with human rights law

6B – Using regulatory levers, including the PSED, to ensure that public bodies comply with their duties in relation to equality and human rights.

Our long-term goal:

Ensuring that individuals with protected characteristics are not unduly disadvantaged.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• evaluating the impact of the implementation of the socio-economic duty in Scotland and Wales

We will influence standard setting by:

• advising the UK, Welsh and Scottish governments on the PSED specific duties, and reviewing our guidance based on any changes 

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• promoting the findings of our work to understand the impact of the PSED and promoting further compliance with the duty through guidance, advice and training
• monitoring the Home Office’s plan to improve their PSED compliance
• contacting bodies newly listed in Scotland under the PSED to ensure they embed equalities considerations and compliance from the outset
• develop a memorandum of understanding with the Scottish Funding Council to advance equality in higher and further education
• support the HMI Prosecutions (Scotland) inspection of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s policy and practice on sexual history evidence

We will enforce the law by:

• focusing on serious and systemic behaviours that are in breach of equality and human rights
• identifying opportunities to take legal action to ensure public services are improving equality of opportunity and fulfilling their duties in relation to the PSED

6C – Providing advice to governments and stakeholders with a view to maintaining and strengthening the equality and human rights legal frameworks.

Our long-term goal:

Strengthening the equality and human rights legal framework that protects people from discrimination and breaches of their rights, and individuals have access to redress.

How we will do it

We will influence standard setting by:

• conducting further work to achieve greater clarity in the Equality Act
• advising governments about how to ensure that the equality and human rights legal framework is maintained and, where possible, strengthened
• advising the Scottish Government through the passage of the Misogyny and Criminal Justice Bill
• advising the governments of Britain as proposals arise about human rights treaty incorporation
• engaging with specific public inquiries, such as the Sheku Bayoh inquiry

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• reviewing and updating our statutory Code of Practice that covers services, public functions and associations and related guidance

6D – Providing government and stakeholders with high quality and accessible data and evidence in relation to equality and human rights in Great Britain.

Our long-term goal:

Reducing inequality through actions taken by governments, public authorities and others to tackle inequality based on data and evidence.

How we will do it

We will evidence the issues by:

• publishing our Statutory Report on equality and human rights developments since 2018, and associated products, including nation reports for Scotland and Wales
• following up on the survey of public attitudes to human rights
• working with partners to clarify and provide advice about data collection on the protected characteristic of sex

We will ensure compliance with standards by:

• developing our Human Rights Tracker as a tool for holding governments to account for their human rights reporting

7. Building our Commission

We have committed in our Strategic Plan to developing our organisation and its people. In 2023/24 we will do this through three workstreams that focus on our structure, our culture, and our knowledge.

7A – Our Structure

We will further develop our functions to improve how we operate. We will:

• strengthen the skills and knowledge of our people
• understand better our regulatory and monitoring approaches to ensure their effectiveness
• ensure we coordinate work well across our three nations

We will improve our organisation by developing our communications tools and products to achieve maximum impact from our work.

7B – Our Culture

We will define values to shape our culture and leadership ambition, equipping teams to lead the culture we want, including by developing a sense of belonging, ownership, and accountability for all of our people.

We will improve our organisation by:

• embedding our values
• implementing our leadership and management development programme
• creating opportunities for our people to come together to share ideas and collaborate

7C – Knowledge

We will develop a vision for how we want to create, hold, use and share knowledge to enable us to achieve more impact as a regulator and National Human Rights Institution. This long-term project will involve building relevant skills, business practices and systems, and a shared knowledge culture.

In 2023/24 we will focus on scoping and delivering new products, including by:

• implementing the first phase of our Data and Evidence Strategy
• building the work of our Regulatory Intelligence Hub to drive the use of intelligence in decision-making
• designing and developing a new intranet for all our teams to share knowledge internally
• improving our workplaces to maximise opportunities to collaborate
• continuing to improve our technology
• embedding our approach to planning and project delivery
• further improving our governance frameworks
• reviewing our management information structures
• developing and implementing improved core business processes
• launching a new website to improve knowledge sharing among our stakeholders