On this page:
- Foreword
- Our Vision
- Executive Summary
- Background and Context
- Action Plan
- Key Aims
- Equality Objective
- Actions
- Roadmap
- Appendix: Monitoring Our Performance
Foreword
We are proud to introduce Bassetlaw District Council's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy. This strategy reflects our commitment to creating a council and a district where everyone is treated with dignity, respect and fairness, and where diversity is valued as a source of strength.
Our communities are increasingly diverse, and it is essential that the Council continues to listen, learn and adapt to meet the needs of all residents, employees and partners. Through this strategy, we reaffirm our commitment to tackling inequality, removing barriers to opportunity, and ensuring that our services are accessible, inclusive and responsive to the communities we serve.
Achieving meaningful change requires collective effort. We encourage councillors, employees, partners and residents to work with us to embed equality, diversity and inclusion in everything we do. Together, we can build a more inclusive Bassetlaw where everyone has the opportunity to thrive and contribute to the future of our district.
Julie Leigh, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Strategy and Communications.
Jonathan Slater, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for people and Transformation.
Our Vision
We strive to be a workplace and district where everyone is valued, differences are celebrated, and our people reflect the diverse communities we serve. Through empathy, understanding and open dialogue, we break down barriers, promote equity, and ensure every voice is heard and matters.
Supporting the Council Plan
The EDI vision supports the Council Plan objectives: Produce a new EDI Strategy, Ensure compliance with Equality and Human Rights Commission Guidance, Comply with the Equality Act demonstrated by an Annual Report, the publication of data, and objectives.
Reinforcing our values
“We aim to create a workplace where everyone is valued”
As an organisation, our employees are our most valuable asset. Our EDI principles developed by employees across the organisation underpin the Council’s values by ensuring inclusion, fairness and collaboration are part of everyday practice. They show that ‘Everyone Counts’ through belonging and lived experience, supports ‘Together, we can do more’ through empathy and dialogue, and reflects ‘Open and Honest’ by encouraging listening and challenge. By removing barriers, they enable ‘Service Excellence’, while continuous learning and improvement demonstrate an ‘Aspirational’ mindset.
Our EDI Principles
- Everyone belongs - We treat every person with dignity and respect, celebrate difference, and create a workplace and district where nobody feels fear, stigma or exclusion.
- Listen with empathy, learn with curiosity - We build understanding through empathy, education and meaningful dialogue, listening to understand, being open to challenge, and learning continuously to improve how we work together.
- Equity in action (removing barriers) - We identify and remove barriers so that opportunities, services and decisions are fair and accessible, championing equity, not just equality, and making adjustments where needed to ensure people can thrive.
- Lived experience leads & every voice counts - We honour lived experience and ensure every voice is heard without judgement, sharing responsibility for progress, acting on feedback, and building unity through understanding and shared achievement.
Why it matters
An Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy is important to a council because it ensures services are fair, accessible and responsive to the needs of all residents, particularly those from underrepresented or vulnerable groups. It helps the council meet its legal duties and make better decisions by listening to different people, building trust within the community.
Executive Summary
Bassetlaw District Council’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy sets out our commitment to creating a workplace and district where everyone is valued, respected and able to participate fully. It supports the Council Plan, our corporate values and our legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty.
The strategy is built around a simple ambition: to embed equality, diversity and inclusion into our culture, decisions, services and partnerships, leaving a strong and inclusive legacy before Local Government Reorganisation vesting day.
We have used local data about our population, tenants and workforce to understand the main challenges we need to address, including an ageing population, disability, deprivation, under-representation, low levels of disclosure, and the need for services that are easy to access and use.
We will focus on six strategic aims:
- Build an inclusive workplace culture
- Embed EDI in policies and processes
- Build a diverse and representative workforce
- Use data to drive improvement
- Strong, cohesive and inclusive communities
- Reduce inequality and improve life chances
We will deliver this strategy through a clear action plan, better use of Equality Impact Assessments, improved data, and regular reporting on progress.
Our Strategic Mission
To embed equality, diversity and inclusion into the culture, decisions, services and partnerships of the Council before LGR vesting day, ensuring that we leave a strong, inclusive legacy where people feel valued, barriers are actively removed, and staff, residents and communities are heard, represented and supported.
Our Equality Objectives 2025-2029
- Objective 1: Engage and communicate in appropriate and accessible ways. We know that good quality information leads to well-informed decisions, which in turn impact on the suitability and quality of services.
- Objective 2: Ensure we deliver inclusive and responsive services. Understand and remove the barriers people face when accessing services. The Council acknowledges the challenges of rural isolation, access to services and limited public transport.
- Objective 3: Foster good relations with and within the community. Our diversity is one of our greatest strengths. As a council we want to lead the district in celebrating and promoting our diversity and the benefits and opportunities it brings. We will continue to promote inclusion, fairness, and accessibility, whilst raising the profile of Bassetlaw as a great place to live, study and visit.
- Objective 4: Break the cycle of inequality and improve life chances. We know that some groups experience poorer life chances than others, and that poverty can be a significant factor in determining life chances and wellbeing. At a local and national level there are also areas of persistent inequality which remain a considerable challenge. We will continue to focus on those in greatest need to ensure that people can access services and support that works for them.
- Objective 5: Develop and support a diverse workforce. We will continue to promote inclusion, fairness, and accessibility in our workplace. A representative workforce will help us deliver services that are accessible, appropriate and that help reduce inequalities.
Existing legislation and statutory guidance
Equality Act 2010
The Equality Act 2010 is the primary legislation underpinning EDI in local government. It legally protects individuals from discrimination, harassment and victimisation based on protected characteristics such as age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)
Under the Equality Act, the PSED requires councils to have due regard to three core aims: eliminating unlawful discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity, and fostering good relations between different groups. This duty should be embedded in decision-making, policy development, commissioning and service delivery, supported by tools such as Equality Impact Assessments.
Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act complements EDI by ensuring that all council activity respects fundamental rights and freedoms, such as dignity, privacy and protection from discrimination. It reinforces fair treatment in service delivery and decision-making, particularly for vulnerable or marginalised communities.
Specific Duties and Supporting Regulations
Local authorities must also meet specific equality duties, including publishing equality information and setting measurable equality objectives. Alongside this, related legislation, including safeguarding, housing, homelessness, community safety and social care legislation, supports the Council’s wider responsibility to consider vulnerability, access, fairness and partnership working.
Services, public functions and associations: Code of Practice (Equality and Human Rights Commission)
This statutory code explains how organisations (including councils) can comply with the Equality Act 2010 when providing services. It clarifies when single-sex or separate-sex services (such as toilets) are lawful, including circumstances where access may be restricted if this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim (e.g. privacy, dignity, or safety). It also emphasises the need to consider the rights of people with protected characteristics, including transgender people.
Armed Forces Covenant
Councils must make sure Armed Forces personnel, veterans and their families are treated fairly, are not disadvantaged, and receive appropriate support when accessing local services including housing and homelessness.
Data Protection Act 2018 and UK GDPR
Equality monitoring must be carried out lawfully, fairly and transparently. Where the Council collects or uses special category data, such as ethnicity, health, religion or sexual orientation, it must identify a lawful basis, meet an additional processing condition, protect confidentiality and use data proportionately to support equality analysis and improvement.
How we assess equality impact
The Equality Act 2010 protects nine characteristics: age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, and marriage and civil partnership.
The Council also considers wider factors such as poverty, rural isolation, human rights, care experience, and the Armed Forces community. This helps us better understand local need, reduce inequalities, remove barriers, and make fairer, more inclusive decisions.
The Council will review and strengthen its Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) process to ensure that EIAs are undertaken and refreshed at appropriate stages of policy development, decision-making and implementation. This will include embedding clear checkpoints so that equality considerations are actively reviewed as proposals evolve, ensuring that potential impacts are identified early, mitigated where necessary, and that decisions remain informed by up‑to‑date evidence and engagement throughout their lifecycle.
Roles and capabilities
Delivering the EDI strategy requires a coordinated, organisation-wide effort supported by clear roles and strong organisational capability. Leadership, services and partners must work collectively to embed EDI into culture, policy and practice, supported by the EDI Working Group as a central driver of delivery and accountability.
Roles and partners
- Elected Members & Senior Leadership – set direction, champion EDI and ensure accountability
- EDI Working Group – shape the approach, drive delivery, influence decisions
- People and Transformation – lead on workforce policies, recruitment, and training
- Insights Team – embed EDI in strategies, impact assessments and reporting
- Service areas – apply EDI in everyday service delivery
- External partners – community groups, VCS, regional/national networks supporting inclusion
Capabilities required
- Skills: inclusive leadership, effective engagement, data analysis.
- Resources: dedicated capacity for coordination, training and communications
- Processes: robust EIAs, feedback loops, monitoring and reporting frameworks
- Technology: systems for collecting, analysing and reporting EDI data
How we created this strategy
The EDI Working Group has played a central role in shaping both the strategy and its delivery roadmap, ensuring it reflects lived experience, organisational priorities and practical insight. Drawing on cross-council representation, the Group has helped define the vision and principles while identifying key challenges and opportunities. Internal actions have been developed in close collaboration with People and Transformation, who have shaped workforce, culture and organisational development priorities, ensuring alignment with wider change programmes. The Insights Team has underpinned the approach by providing data analysis to identify gaps, inform priorities and establish measurable outcomes and external delivery measures.
Background and Context
The District
Bassetlaw District is home to a population of approximately 125,000. Understanding the composition of our population is essential to ensuring that services are fair, inclusive and responsive to local need.
Bassetlaw is also part of an emerging regional “supercluster” for energy, advanced manufacturing and low carbon technologies, building on its strategic location between South Yorkshire, the Humber and the East Midlands. This presents significant opportunities for inward investment, skills development and job creation, particularly in areas such as clean energy, logistics and high value manufacturing. As these sectors grow, there is a strong focus on ensuring that this investment translates into inclusive growth, creating accessible employment opportunities, raising skill levels across all communities and ensuring that the benefits of economic development are shared fairly across the district.
The District of Bassetlaw is situated in north Nottinghamshire and borders South Yorkshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the east and Derbyshire to the west. It boasts thousands of acres of rolling countryside, parkland and ancient woodland, including Clumber Park, one of the most popular visitor attractions in North Nottinghamshire.
Woodlands, charming villages and the Dukeries estates are among Bassetlaw’s key attractions. With Sherwood Forest on the doorstep, there is something for everyone in this historic, predominantly rural district.
In terms of gender, the population is broadly split between 49% male and 51% female, with a small proportion identifying in other ways. This provides an important foundation for understanding representation and equality across services.
The district has a growing and diverse age profile, with 18% aged 0–15 children and young people, 60% 16-64 of working age, and 22% aged 65+ older residents. An ageing population presents both opportunities and challenges, particularly in relation to accessibility, health, housing and social inclusion.
Disability and health are key considerations, with around 9% of Bassetlaw residents have day-to-day activities limited a lot, which is higher than both Nottinghamshire and England averages. This highlights the importance of services that people can easily understand and use.
In terms of ethnicity, the population is predominantly White (96.4%), alongside 1.2% Asian or Asian British, 1.2% from Mixed or Multiple ethnic groups, and 0.6% Black or Black British. Approximately 96% of residents have English as their main language. While levels of diversity are lower than in more urban areas, it remains vital to ensure all communities feel represented, included and supported. While levels of diversity may be lower than in some urban areas, it remains vital to ensure that all communities feel represented, included and supported.
Religion and belief data shows that 55% Christian / 38% no religion, which gives an insight into religious affiliation. However, it is important to highlight that this census question relates more to identity than to an actual measure of practise or belief. Respecting different beliefs and fostering good relations between communities is a key part of the Council’s role.
In relation to sexuality, 91% of people aged 16 and over identify as straight or heterosexual, while 2% identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or another minority sexual orientation (LGB+), which underlines the need to consider the needs of different communities when designing services and workplaces.
Data on care leavers and people with care experience is limited at district council level, as statutory responsibility sits with the County Council; however, the Council recognises this group can face significant disadvantage. Through housing services and partnership working, the Council will use available data and insight to ensure services are inclusive, accessible, and support improved life chances for care‑experienced residents.
Socio-economic factors also influence equality outcomes. Levels of deprivation, employment, income and educational attainment vary across the district, with 24% of children aged 0 to 15 were living in relative low-income families Before Housing Costs in 2024-25, highlighting where targeted action may be needed to address inequality and improve life chances.
Around 5% of Bassetlaw residents are veterans, which is higher than the national average of 3.8%, indicating a relatively large Armed Forces community locally. The Council’s Armed Forces and Veterans Plan 2024-2028 helps ensure key services are accessible to service personnel, veterans and their families.
Together, this data provides a baseline to understand who our residents are, the diversity within our communities, and where inequalities may exist. This evidence will continue to inform the Council’s approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, ensuring that decisions, policies and services are shaped by need, promote fairness and deliver positive outcomes for all.
Our Tenants
Bassetlaw District Council manages just over 6,600 council tenancies, providing homes for a diverse population of approximately 7,900 individual tenants. The majority of tenancies are held by single household arrangements, with just over 5,200 sole tenancies, while around 1,350 are joint tenancies. This reflects a housing stock that largely supports individuals living alone or acting as the primary tenant for a household, with a smaller but significant proportion of shared or family‑based tenures.
Key Strategic Implications
Overall, Bassetlaw’s tenant profile is characterised by an older, predominantly female population, with high levels of disability and a strong prevalence of single‑person households. This suggests a continued need to prioritise:
- Accessible and adaptable housing
- Early intervention to support tenancy sustainment
- Clear, inclusive communication methods
- Targeted engagement with under‑represented groups, particularly younger adults
Household and Tenure Characteristics
The dominance of single tenancies suggests a housing population that includes many single adults, older residents, and smaller households. Joint tenancies, while fewer, indicate the presence of couples and family units, highlighting the need for a balance between services aimed at individual tenancy sustainment and those supporting household or family stability.
Age Profile
The tenant population is strongly weighted towards older adults, with around two‑thirds of tenants aged 50 and above. Working‑age adults form a substantial minority, while younger adults are relatively under‑represented. This age profile points to a mature tenant base with potentially long tenancy durations, stable communities, and an increased likelihood of support needs linked to ageing. At the same time, relatively low numbers of younger tenants may have implications for future demand, succession planning, and housing mobility.
Gender
Around six in ten tenants are women, with men representing a substantial but smaller share of the tenant population. This imbalance may reflect trends such as longer female life expectancy, higher numbers of older women living alone, and single‑parent households headed by women. This gender profile has implications for how services are designed and communicated, particularly in relation to health, safety, and support services.
Disability and Health
A notable proportion of tenants report having a disability or long‑term health condition. While not all disabilities result in support needs, this highlights the importance of accessible housing, reasonable adjustments, and responsive housing management. Demand for adaptations, support with tenancy sustainment, and partnership working with health and care services is likely to remain significant.
The Council's Workforce
On 31 March 2025, the Council employed 490 full-time and 123 part-time staff (613 total), with a near gender balance of 49% male and 51% female. Around 5% of the workforce declared a disability.
The Council had a reverse gender pay gap, with women earning on average 2% more than men (mean) and 7% more at the median, indicating that women are relatively well represented across pay levels, including mid-range roles.
In terms of ethnicity, 6% of staff identified as belonging to an ethnic minority group, while 66% identified as White British, suggesting there is scope to strengthen ethnic diversity.
Regarding sexual orientation, 63% of employees identified as heterosexual and fewer than 3% as bisexual, gay or lesbian, while a notable 34% chose not to disclose, highlighting potential issues around disclosure confidence or privacy.
Overall, the profile reflects positive performance on gender equity, alongside opportunities to improve diversity and foster a more inclusive culture that supports greater representation and openness across other protected characteristics.
Key Aims
Our key aims set out how we will advance equality, diversity, and inclusion by building an inclusive culture, embedding EDI in our systems and processes, strengthening workforce diversity, and using data to drive continuous improvement.
Build an Inclusive Workplace Culture – by building an inclusive workplace culture; embedding clear EDI principles, behaviours, and accountability into leadership, performance, and daily practice, supported by practical guidance, training, and inclusive working environments.
Embed EDI in policies and processes – by strengthening impact assessments, aligning key people policies with EDI goals, and ensuring consistent, effective delivery of reasonable adjustments.
Build a diverse and representative workforce – by strengthening inclusive recruitment commitments, amplifying diverse voices, fostering community partnerships, and creating safe, responsive spaces for engagement, feedback, and cultural awareness.
Use data to drive improvement – by strengthening our approach to EDI data collection, analysis, and reporting, using insight to spot problems, track progress, and act where needed to ensure continuous improvement and accountability.
Strong, Cohesive and Inclusive Communities – by improving engagement, strengthening local leadership, supporting neighbourhood working and partnerships, ensuring that all groups have opportunities to contribute and shape services.
Reduce Inequality and Improving Life Chances – by targeting support to those most in need, preventing homelessness, tackling health inequalities, providing early help for vulnerable residents, delivering effective financial support, addressing the causes of poverty, and promoting inclusive growth and access to skills.
Action Plan
Roadmap
| Phase 1: Quick wins (0-6 months) |
Phase 2: Biggest Impact (6–12 months) |
Phase 3: Longer-Term (12 months + post Vesting day) |
|---|---|---|
|
Agree EDI Principles and align them with Corporate Values. Create simple guidance on inclusive behaviours. Communicate the strategy. Introduce “you said / we did” feedback to engagement. Run basic awareness activity and safe-space conversations. Review existing EDI data and identify key gaps. |
Strengthen Equality Impact Assessments. Refresh key people policies, including recruitment, appraisal and performance. Embed EDI into leadership standards, objectives and reviews. Improve EDI training and manager confidence. Implement the Reasonable Adjustments and Vulnerability Framework. Use data, deprivation insight and performance reporting to target action. |
Review facilities, including gender-neutral and quiet workspaces. Build stronger community and resident involvement. Strengthen partnerships with the voluntary and community sector. Support community cohesion, place-shaping and neighbourhood governance. Develop longer-term work on poverty, health inequalities, skills and inclusive growth. |
Appendix: Monitoring Our Performance
| Theme | Measure |
|---|---|
|
Culture & Inclusion (Feeling valued, safe, and respected) |
Staff survey results on:
|
|
Leadership & Behaviour (Making EDI real day-to-day) |
|
|
Equity in Processes & Decision-Making (Removing barriers) |
|
|
Build a Diverse and Representative Workforce |
Workforce representation
Disability Confident
|
|
Use Data to Drive Improvement |
Data quality
Insight & action
|
|
Strong, Cohesive and Inclusive Communities |
Primary metric:
Secondary metrics:
|
|
Reduce Inequality and Improving Life Chances |
Primary metric:
Secondary metrics:
|
Last Updated on Thursday, September 17, 2026