Working for Us

What is the Council's Equality and Diversity policy?

We acknowledge and value the diversity of people who live in, work in and visit the city. We are committed to the promotion of equality of opportunity for all and the prevention of discrimination. We aim to promote equal opportunities both internally and when working with others to contribute towards a fair and socially inclusive city.

You can see our Corporate Equalities Policy below::

Oxford City Council Corporate Equalities Policy

What is the Equalities Standard for Local Government?

The Equalities Standard gives public authorities a new statutory duty to promote equality. The aim is to help public authorities to provide fair and accessible services, and to improve equal opportunities in employment and service delivery.

In practice, this means that the Council must mainstream equality, taking into account equality in the day-to-day work of policy-making, service delivery, employment practice and other functions.

We are currently at Level 2. To achieve Level 2, we had to adopt a comprehensive equality policy that committed us to achieving equality in race, gender and disability through:

improving equality practice at both corporate and department level
earmarking specific resources for improving equality practice
action planning and action target setting within all departments and service areas
systematic consultation
a fair employment and equal pay policy
progress monitoring
audit and scrutiny

What is valuing diversity?

We are committed to Valuing Diversity. Valuing Diversity is often confused with Equal Opportunities, but is a very different concept.

Traditional Equal Opportunities tend to focus on groups and the implementation of specific policies designed to assimilate those groups into an existing culture. Valuing Diversity looks at the differences we all have and uses those differences to create a richer and more dynamic culture.

**The Key Differences**
Equal opportunities	Valuing Diversity
driven by legislation	driven by business need
piecemeal initiatives	holistic strategy
assimilation into existing culture	inclusion in open culture
removing barriers	nurturing potential
focus on improving numbers	focus on improving workplace
makes assumptions about certain groups	no assumptions - no judgements

Where can I find out more about equality and diversity at the Council?

To find out more, please contact our Diversity Coordinator.

Page last reviewed 14 May 2008

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