Workforce report
Summary
This report covers how we are meeting our obligations from the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty as a county council and as an employer, the profile of our workforce and how our Diversity and Inclusion policy and People strategy support equality, diversity and inclusion.
The following objectives were set in 2023 for delivery within three years.
Progress and actions on workforce equalities objectives
1. We will increase the number of employees who share their personal characteristic data
- we continue to encourage colleagues to ensure personal data is accurate, and the number of unknown data recorded has continued to decrease
- the number of staff who are declaring that they have a disability has increased this year
Through the embedding of our values, we hope to encourage more staff to feel confident about disclosing that they have a disability, with the aim of reducing still further the proportion whose status is unknown.
2. We will increase the success rate of job applicants (internal and external) from minority or disadvantaged groups
- in 2024-25 shortlisted applicants over 50 continued to have an equal chance of being successful in recruitment as applicants aged 25 to 49
- there is a similar percentage to the previous year of successful applicants with a disability at 9.6% of all applicants
- the percentage of successful applicants from an ethnic minority background has increased from 5.2% to 6.3%
- the percentage of successful applicants who are either lesbian, gay, bisexual or other sexuality (not heterosexual) has changed from 6.9% to 5.1%
3. We will increase the mechanisms and use of support and flexibility for employees from minority or disadvantaged groups
- the use of personal Support Passports continues with research by the university into their effectiveness and their use encouraged where relevant. The Personal Support Passport is an optional, personalised and practical tool to raise awareness of an employee’s circumstances which could affect their working life, for example being a carer or having specific medical conditions
- our staff networks continue to publicise key events and topics to help raise awareness and understanding to support colleagues across the organisation
- continuing building upgrades consider accessibility in planning and development in collaboration with Corporate Property and Health and Safety teams
4. We will increase the support available to enable career progression for employees from minority or disadvantaged groups
- the median disability pay gap has reduced from 5.13% in 2024 to 4.79% in 2025
- the median gender pay gap has reduced from 1.9% in 2024 to 1.79% in 2025
- there is a majority of female employees in the workforce, and there are 61% females compared to 39% males undertaking paid senior leadership roles
- the median ethnicity pay gap is 0%
- there are 8 employees from ethnic minority backgrounds in senior roles paid at G13 or equivalent and above which is an increase of 3 employees compared with 2024
- we will increase training, resources and engagement available for employees and specifically for managers. These will increase knowledge, awareness and confidence in discussing, supporting and taking action on equality, diversity and inclusion issues
- we have made improvements to colleague and manager induction and have a range of online learning materials to support development and awareness across a range of issues
- colleague owned staff networks have publicised information and led activities related to events and celebrations
- The Social Care Workforce Race Equality Standard project creates actions plans for social care staff to raise awareness of the disadvantages faced by current and potential employees from ethnic minority backgrounds
Corporate Diversity Steering Group
In 2024 to 2025 the Corporate Diversity Steering Group, chaired by the Executive Director for Adult Care and Community Wellbeing, provided council wide consultation and guidance on staff experience, culture, equality, inclusion and diversity to ensure we meet our statutory requirements as set out in the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty.
Our people strategy
Our people strategy provides the focus and expertise to support the delivery of our Corporate Plan 2024-25. It supports our ambition of being an employer of choice and aims to ensure our culture fosters a working environment that:
- embraces the diversity of all our workforce and residents
- supports individuals and teams to feel empowered
- ensure that everyone owns, understands and embodies the Council's vision and values
- supports an open and compassionate approach to people management
- supports staff engagement
- facilitates learning and development
- we can recruit, retain and develop skilled and talented individuals from inside and outside of Lincolnshire, across generations.
This will continue to support our future delivery of our services.
Our workforce
We monitor the characteristics of our workforce to:
- identify trends within employment practices
- investigate trends
- implement change where appropriate
It also enables us to fulfil our commitment to:
- ensure employment practices are free from discrimination
- meet our obligations under the Equality Act 2010
The provision of personal demographic information within the council is voluntary. Employees have the option of choosing not to share this information. The personnel system can be accessed on a self-serve basis. We encourage employees to provide this information as it helps us to improve how we support colleagues with different characteristics.
Where an employee has chosen not to share personal demographic data, this is shown on the workforce profile as 'unknown’ which can affect our ability to meaningfully report and benchmark monitoring information.
Additional data is also provided on:
- recruitment process
- pay and the gender pay gap
- discipline, grievance and capability processes
- turnover and leaver data
At the reporting date of 31 March 2025, there are 6,003 employees (excluding schools).
We have compared our workforce data to:
- the same period in 2023 and 2024
- 2021 census data
This allows us to assess:
- if the composition of our workforce has changed
- whether it is reflective of the local community
The workforce profile differs within each part of the organisation depending on the roles undertaken and the purpose of the services. This report provides a summary of the council.
View the full report for our workforce.
Learning and development
Equality and diversity issues, specifically in relation to recruitment and selection, are included in the recruitment and selection training. All recruiting managers are required to complete the training.
Employment policies
Policies will continue to be changed to adopt changes in legislation, good practice and updates to support the People Strategy and to ensure we remain a good employer.
Disability Confident Scheme
We have committed to the Disability Confident Scheme and has also been accredited as a Disability Confident employer. We also refer to this in our recruitment and act on the following commitments to:
- ensure the recruitment process is inclusive and accessible
- communicate and promote vacancies
- offer an interview to disabled people if they meet the minimum criteria for the post
- anticipate and provide reasonable adjustments as required when disabled employees are applying for and doing their jobs