Equality, diversity and inclusion annual report 2024 to 2025

This section of the report includes data collected for the following services:

• children and young people supported by social care
• youth support Future4ME
• children’s health service
• holiday activity and food (HAF) programme
• early years
• early years pupil premium
• special educational needs and disabilities
• children and young people supported by children’s services social care
• adult social care
  • long term social care
  • short term social care
• employment and skills service
• public protection
  • drug treatment services
  • domestic abuse support
  • scams awareness and prevention
• Lincolnshire fire and rescue community safety
  • home fire safety

Children and young people supported by social care

View the full report for children and young people supported by social care.

Adult social care

This section provides the age, gender, ethnicity and primary support reason (PSR) breakdown for adults receiving social care, using the Short and Long-Term Support (SALT) return for the year April 2024 to March 2025 (2024 to 2025), with comparisons to 2023/24. As part of this mandatory reporting, we have included age, gender, ethnicity and disability. Religion and sexual orientation are not required to be reported so have been excluded from this report.

Equalities information has been provided in relation to long-term and short-term adult social care services which have been provided to adults. Long-term support encompasses any service or support which is provided with the intention of maintaining quality of life for an individual on an ongoing basis. Short-term support includes all episodes of support that are intended to be time limited without intending to maximise independence and reduce the need for ongoing support.

View the full report for adult social care.

Employment and skills service

The Employment and Skills Service is part of Economic Development within the Place directorate.  The service receives grant funding from the Department for Education (DfE) and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to deliver adult learning and skills bootcamp programmes across Lincolnshire.

The aim of the service is to engage with local people who are least likely to participate in learning and enable them to access a range of high-quality learning opportunities to:

• lead more independent lives
• support their families
• gain a qualification
• get a job or progress within their career
• volunteer
• become less socially isolated

The service has four key strategic priorities:

• widen participation and transform people’s lives
• support the local economy
• improve the health and wellbeing of learners
• provide targeted learning to those in greatest need, including helping parents to support their children’s learning

To achieve these priorities the service works with local partners to deliver high quality learning to:

• focus funding on people who are disadvantaged and least likely to participate in learning, including people:
  • on low incomes
  • with low skills
  • furthest away from the labour market
• widen participation in learning through locally delivered informal and accredited programmes, serving the needs of the diverse communities across Lincolnshire
• contribute to a wide range of outcomes for individuals and the wider community including:
  • personal and social
  • educational attainment
  • economic regeneration
  • improved health and well-being
• develop the capacity of voluntary and community sector organisations to deliver effective adult learning that meets the quality requirements of Ofsted through funding and supporting niche provision
• work closely with employers to co-design skills bootcamp programmes that help to fill skills gaps, and enable individuals to progress into employment or take the next step on their career journey
• Work with local partners to deliver high quality learning which contributes to the priorities of:
  • Lincolnshire County Council,
  • Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority (GLCCA) Skills Plan,
  • GLCCA Strategic Economic Plan,
  • the Local Industrial Strategy,
  • the Local Skills Improvement Plan,
  • the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan,
  • Council's Corporate Plan

View the full report for employment and skills service.

Public protection

Public protection covers an array of activities within Lincolnshire. Within the area of domestic abuse victim services, drug treatment services and fraud prevention demographic data is requested from the service users to help us better understand the accessibility and equality of the services we provide, but also to help identify any potential hidden or unsupported victims.

View the full report for public protection.

Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue community safety

Home fire safety visits

Throughout 2024 to 2025, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue (LFR) has continued to develop its person-centred approach to prevention activities, building on the foundations outlined in the previous reporting year. Home Fire Safety Visits, (HFSV’s) remain the primary method of engagement supporting the Service’s home safety strategy.

During the reporting period, LFR has enhanced its risk profiling model to strengthen the identification of individuals and households most vulnerable to fire and related risks. This enhanced profile incorporates both local intelligence and national data analysis, allowing for more precise targeting of prevention activity and more effective allocation of resources.

On average 90% of visits were with people considered to be in high-risk groups. As we continue to develop our approach to identify high risk households the service aims to see this percentage increase. This will ensure resources support can be focussed on those who most need it across the county.

This work is underpinned by a strong partnership model, with LFR working closely alongside Adult Social Care and other key partners. Through information sharing, joint referrals and coordinated interventions, these partnerships help ensure that vulnerable residents receive timely, appropriate and inclusive support, reinforcing LFR’s commitment to protecting all communities and reducing inequality.

LFR’s HFSVs focus on the core components as identified by the National Fire Chiefs Council:

• home fire detection, also incorporates assistive technology
• fire safety in the home
• fires and heaters incorporating fuel poverty
• clutter and hoarding
• arson and deliberate fires
• smoking related fires
• medicines and medical devices
• electrical safety

To support the wider community safety concerns, HFSVs also offer advice and support on:

• fraud
• mental health concerns
• healthy and accessible homes
• domestic abuse and serious violence

Household risks are categorised to help the service deliver interventions that are sustainable and make best use of resources. Specially trained staff provide a person-centred approach to their visits. They look to provide support by focussing on the areas of high risk within the home setting.  With the physical resources assigned to support those identified as the highest risk, to promote equality of access to home safety information for all communities, LFR have embedded the use of an on-line self-assessment tool, HFSC, allowing individuals to access critical safety information, to support safety arrangements in their homes. 

A breakdown of safe and well visits by age and ethnicity is shown below. The 65 and over age category is more likely to be identified as high risk therefore it is important for the service to monitor this group to ensure it is meeting the needs of people across all ethnicities.

Household occupants receiving support by age

Household occupants receiving support by ethnicity