Diversity change 'big on rhetoric, thin on detail'

A union representing council staff has said a plan by the Staffordshire County Council's Reform UK leadership to cut diversity initiatives is "solving an invented problem".

Regional organiser for Unison Ravi Subramanian said the proposals would "concern" his members at the council, both as employees and residents.

Council leader Martin Murray said on Monday the group intended to scrap "woke" equality, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) policies and disband identity-based staff groups.

"It's very big on rhetoric, but very thin on detail," the union representative responded.

Questioning how much impact the policy change would have, he added: "The law still exists, and those policies are there to help them comply with the law."

He said: "When they dismantle these policies, we're going to end up with more claims, because the council's going to make mistakes."

Subramanian added that courts and tribunals would "take a dim view" of an authority scrapping such guidance, and would be likely to order higher compensation payments as a result.

A spokesperson for the council said the proposals were not yet formal policy, and had not been through its formal governance processes.

Reform insisted the changes would be compliant with laws designed to ensure equality for people with protected characteristics such as gender and belief.

They would replace EDI training with "legally grounded guidance and training" and disband "every non-statutory identity-based staff network".

The party added recruitment would be based on merit, and it would end all EDI branding, symbolism, and awareness campaigns.

Council officers would now be tasked with designing a new equality policy that adheres to the party's vision, they added.

Employment lawyer Sam Dickenson, from law firm Mayo Wynne Baxter, said: "They can strip away all the EDI policies and branding that they want, but those policies aren't just about values, those policies are about managing risk."

Subramanian said the policy was "self-defeating", and failed to give any solutions to "the real problems which face the people of Staffordshire", such as adult social care and children's services.

He also said the council risked failing to consider rural communities in its policies, as the current guidance made sure all parts of the county were treated equally.

"It really does seem like virtue signalling of the worst sort from Martin Murray."

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.