Compliance and Reporting

We are pleased to present LAS’s first annual equality report. Not only is this part of our public sector equality duty but is an expression of our journey and commitment in meeting our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) ambitions.

From 1 August 2016 onwards, all organisations that provide NHS care and / or publicly-funded adult social care are legally required to follow the Accessible Information Standard. The Standard sets out a specific, consistent approach to identifying, recording, flagging, sharing and meeting the information and communication support needs of patients, service users, carers and parents with a disability, impairment or sensory loss.

The Accessible Information Standard, formally known as DCB1605 Accessible Information, is made up of a specification and implementation guidance. Read the standard in full on NHS.UK.

The NHS’ Equality Delivery System 2 (EDS2) helps local NHS organisations, in discussion with local partners including local populations, review and improve their performance for people with characteristics protected by the Equality Act 2010. By using the EDS2, NHS organisations can also be helped to deliver on the Public Sector Equality Duty.

2024 is the first year LAS has opted to complete EDS2 for itself:

The Ethnicity Pay Gap (EPG) is an equality measure that shows the difference in average earnings between Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff and White staff. While this is not as yet a legal requirement, the Trust has taken the decision to proactively report on its Ethnicity Pay Gap, alongside its Gender Pay Gap, from 2024 onwards. It is hoped that taking this decision will affect greater change in tackling our gaps and enable us to foster greater transparency around pay.

The pay gap report is a measure of workplace disadvantage, measured in terms of a comparison between average hourly rates of pay. All organisations including NHS trusts are required by law to produce and publish their gender pay gap report annually. Reporting on the ethnicity and disability pay gaps currently remains voluntary, and progressive organisations who are committed to driving fairness at work are increasingly reporting on this. In line with this, we are reporting on all three pay gaps for 2024.

The Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES) is a set of ten specific measures (metrics) which enables NHS organisations to compare the workplace and career experiences of disabled and non-disabled staff.

The WDES enables us to better understand the experiences of our disabled staff and supports positive change for all existing colleagues by creating a more inclusive environment for disabled people working and seeking employment with us.

The Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) was mandated through the NHS standard contract, starting in 2015/16. It been developed as a tool to measure improvements in the workforce with respect to Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff.

The WRES enables us to better understand the experiences of our BME staff, measure improvement and implement change that will have a positive impact our current and future colleagues across the Trust.