Equality and diversity

At Action for Children, we're driven by love. We take action so children don't miss out on a safe and happy childhood. And this starts with our people.

We strive to represent the diverse communities we serve. We believe in promoting equality, valuing diversity, and working inclusively.

This is the world we want for our staff, volunteers and the people we help. It informs our campaigns. And it’s the heart of everything we do to protect and promote children’s rights.

We don’t tolerate bullying, harassment and victimisation. And we’re working to break down barriers in our job opportunities, workplaces and services. We do this through regular consultation, monitoring and review.

It’s important to us to protect the people we work with, and to give everyone a fair chance in life. Like everything we do, it's driven by love.

Our approach builds on the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s nine protected characteristics. These are:

• Age.
• Disability.
• Sex.
• Gender reassignment.
• Marriage and civil partnership.
• Race.
• Religion or belief.
• Sexual orientation.
• Pregnancy and maternity.

It’s illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of these characteristics. This is something we take seriously. We all deserve to feel safe and supported at work.

At Action for Children, we strive to represent the diverse communities we serve, and to be anti-racist.

When we embrace diversity and inclusion, talented people stay with us longer. It encourages people to bring their whole selves to work. And we have a more diverse range of experiences to draw on in our work caring for children and families.

With our strategy, we will:

• Build a positive, safe and supportive culture for all our staff, volunteers and children and families who use our services.
• Increase the diversity of our workforce and prioritise representation of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic and disabled staff, who are still under-represented at Action for Children.
• Be an anti-racist charity, ensuring racial equity is at the heart of everything we do.

Our new strategy reflects Inclusive Employers eight steps framework. We have also worked with a consultant and listened to our people and staff networks.

Find out about our progress in our D&I Strategy.

The gender pay gap is the difference in average earnings of the women and men who work for an organisation. At Action for Children, we want every member of staff to have equal opportunity regardless of gender.

Our staff are key to us achieving our ambitions for children. So we’re working on reducing the median pay gap at Action for Children. Find out about our progress in our Gender Pay Gap Report.

Action for Children has a zero-tolerance approach to modern slavery. That includes forced or trafficked labour of adults and children.

We’re committed to:

• Acting ethically in everything we do.
• Keeping our business and supply chains free of modern slavery.
• Being transparent, both in our business and our approach to modern slavery.

We expect these same high standards from anyone we work with.

Talk to us if you need more information about how we’re combating modern slavery.

We have a range of professional networks to promote and safeguard equality.

These include Inspire, for colleagues with experience of a disability or illness. There are groups for Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority colleagues, Christian staff, and green issues. There are lots of others – staff can join any that represent their concerns and interests.