South East London ICB is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion through adoption of numerous standards and frameworks. Some are statutory and mandatory, and others are voluntary – we understand the value each one brings to improve our culture and ways of working, and ultimately, the work we do in health planning. A number of activities are delivered by working collaboratively with partners in the south east London system.

Our position against the key standards and frameworks are as follows:

EDI Improvement Plan

NHS England developed the EDI Improvement Plan in 2023, setting out six targeted ‘High Impact Actions’ (see below) to address direct and indirect prejudice and discrimination that exist through behaviour, policies, practices and cultures against certain groups and individuals across the NHS workforce. SEL ICB is delivering against all High Impact Actions, with further work planned for 2026/27.

The six High Impact Actions in the NHS EDI Improvement Plan:

1. Chief executives, chairs and board members must have specific and measurable EDI objectives to which they will be individually and collectively accountable.
2. Embed fair and inclusive recruitment processes and talent management strategies that target under-representation and lack of diversity.
3. Develop and implement an improvement plan to eliminate pay gaps.
4. Develop and implement an improvement plan to address health inequalities within the workforce.
5. Implement a comprehensive induction, onboarding and development programme for internationally recruited staff (N.B. this is not directly relevant to ICBs)
6. Create an environment that eliminates the conditions in which bullying, discrimination, harassment and physical violence at work occur.

Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES)

Across the majority of the nine WRES indicators, 2024/25 data (where it is available) indicates that the workplace experiences of global majority staff are less positive than white staff. The position has not changed significantly compared to the previous year. The ICB is focusing on six priority areas of action to drive positive change.

Workforce Disability Equality Standard (WDES)

Across the majority of the ten WDES indicators, 2024/25 data (where it is available) indicates that the workplace experiences of disabled staff are less positive than non-disabled staff. The position has become more challenging across most indicators since the previous year, indicating that work is required to remove the discrimination faced by our disabled staff. The ICB recognises the key areas where improvement is required and actions to address these are embedded in the ICB Equality Delivery Plan (EDP).

Workforce Sexual Orientation Equality Standard (WSOES)

Across the majority of the eight WSOES indicators, 2024/25 data (where it is available) indicates that the workplace experiences of gay, lesbian and bisexual staff are less positive than heterosexual staff. 2024/25 is the first year that the ICB has participated in WSOES, meaning there is no prior year data with which to compare. The 2024/25 data has been used to identify areas for improvement and will provide a benchmark for future reporting.

Equality Delivery System 2022 (EDS22)

The Equality Delivery System (EDS) is a framework that helps NHS organisations improve the services they provide for their local communities and provide better working environments, free of discrimination, for those who work in the NHS. Across the three EDS22 domains in 2024/25, SEL ICB moved up to being an ‘Achieving’ organisation. In 2025/26, the ICB is ensuring implementation plans are being achieved with deep dives planned across the year.

Gender Pay Gap

The ICB is currently moving in a positive direction in narrowing the gender pay gap. At the 2024 measurement point, the ICB’s mean gender pay gap for hourly pay was 5%; a decrease from 12.66% in 2023.

ICB Anti-Racism Strategy

The ICB continues to deliver a dynamic staff anti-racism strategy, first published in 2023. The strategy has been well received and featured as a case study in Sir Michael Marmot’s Structural Racism, Ethnicity and Health Inequalities in London report (2024). The strategy took an employee lifecycle approach to map how anti-racism could be built into the policies, practices and culture of the ICB. An internal review in October 2024 confirmed that 67% of actions from the 2024/25 action plan were delivered. Its success has informed the approach and action of this EDI strategy.

Race Equality Maturity Index (REMI)

The ICB has participated in a pilot to test the ‘Race Equality Maturity Index’ developed by the Race Equality Foundation in partnership with the London Anti-Racism Collaboration for Health (LARCH). The assessment showed the ICB is at Stage 3 – ‘Implementing’ in the REMI framework, which means our race equality strategy is being put into practice and the ICB is actively working towards its goals and objectives.

Inclusive recruitment training

After a successful bid, the ICB received NHS England funding to deliver dynamic drama-based forum theatre sessions for staff across the ICS, including the ICB, NHS Trusts, GP practice and local authority partners. The sessions reached up to 400 staff across the wider system and were designed to support managers and teams actively reduce bias during the recruitment process.

Training Needs Analysis

Much of our work to map the ICB’s progress on EDI highlights the knowledge and skills our staff need to embed EDI into their roles, team working and wider organisational culture. A number of themes and topics have emerged that the EDI team will consider in its training and development plans and future offerings. SEL ICB has built foundation knowledge through our Equalities Forum, Book Film and Music Club, Staff Networks, and other resources and tools which have been made available to staff.

LGBTQ+ Health Inclusion Framework

The NHS Confederation developed this tool to benchmark and assess the experiences of LGBTQ+ staff within the workplace. A self-assessment survey was shared with all staff and over 100 responses were received. Analysis of the data is being undertaken along with development of an action plan to be launched during LGBTQ+ History Month.

NHS leadership on anti-racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia

NHS leaders have written to all ICBs to ensure a focus on EDI is maintained through change processes and key topics are addressed in work programmes. New mandatory training will be made available and other planned activities outlined in the roadmap.