WDES Report 2025
Headline findings
· Overall, we have increased our disabled workforce in all areas of our organisation and are significantly higher than the national average.
· The figures for 2025 indicate the relative likelihood of appointments of non-disabled staff versus disabled staff stands at 21.8% (non-disabled) and 20.9% (disabled) respectively. This means that non-disabled staff are only slightly more likely to be appointed from shortlisting compared to disabled staff.
· The % of staff with a long-term illness (LTC) who are experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in the last 12 months has decreased from 21.32% in 2023 to 15.09% in 2024.
· The % of staff with a LTC who believe that they have equal opportunities regarding career progression or promotion has decreased to 57.57% in 2025 from 59.75 in 2023, although we are better than the national average, which is 55.13%.
· The % of staff with a LTC who have felt pressure from their manager to come to work despite not feeling well has decreased significantly from 2023 when it was 19.18% to 14.83% in 2024. We are also lower than the national average which is 17.91%.
· Members of our board who have declared a disability has increased and we are higher in number than the national average.
Please see WDES indicator data tables in attached appendix for more information.
Analysis
Overall, we have increased our disabled workforce in all areas of our organisation and are significantly higher than the national average of 4.9%.
The data demonstrates that our internal work to foster an inclusive culture is working and we are going in the right direction. We will continue to work with our Disability and Wellbeing Network (DaWN) and Communications and Engagement to create an action plan that amplifies the voices and experiences of staff with disabilities.
We continue to highlight the barriers that our disabled colleagues can face and share where successful adjustments and learning has taken place to improve staff experience, which we will then feed back to the Equality and Diversity group.
The figures for 2025 indicate the relative likelihood of appointments of non-disabled staff versus disabled staff stands at 21.8% (non-disabled) and 20.9% (disabled) respectively. The data shows that non-disabled staff are slightly more likely to be appointed from shortlisting compared to disabled staff.
Most of the current recruitment process uses NHS Jobs, which means the shortlisting phase in the process is anonymised. However there is an indicator if an applicant has declared a disability so that we can make reasonable adjustments if needed. It is to be noted that the types of roles available within the organisation will need to be factored into these statistics.
We will continue to work with our Disability and Wellbeing Network (DaWN), wider staff groups and our recruitment team to be more inclusive regarding shortlisting.
The % of staff with a long-term illness (LTC) who are experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in the last 12 months has decreased from 21.32% in 2023 to 15.09% in 2024, and we are performing better than the national average, which is 17.96%.
Staff without a LTC experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse has also decreased to 12.97%. We will be working with our disability group and the Communications and Engagement team, which leads on the staff survey, to draw up actions to improve this indicator and the actions will be monitored at the EDI group.
The percentage of staff with s LTC who believe that they have equal opportunities regarding career progression or promotion has decreased to 57.57% in 2025 from 59.75 in 2023, although we are better than the national average which is 55.13%.
Of those staff without a LTC, 57.79% believe that they have equal opportunities regarding career progression or promotion. This has decreased slightly from 2023, when it was 58.58% of staff. We are also lower than the national average which is 60.75%.
The data shows that the percentage of staff with LTC who have felt pressure from their manager to come to work despite not feeling well has decreased significantly from 2023 when it was 19.18%, to 14.83% in 2024. We are also lower than the national average, which is 17.91%.
For staff without a LTC the data has also decreased from 13.66% in 2023 to 11.98% in 2024 and we are only slightly higher than the than the national average, which is 11.86%.
The data shows that 45.30% of Staff with a LTC or illness feel their work is valued by the organisation, this has increased from 2023 when 44.16% of staff said their work was valued. We are very close to the national average, which is 44.33%.
Members of our board who have declared a disability has increased and we are higher than the national average.
Action Plan
|
Objective
|
Action(s) |
Timescale / Milestones for delivery |
Lead Responsibility |
|
To be more Inclusive and welcoming for all our staff. |
· Strengthen the voice of the staff network and enable disabled staff to influence cultural change |
Ongoing |
Head of EDI and all staff |
|
|
Increase the range of channels advertising opportunities to reach a more diverse group of people and increase awareness of the Trusts as equal opportunities employers.
|
Ongoing |
Head of EDI Communication department
|
|
|
Reasonable adjustments: Lead on a let's talk sessions to ensure managers and staff understand what is meant by reasonable adjustments |
Ongoing work |
Head of EDI Staff networks |
|
Continued focus on ensuring our recruitment & selection processes are inclusive Raising the profile of the Trust as an Employer of Choice and reducing inequality in recruitment.
|
Review the development opportunities available to our disabled. Staff which would support promotion and career progression into senior roles. Involve the Disability Network in the launch of the reverse mentoring programme to ensure our disabled colleagues can access and say what they want from the programme.
Engage with schools, colleges, universities, and local communities. Targeting engagement with the BAME community with the aim of raising the profile of the Trust as an Employer of Choice and our commitment of ensuring our workforce is representative of the communities we serve. |
October 2025 |
Head of EDI Staff network Communications department All staff |
|
Prevent and challenge bullying, harassment and abuse against staff and create a culture of civility and respect |
Increased focus on civility in the workplace Including:
· A communications campaign on what civility in the workplace looks and feels like · Wider promotion of the Trust Workplace Mediation service · Encourage staff to report instances of discrimination and micro-aggression · Review of the harassment & bullying policy Promote the no excuse for abuse campaign via communications and let's talk sessions |
Launch now June 2025 action plan agreed until March 2026 |
Head of EDI Head of OD Chief People Officer |
|
Increase Declaration Rates so that our staff feel safe and supported to share their disability status in the workplace, leading to more accurate ESR declaration rates.
|
Develop a communications plan that amplifies the voices and experiences of staff with disabilities in the workplace. Highlighting the barriers that can be faced and where successful adjustments and learning have taken place to improve staff experience.
Work with the Associate Director of Communication and Head of Staff Communication and Engagement to promote importance of declaration as part of the staff survey. |
Ongoing work |
Head of EDI Associate Director of Communications Head of Staff Engagement Freedom to Speak up Guardians |
|
Disability Awareness for all staff Improved awareness and support, leading to staff with disabilities feeling safe, supported, and valued colleagues and the organisation.
|
Devise and promote disability training via Let's talk sessions, bulletins and training sessions led by the disability network. |
Ongoing work |
Head of EDI Disabled staff network |
Data tables
Please note when ratios are referenced in these data tables, a ratio of 1.0 would indicate equality.
Any deviation from 1.0 indicates a level of inequality.
Summary of all the Indicators
Indicator 1: Analysis of overall workforce vs clinical and non-clinical staff March 2025
Graph below displays the data for Indicator 1 above in a different way.
Percentage of disabled staff
Indicator 2: Relative likelihood of staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025 (Non-disabled vs Disabled)
|
WDES Indicator 2 |
||
|
Relative likelihood of staff being appointed from shortlisting across all posts 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025 (Non-disabled vs Disabled) |
||
|
Group |
Number of non-disabled staff |
Number of Disabled staff |
|
Number of shortlisted applicants |
2738 |
320 |
|
Number appointed from shortlisting |
597 |
67 |
|
Relative likelihood of appointment from shortlisting |
21.8% |
20.9% |
|
Relative likelihood of non-disabled staff being appointed from shortlisting compared to disabled staff |
1.04 |
|
Graph below displays the data above for Indicator 2 in a different way.
Indicator 3: Ratio of disabled to non-disabled staff entering the entering the formal capability process (excluding ill health)
No data is available for the above indicator as this process is handled locally by services.
For the staff survey indicators it is to be noted that the data is based on responses received.
Indicator 4: The ratio of disabled to non-disabled staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from staff in the last 12 months
Percentage of staff experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in the last 12 months
Indicator 5: The ratio of disabled to non-disabled staff believing that their organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression and promotion
Percentage of staff who believe that their organisation provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion
Indicator 6: The ratio of disabled to non-disabled staff saying they have felt pressure from their manager to come to work despite not feeling well
Percentage of staff who have felt pressure from their manager to come to work, despite not feeling well enough to perform their duties
Indicator 7: The ratio of disabled to non-disabled staff saying that they are satisfied with the extent to which the organisation values their work
Percentage of staff satisfied with the extent to which their organisation values their work
The data above shows that 45.30% of Staff with a LTC or illness feel their work is valued by the organisation, this has gone up from 2023 when 44.16% staff said their work was valued. We are the same as the national average which is 44.33%.
For staff without a LTC or illness it has gone slightly lower to 50.24% in 2025, in 2024 it was 51.41% of staff saying their work is valued this is however lower than the national average which is 54.37%.
Indicator 8: The percentage of board membership who are disabled
