Equality, diversity and inclusion delivery plans
View LBU’s commitments set out in our Athena Swan and Race Equality Charter action plans, including objectives and progress
Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Equality, diversity and inclusion framework
Our vision
Leeds Beckett University (LBU) strives to create a vibrant, ethical, and sustainable working and learning environment that creates equitable opportunities, celebrates diversity, and promotes inclusion. We want to ensure our university community is a place where everyone feels respected, valued, and supported to achieve excellence.
Equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is central to everything we do as an institution and community, and it is a core component embedded into our overarching university strategy, significantly through our people priorities to have an excellent, diverse, engaged community here at LBU.
Our EDI framework is for the whole university community and has been developed to be accessible and easy to use across our organisation. Our people are vital to the success of everything we do, from our teaching and research to student and colleague experiences on campus, to how we engage with partners, deliver service, and fulfil our role as an anchor institution within the city to support a better society.
Our approach
This updated framework recognises the impact of major societal events on our communities, our partners, and our organisation. Outlining our approach to how we will deliver tangible and sustained change to create a fair, inclusive, equitable service and workplace.
Our work to advance EDI is owned by the Board of Governors and is a priority for the University Executive Team. We have structures in place including a formal university wide EDI committee and localised EDI groups within schools and services where everyone has the opportunity to contribute.
Our university executive team members have each committed to leading their own EDI objectives to support our progress to achieve meaningful change and embed EDI across all areas of our business:
| University Executive Team – EDI Objectives 2025/26 | |
|---|---|
| Vice Chancellor | Support the early pipeline of academics in relation to gender and ethnicity, through development to increase the readiness of individuals in the longer term to progress through academic promotions. |
| Deputy Vice Chancellor – Academic | Deliver the revised APP and EDI plans in line with OfS requirements. Continue to take a joined-up approach to supporting delivery of both APP and EDI plans. |
| Deputy Vice Chancellor - Resources |
Continue encouraging greater self-reporting and make improvements to our systems to make this process easier. Encourage greater engagement to hear colleague voice in relation to EDI matters. |
| Pro Vice Chancellor – Research and Innovation |
To lead change through the delivery of our institutional charter mark activity including Athena Swan, Race Equality Charter, and The University Mental Health Charter. Embed the approach to analyse and identify trends in our PG student data using our newly developed PG dashboards to inform discussion and local action. |
| Pro Vice Chancellor – Business Engagement | To address identified student progression gap with particular focus from those students from underrepresented groups. |
| University Registrar and Secretary | To champion compliance with the Office for Students and government equality legislation and requirements. |
| Finance Director | To support the allocation of resource to enable institutional EDI activity informed through our EDI delivery plans. |
| Director – Strategic Insights and Business Analysis | Maintain momentum in ensuring we have a data led approach to EDI activity. |
| Executive HR Director | To conduct a deep dive into recruitment data to understand the reasons why BAME applicants (both academic and professional services) are less likely to progress past the first stages in our recruitment processes. |
Progressing to systematically embed EDI is essential to providing business solutions across all schools and services, whilst helping to respond to the increasingly wide-range and complex issues facing the higher education sector. Through this framework we will explore different methods of delivery and engagement to consider how we address our identified priorities.
Under the Public Sector Equality Duty, we have a legal requirement to create equality objectives and publish our progress towards them annually. These equality objectives set out our long-term priorities in relation to EDI and provide measurable objectives to demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty.
The equality objectives that are set out in this framework go beyond legal compliance. These objectives drive the direction of our framework, and their progress is embedded throughout the associated delivery plans. Diversity information is used to evidence priorities, identify disparities, and monitor progress throughout each equality objective and associated delivery plan. Inclusive practices and processes are used to ensure that, where diversity information shows inequality, we use the most inclusive approach to addressing bias or discrimination, fostering good relations between groups and creating equitable access.
Equality objectives
Our equality objectives apply to the services we deliver and how we interact with our community. They are measurable to demonstrate how we are eliminating discrimination, advancing equality, and fostering good relations.
We will do this by:
Engaging with and understanding the diverse needs of our student and colleague communities.
Being data-driven to increase understanding and inform change in order to create a more equitable environment for our student and colleague communities.
Offering spaces as required under the Equality Act to address the needs of all. E.g. – In relation to faith, pregnancy/maternity, and disability.
Tackling any form of bullying, harassment, discrimination, and victimisation robustly, and monitoring reports of such incidents to highlight where trends/themes might exist.
Utilising the governance structures to embed and involve all Schools and Services within LBU.
We will do this by:
Developing our colleague’s knowledge and understanding of EDI to support the diverse needs of our student and colleague communities.
Supporting our colleague and student equality networks to increase engagement and awareness in order to contribute to the development of inclusive policy, processes, and practice.
Listening to the experiences of our diverse student and colleague communities.
Being accountable and publishing our equality monitoring information for students, colleagues, and wider partners to meet our public sector duties.
We will do this by:
Continuously improving our systems, processes, policies, and practice to address any form of discrimination and bias.
Equipping our people to consider EDI related factors in their decision making at all levels of service delivery.
Exploring different methods of delivery, identified through benchmarking and best practice from within and outside of the sector.
2025/26 – What next?
Whole LBU community:
- Comply with legislative and regulatory requirements.
- Continue to deliver actions identified though our committed charters.
- Maintain momentum in ensuring we have a data led approach to EDI activity.
- Review our institutional language and terminology in relation to the term Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority or shortened form BAME.
Student specific:
- Deliver the revised APP and EDI plans in line with OfS requirements. Continue to take a joined-up approach to supporting delivery of both APP and EDI plans.
- To embed the approach to analyse and identify trends in our PG student data using our newly developed PG dashboards to inform discussion and local action.
Colleague specific:
- To investigate and act upon the disparity in the first stages of our recruitment processes for Black Asian and Other Ethnicities applicants (in both professional services and academic roles).
- Support the early academic pipeline of Black Asian and colleagues of Other Ethnicities through development to increase the readiness of individuals in the longer term to progress through academic promotions.
- Continue encouraging greater self-reporting and make improvements to our systems to make this process easier.
- To consider different approaches to encourage greater engagement and hear colleague voice in relation to EDI matters.
Enablers
In order to achieve our equality objectives and EDI framework we have identified three key enablers. These will be embedded through our equality objectives and associated delivery plans, supporting the long-term development of effective working relationships with key stakeholders and decision-makers.
How we will use this enabler
Collaboration with colleagues, students, partnerships, and networks, both internally and externally, will provide information and feedback across each of our delivery plans to consider the following:
- Identify methods to build and maintain a diverse group of partnerships and networks relative to their terms of reference.
- Identifying stakeholders who are currently actively engaged in receiving content relating to EDI activity and have occasionally provided feedback, to offer opportunities where they can become involved in the decision-making, design, delivery, and/or scrutiny of such activity.
- Working with stakeholders who are currently involved in EDI activity and creating further opportunity for leadership contribution.
- Investing internally in our leaders to shape the strategic direction of EDI at LBU.
- Identify relevant partnerships and networks to provide scrutiny of our EDI activity in order to build and maintain trust and authenticity.
How we will use this enabler
The coordination of data and information will be utilised across each of our delivery plans to consider the following:
- Identify what data is currently available to evaluate the anticipated impact of the action plan and how will this be captured.
- Take action to improve the data in terms of accuracy, relevance or promptness if required.
- Ensure that data management always retains the privacy of individuals and groups, including indirectly identifiable data.
- Technology will be utilised across our delivery plans to enhance engagement and accessibility:
- Use of online project management tools to capture progress and evidence against delivery plans.
- Use of accessibility tools to ensure equality of access for users internally and externally.
- Where relevant, support the development of the EDI resources within LBU’s online e-learning platform.
- Utilise the EDI Microsoft Teams, channels, and chat functions.
How we will use this enabler
Communications, engagement tools and resources will be utilised across all of our EDI activities to:
- Identify touchpoints and review the effectiveness of communication channels.
- Raise awareness of EDI matters with stakeholders through a range of channels such as Microsoft Teams, email, social media, newsletters, meetings, and forums.
- Encourage engagement and collaborative working with stakeholders who can share mutually beneficial insight and research.
- Consult with relevant stakeholders throughout the progress of projects providing regular updates and building in flexibility to review and adapt plans.
- Be transparent with stakeholders about how we effectively scrutinise, monitor, and evaluate our work.
- Ensure EDI data and information is shared with stakeholders in an accessible format.
- Create effective and open channels of communication where stakeholders feel safe and supported to report instances of bias or discrimination in the workplace.
- Further enhance and develop the EDI resources including e-learning packages available through LBU’s online e-learning platform to increase employee’s awareness and understanding of EDI topics.
Regulatory requirements and sector wide accreditations
There are different regulatory requirements and sector wide accreditations that have been embedded into our equality objectives and EDI framework. Through our commitment to achieve and continue to progress against these we intend to deliver and achieve real, sustained change in these areas.
For more information about the different regulatory requirements and accreditations that are embedded within this framework, please see below, and follow the links for further details.
Our access and participation plan focusses on raising the attainment of learners in schools where a significant proportion of pupils are from under-represented groups; as well as increasing the proportions of students with specific characteristics who come to university, are successful in their studies and secure graduate level jobs or continue in education after graduation.
The Age-friendly Employer Pledge is a nationwide programme for employers who recognise the importance and value of older workers. Employers commit to improving work for people in their 50s and 60s and taking the necessary action to help them flourish in a multigenerational workforce.
Advance HE’s Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used across the globe to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research. Established in 2005 to encourage and recognise commitment to advancing the careers of women in science, technology, engineering, maths, and medicine (STEMM) employment, the Charter is now being used across the globe to address gender equality more broadly, and not just barriers to progression that affect women.
The Disability Confident scheme aims to help employers make the most of the opportunities provided by employing disabled people. It is voluntary and has been developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives.
Our Addressing Harassment and Sexual Misconduct: Leeds Beckett’s Commitment page : provides an overview of the preventative measures we are taking to ensure compliance with the OfS E6 condition and relevant equality legislation.
Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter helps institutions in their work to identify and address the barriers facing Black, Asian and minority ethnic colleagues and students, while also providing a framework for action and improvement.
The Charter is a voluntary programme, that adopts a whole–university approach to mental health, to support universities to become places that promote the mental health and wellbeing of all members of the university community.
