Race and Ethnicity at Work Charter

We are committed to strengthening our contribution to race equality, justice and inclusion in Wales. Our Race and Ethnicity at Work Charter is aligned with our broader equality actions but also includes additional and more specific commitments in relation to our work to support and promote race equality and inclusion at PSOW as an employer and service provider. We will report on the progress against the commitments in this Charter in our annual Equality Report.

We will listen

• We will engage proactively with ethnic minority communities to determine and break down the barriers to access to our service, recognising intersectionality.
• We will continue to be an inclusive organisation and will provide ethnic minorities staff with support, listen to their experiences and learn, to make positive changes.

• We will listen to our staff, including ethnic minority staff and allies, and use their knowledge and experience to support a positive organisational culture. We will support staff wishing to establish or be part of staff networks at PSOW.

We will learn

• We will ensure continued anti-racism learning and awareness for all staff.
• We will hold events throughout the year to celebrate ethnic minority cultures, increase learning and raise awareness of differences, including the issues of racism and discrimination.
• We will reinforce our learning from the unconscious bias training.

We will act

• The Ombudsman will become the Executive Sponsor from the Leadership Team to provide visible leadership on race and ethnicity in our organisation.
• We will ensure BAME representation on our Advisory Panel and Audit and Risk Assurance Committee by April 2022.
• We will take proactive measures to secure a more diverse workforce that is more representative of the communities we serve. We will do this by increasing awareness of our role and recruitment opportunities to potential BAME candidates, with the aim of achieving that 8% of those shortlisted for interview are BAME.

We look forward to engagement with any external stakeholders who would be interested in helping us to meet these commitments. Any queries about our Charter can be directed to our Improvement Team at policycontrol@ombudsman.wales