Equality, diversity and inclusion

Equality profile, plan and report

We are committed to tackling inequality in Wokingham Borough. Read our equalities profile and plans:

Tackling Poverty Strategy

We’ve now agreed our Tackling Poverty Strategy (PDF document).

This was created in partnership with the Hardship Alliance, which brought leaders of local charities together to shape our plans. The strategy sets out how we will:

Lessen the short-term effects of poverty.
Prevent more people falling into poverty.
Better support our residents who are living in poverty.
Enable residents to better address the barriers to overcoming poverty.

Information on how to get help if you’re struggling can be found on our Cost of living pages.

Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 created the Public Sector Equality Duty. This requires public authorities to think about how to:

Eliminate discrimination.
Meet the needs of different groups of people.
Foster good relations between different groups and communities by tackling prejudice and promoting understanding.

Public authorities, like us, also need to publish information to show how we meet this duty. One of the ways we do this is publish a report presenting the workforce profile across protected characteristics:

Wokingham Borough Council equality monitoring workforce report (PDF document)

Equality impact assessments

We undertake Equality Impact Assessments to make sure we are consider the needs of all residents when planning and delivering services.

Our equality impact process has been updated to take into account the new Armed Forces Covenant, which came into force in November 2022.

If you would like to discuss proposed changes to a service, policy or general issue, email inclusion.team@wokingham.gov.uk

Equality Forum

We’ve supported the launch of the independent Equality Forum.

This is community-led, providing representatives from local groups with a platform to discuss the needs and aspirations of their communities and shape our services. Organisations represented can be found at the bottom of this page.

Email our Equality Forum inbox, on equalityforum@wokingham.gov.uk to find out more.

We have launched a grant scheme to support emerging organisations which support equality. Find out more on our community diversity grants page.

For more information on groups and services in the borough, please visit our community directory.

Equality Forum members

African Caribbean Society
Aisha Mosque
All Churches
Barbados and Friends Residents Association
The Black Boy Joy Club
Berkshire Against Racism
Chinese School
CLASP
Community United Berkshire
First Days
Get Berkshire Active
Holme Grange School
Indian Association
Involve
Kaleidoscope
Link Visiting
Oxfordshire MIND
Pakistani Association
Project Salama Womens Group
Reading East African Muslim Community.
Reading Refugee Group
SEND Voices Wokingham
Support U
The Polish Education Society
The Wayz Youth
Utulivu Women’s Group
WBC Involved Tenants
Wokingham Baptist Church
Wokingham Gurdwara
Wokingham Pride
Wokingham Youth MP