Diversity & Inclusion | The Church of England

We Include. You Belong.

Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever department they work in and whatever their background. The Church of England is for everyone and we want to also reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves within our workforce.

We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward. The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life and we welcome people of all faiths and of no faith. 

We aim to:

Be an NCI Workforce which represents the diversity of the nation that the Church of England serves, at all levels including the most senior.
Be a place where everyone feels that they belong, are valued for who they are, what they contribute, and are supported to develop and flourish.

Our Belonging and Inclusion Action Plan 2021-2025

We are committed to our Belonging & Inclusion aims and our proud that we are moving in exactly the right direction - to be a place where all our valued, can develop and flourish at the NCIs.

Leading & Signalling

All Senior Leadership Group completing 360 Feedback for development
The Difference Course runs regularly for Senior Leaders
Senior allies for all Staff Networks
All Senior Leaders completed Leading Inclusion training
Employee Engagement Survey action plans at corporate and team levels

Generous Behaviours

NCI Values and Generous Behaviours refreshed in 2023 following engagement with 250 colleagues + trustees
NCI Values embedded in all policies and processes throughout the employee life cycle
Clear routes to informally and formally raise issues of poor behaviour
Dignity at Work training available to managers
Learning @ Work Week focused on Be Confident- developing skills to speak up

Celebration & Stories

Staff networks supported to celebrate events throughout the year, e.g., Black History Month, Inclusion Week, LGBT History Month and more
A continued programme of events, articles and stories that celebrate what we have in common and honour our differences
Colleague recognition through ‘Living the Values’ and ‘Thank a colleague’ boards on intranet
Monthly All Staff meeting which includes celebration, recognition and knowledge sharing from across the NCIs

Mentoring & Learning

Reciprocal Mentoring scheme runs annually which >150 colleagues taken part in so far
NCI Induction includes introduction to Our Context, Our Values, Inclusion expectations and the opportunity to identify Individual Strengths with a Strengths Profile
Confident Manager, Confident Leadership, and a range of apprenticeship options available for colleagues at all levels
Career development bursaries widely available

A Diverse Workforce

Report on Diversity Data quarterly to monitor progress and target action
HR Diversity Data collected via our People System and a commitment to increase response rates
Completed an end to end of recruitment processes and are currently implementing the recommendations
Confident Career programme runs annually with Open to All and UKME cohorts

Infographic showing a snapshot of key belonging and inclusion data

Belonging and inclusion at a glance

View our 2023 snapshot of our belonging and inclusion aims, our workforce, employee engagement, gender pay gap, recruitment and learning and development. Snapshot of belonging and inclusion data from 2023.

Our Next Steps

We are committed to being an equal opportunities employer and to ensuring that everyone, job applicants, customers and other people with whom we deal, are treated fairly and not subject to discrimination. We will do whatever is necessary to provide genuine equality of opportunity. As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to recruiting disabled people. We offer interviews to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the role. We continuously review our policies and processes to support our aim to create a workforce as diverse as the nation the Church of England serves.