We are committed to evolving, shaping and improving our culture to make it an inclusive, supportive, and ethical employer. We continuously communicate with our colleagues through numerous avenues, valuing and evaluating employees feedback, input, and collaboration.
With hundreds of employees, ensuring every voice is heard is a top priority. In recent years, the service has conducted employee surveys, hosted by an external provider, to ensure transparency and confidentiality.
Within the service we have Inclusion Allies, Culture Champions and Network Groups. Employees volunteer to play a crucial role in fostering positive workplace environments through encouraging engagement, and ensuring that our culture aligns with our vision, mission, and values.
Embedding an Inclusive Culture Where Everyone Thrives
Culture and Inclusion are at the heart of our organisation and the services we provide to our communities. As a team, we strive to ensure equity is embedded across the whole organisation by continuously promoting inclusive principles, through the work of our elected members, our leadership teams, our partners and our exceptional employees and volunteers.
We want to continually ensure that the services we provide are accessible to everyone and that we have a workforce that reflects the unique diversity of Tyne and Wear’s communities.
Equality Duties
Under the Equality Act 2010, Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) have a legal obligation to comply with the general equality duty. This incorporates nine protected characteristics, please see below.
- Age
- Disability
- Gender Reassignment
- Marriage and Civil Partnership
- Pregnancy and Maternity
- Race
- Religion and Belief
- Sex
- Sexual Orientation
To meet our statutory obligations, when exercising our functions, we must aim to:
- Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act;
- Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not;
- Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
In addition to the general duty, all public sector bodies are required to meet our specific duties which are incorporated into the Public Sector Equality Duty which requires us to:
Prepare and publish specific and measurable equality objectives.
Publish diversity information annually to demonstrate our compliance with the general duty;
Gender Pay Gap Report
Each year Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service (TWFRS) publishes a Gender Pay Gap Report. A gender pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of men and women, expressed relative to men’s earnings. Our Gender Pay Gap Reports are available to view.
Equality Impact Assessments
We use equality impact assessments (EIAs) to assist the Service in ensuring our policies, practices and decisions are fair, meet the diverse needs of staff and community, and that they are not inadvertently discriminating against any protected group. The process involves considering the potential impact on different groups of people on the basis of the protected characteristics included in the Equality Act 2010.
Carrying out EIAs allows us to determine whether there may be any adverse impact on particular groups and take appropriate action to mitigate this where possible. Specific EIAs can be accessed by contacting Inclusion Team.
Memberships and Accreditations
As part of our ongoing commitment to promoting equity, celebrating diversity, and ensuring inclusivity for our community and employees, we have worked hard on becoming accredited with the following:
Disability Confident Leader
Endometriosis Friendly Employer
White Ribbon
And a member of:
Stonewall Diversity Champion
Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion (enei)
Women in the Fire Service (WFS)
Asian Fire Service Association (AFSA)
We will continue to effectively engage with and promote positive action, taking an active role in events and celebrations in the community.
Our Commitment to Positive Action
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is dedicated to fostering an environment of innovation, collaboration, respect and creating an equitable workforce. We actively work towards creating positive change in our community, driving sustainable progress, and embracing diversity.
We are committed to empowering our employees, delivering value to our communities, and making a meaningful impact in everything we do. Together, we will continue to take purposeful action to create a better future for all.
There is often confusion between positive action and positive discrimination, but it’s crucial to understand the distinction.
Positive action involves proactive measures to encourage and support underrepresented groups to apply and succeed in recruitment processes, such as offering targeted training and outreach programmes. It aims to level the playing field and ensure equal opportunities without compromising standards.
On the other hand, positive discrimination, which is illegal, means selecting candidates based solely on their characteristics like gender or ethnicity, regardless of merit. Positive action is about fairness and inclusivity, ensuring the best candidates are chosen from a diverse pool, whereas positive discrimination undermines meritocracy.
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service is committed to positive action, with initiatives and procedures in place to ensure this happens.
As a service, we are on a journey of continuous improvement, if you have an enquiries or comments regarding the inclusiveness of our service, please email our Inclusion Team.